Justice and Science: Trials and Triumphs of DNA Evidence

Foreword

ix Foreword Janet Reno Protecting innocent suspects and identifying those who actually commit crimes against society are probably the two most important goals of any system of justice. For hundreds of years police, attorneys, and courts have used the tools at their disposal to attain these treasured goals. Only in more recent time, however, has science presented the criminal justice system with the means to identify those responsible for some of the most serious crimes, including homicide and sexual assault. Borrowing from established fields like molecular biology and chemistry, scientists have provided law enforcement with the ability to pinpoint with laser-like accuracy the person or persons who may be responsible. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is at the center of that technology. Although popular television and print media glorify the science that takes advantage of the differences in our DNA—and often stretch its already remarkable power—DNA typing has nonetheless revolutionized the process of identifying who left blood or other evidence at a crime scene. Whether fluid recovered from a victim of rape, hairs found clutched in the hand of a murder victim, or even chewing gum carelessly discarded by a burglar, DNA testing can routinely lead to the identification of the person who left that evidence. More importantly, that same technology can quickly lead suspicion away from a person wrongly suspected of committing a crime. Its ability to exonerate those already convicted of crime—often after the service of lengthy prison terms—has already been widely chronicled. In 1996, while I was Attorney General of the United States, the National Institute of Justice released Convicted by Juries, Exonerated by Science: Case Studies in the Use of DNA Evidence to Establish Innocence after Trial. That publication R4400.indb ix R4400.indb ix 8/24/07 11:46:10 AM 8/24/07 11:46:10 AM detailed the cases of twenty-eight prison inmates who were determined by DNA testing to have been wrongfully convicted of serious crimes. Because DNA profiles can be easily reduced to digital information, computer databases are used to search for the identity of those who have left evidence at crime scenes. Comparing profiles from evidence in unsolved cases to databanks of samples collected from those already convicted of crimes often leads investigators to offenders. Frequently, those scientific links can result in turning attention away from individuals wrongly suspected of being responsible for crimes. Justice and Science: Trials and Triumphs of DNA Evidence is an upclose chronicle of the most serious and brutal crimes in San Diego, California . George “Woody” Clarke, a San Diego prosecutor who served on my National Commission on the Future of DNA Evidence, has been at the forefront of DNA evidence in criminal cases for years. From the beginning of its use in this country in the late 1980s, Clarke helped pioneer the introduction of DNA test results in court. As each different DNA technology began to be used in court, he was tasked with convincing judges that those techniques should be admitted into evidence and heard by juries deciding the fate of charged defendants. Unlike many television programs, motion pictures and other books, Justice and Science is a true account of how DNA evidence has changed investigations and the trial of defendants charged with crimes. More importantly , it is an opportunity to see intimately how American courts pursue the goal of justice for all through the amazing power of science. x Foreword R4400.indb x R4400.indb x 8/24/07 11:46:10 AM 8/24/07 11:46:10 AM ...