Evidence of improvement

By: Anita Shelburne | The Daily Progress
Published: June 10, 2010

Law enforcement isn’t just about convictions — it’s about justice.
And that means exonerating the innocent as well as convicting the guilty.
DNA evidence has played a critical role in both functions, providing evidence to convict the guilty and set the innocent free.
It’s best when such evidence is introduced at trial, providing clear-cut evidence from the get-go. But recently DNA has been vital in another way: Proving the innocence of those once convicted and considered guilty. According to the Innocence Project, which takes on such cases, more than 250 people have exonerated in the United States by DNA.
Albemarle County Sheriff J.E. “Chip” Harding works with the Innocence Project. And he points out yet another benefit to DNA evidence: It exposes faulty police work.
Not that police knew at the time that their techniques were flawed. They were using accepted best practices, such as line-up identification of perpetrators and confessions elicited under interrogation.
When DNA evidence later overturned cases in which these techniques played a prominent role, law enforcement experts began re-evaluating. The result has been refinement and redefinition of methods.
DNA evidence is preventing wrong convictions at trial and overturning wrong convictions on appeal, but it is also helping to improve police techniques overall. And better techniques overall mean that police have an enhanced chance at identifying the guilty and clearing the innocent even when DNA evidence isn’t available.
It’s about getting to justice, as quickly as possible, as accurately as possible. That’s a boon to us all.

Evidence of improvement

Share This:

More from this channel:

Reader Comments

Post a Comment (Please Sign In | Register)

Deal of the Day

Most Popular

Things to Do