Document Type
Article
Publication Title
NYU Annual Survey of American Law
Publication Date
2005
ISSN
0066-4413
Page Number
649
Keywords
DNA fingerprinting, criminal justice, forensic science
Disciplines
Criminal Law | Evidence | Law | Science and Technology Law
Abstract
In recent times, no development has transformed the practice of criminal justice as much as DNA evidence. In little over fifteen years, DNA profiling has produced nothing short of a paradigm shift.1 For police and prosecutors, DNA has become a potent weapon for identifying and convicting criminals. Trace biological material left at a crime scene now provides critical evidence for generating leads through "cold searches" of DNA databases and for convicting defendants at trial. At the same time, for defense attorneys, DNA has become an invaluable tool for seeking exonerations, because just as DNA can link defendants to crimes, it can exclude suspects and the wrongly convicted.
Recommended Citation
Edward K. Cheng,
Reenvisioning Law Through the DNA Lens, 60 NYU Annual Survey of American Law. 649
(2005)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/faculty-publications/152