DNA : Critical Issues for Those Who Work With Victims of Crime
Improvements in the use of DNA evidence is a critical issue for victims of crime. As advances are made in technology, the criminal justice system must recognize and manage the residual implications that impact victims. This video is intended to raise awareness for victim advocates, criminal justice practitioners, and other who work with crime victims about the issues involved for those whose cases involve DNA evidence. Through a series of interviews with crime victims, victim advocates, sexual assault nurse examiners, law enforcement, and prosecutors, the video highlights issues such as collection and preservation of evidence, the crime’s impact on the victim, victim notification at points along the process, and victim involvement and participation in the process.
Office for Victims of Crime
This video was produced by the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, and the U.S. Department of Justice with permission by Hope For Children Foundation to distribute on our website, and/or on Youtube and Vimeo. This video covers the importance of evidence has to help victims of all crime. Saving anything that can track down the attacker could be of great importance to law enforcement, such testers, lawyers, and juries.
DNA testing, when administered correctly has the scientific ability to confirm the identity of an individual(s) present at a crime scene. Technology has tremendously advanced in this testing process.
According to Wikipedia
DNA profiling is the process of determining an individual’s characteristics, called a DNA profile, that is very likely to be different in unrelated individuals, thereby being as unique to individuals as are fingerprints (hence the alternative name for the technique). This level of profiling with the aim of identifying not an individual but a species is called DNA barcoding.
This profiling is most commonly used as a forensic technique in criminal investigations to identify an unidentified person or whose identity needs to be confirmed, or to place a person at a crime scene or to eliminate a person from consideration. This type of profiling has also been used to help clarify paternity, in immigration disputes, in parentage testing and in genealogical research or medical research. DNA fingerprinting has also been used in the study of animal and floral populations and in the fields of zoology, botany, and agriculture.
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Hope For Children Foundation also known as Hope For Children
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