Liam Grealy
Forensics
Mr. Ippolito
September 24th
Current Events #2
Kirchner, Lauren. “Traces of Crime: How New York’s DNA Techniques Became Tainted.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 4 Sept. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/09/04/nyregion/dna-analysis-evidence-new-york-disputed-techniques.html.
The article starts out discussing how the DNA lab in New York City has been home to breakthroughs in the field of forensics. The methods were so much more advanced than any of nearby labs that they often would do other samples at a cost of one thousand dollars each. However, the new techniques which were discovered in New York City have recently come under controversy over validity. Earlier this year the lab changed their methods for more accepted technology. This means that there is the possibility that cases can be revisited and proven not guilty as the flawed evidence may prove a different outcome in the trial.
I think it is very important that we revisit and adapt our forensic equipment. If we as a society are putting someone in jail there must be no shred of doubt that they are truly guilty. For instance in the article they talk about how a man was convicted after they found a very small amount of DNA on his shoe. “Recovered 97.9 picograms of DNA from at least two people. A picogram is one trillionth of a gram.” I think it is ridiculous that a man was arrested after they found such a small amount of DNA like how much DNA would be on your shoe from just walking in the same place as someone else. In a case like that such a small amount of DNA should not put a man in jail, if anything it should support a stronger piece of evidence. After all in America we are innocent until proven guilty and to me he was not proven guilty. Years ago we only used fluids to as evidence now we can use a fraction of a cell and we call it evidence. Although forensic devices are adapting we must also take into account that it could be a mistake or even just circumstantial evidence. The DNA is usually used to prove someone's innocence by proving their DNA was not present at the crime so in that circumstance the method is great.
The article was a little long and I feel as though many other people who just saw the title and it caught their eye would be turned away after they saw the length. I feel like the topic was very important so they should have broken it into smaller articles. I would have enjoyed to have seen another trial which was brought back as it would have helped to understand just how little DNA they have decided was too little to count as evidence. I enjoyed the detail about the software that accompanied the DNA to help get better results as I found it very interesting.
11 comments:
Thomas Baxter
Mr. Ippolito
9/25/17
Forensics Comment
Kirchner, Lauren. “Traces of Crime: How New York’s DNA Techniques Became Tainted.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 4 Sept. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/09/04/nyregion/dna-analysis-evidence-new-york-disputed-techniques.html.
Reading Liam's article, I found it easy to follow. The format and the way in which he goes about explaining the situation presented in the article was well done as I did not find myself having any questions about the information provided. Secondly, the first definitive point that Liam makes is a good one. Making sure that a person in question is truly guilty is a concept that I agree with and I believe he made a strong case for this with the example he used about the man found guilty due to a small amount of DNA in a shoe. Finally, his critiques on the article he reviewed were valid and were presented clearly and were very sensible. I agree with the critiques he gave to the article. Although there were many pro's about his review, there were also a couple of con's. The way in which he closed his review was rather sudden. He stopped right after a compliment he gave to the author of the article. I feel as though he could have used a summary of his critiques and praises about the article to make a smoother conclusion. I also thought that his transitions between paragraphs could have been smoother rather than cutting from idea to idea. Starting the next paragraph by relating the forthcoming information to the preceding information in the last paragraph would have been a better method in transitioning paragraphs. Overall, Liam did a good job with his review. I learned very much about the new technology advancing forensic science in New York City. His ideas in the second paragraph especially caught my eye and was a key factor in my decision to comment on his review. His points really left an impression on me. After reading, I really understood and thoroughly agreed with his point of view on the topic.
Maggie Miller
Forensics A/B Odd
Sept. 26th, 2017
Current Event Comment 3
Kirchner, Lauren. “Traces of Crime: How New York’s DNA Techniques Became Tainted.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 4 Sept. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/09/04/nyregion/dna-analysis-evidence-new-york-disputed-techniques.html.
Liam Grealy submitted a current event review on the article, “Traces of Crime: How New York’s DNA Techniques Became Tainted,” by Lauren Kirchner from the New York Times. Liam did an excellent job setting up the main idea of the article, which is that the New York City forensic laboratories have reached new advances in technology and procedures. Liam was very elaborate with his analysis of the article, he deeply discussed each detail of the article to help explain it to the readers. Liam also provided an excellent use of quotes to help support his argument.
However, while Liam’s review was satisfactory, I might suggest two improvements. Liam was extremely detailed in his review, almost too much where it took away from the significance of the article, he could have included more details on other topics discussed in the article. I also might suggest that Liam make a better connection to how this article is relevant to his own life and those of the students in this class, rather than just the general New York public.
After reading this article I learned a lot more than I had previously known about the New York forensic laboratories specifically. In class we have only talked about the United States Forensic studies as a whole, but have not focuses closely on specific states.
Zixi Chen
Mr. Ippolito
Forensics
29 September 2017
Comment #3
Kirchner, Lauren. “Traces of Crime: How New York’s DNA Techniques Became Tainted.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 4 Sept. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/09/04/nyregion/dna-analysis-evidence-new-york-disputed-techniques.html.
Liam Grealy’s article was fascinating, and his review on the article was also very interesting to read. First of all, in this review, he summarized the important points in the article very well and pointed out the main idea clearly. The main purpose of this article was to inform the readers about the advance of technology in the field of DNA identification. Furthermore, Liam’s description of the new technology and its effects on the court cases were very engaging. Lastly, Liam was very insightful and had strong opinions about the use of DNA samples as evidences. He believed that the sample used in this case was too small to prove someone’s guilt, but he also pointed out that DNA can prove someone’s innocence.
Two things that Liam might be able to improve on for this review was that he should give a brief explanation about the new DNA method. He only mentioned how expensive and accurate this new method was, but did not give any description on what was the difference between this method and the old method. Another thing was that he should have more smooth transitions between the paragraphs.
This article surprised me because in this case, the judge decided that this suspect was guilty with such a small amount of DNA as their only evidence. I have never doubted the strength of DNA evidence, but after reading this article, I saw flaws in this method in its use in criminal cases. It seems like that it was easier to create false evidence against someone else. The only thing the actual criminal needed to do was to get a small amount of DNA of someone else and leave it at the crime scene.
Mairead Cain
Mr. Ippolito
Forensics
30 September 2017
Kirchner, Lauren. “Traces of Crime: How New York’s DNA Techniques Became Tainted.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 4 Sept. 2017.
www.nytimes.com/2017/09/04/nyregion/dna-analysis-evidence-new-york-disputed-techniques.hml.
Liam did a very nice job with his current event review on the article “Traces of Crime: How New York’s DNA Techniques Became Tainted,” by Lauren Kirchner. I decided to review his report because the article title was rather intriguing, and it made me question how exactly DNA techniques could have been tainted in New York. There are many good techniques he uses throughout his report. One example is how he discusses the fact that New York City is famous for its innovations in Forensic Science. His focus on this factor of the original report is important as it shows exactly what is at stake if there are indeed problems with its DNA techniques. Another aspect of Liam’s writing that was done rather well was when he provided a direct quote from the original report. This quote was beneficial to his current event report because it offers the reader direct information surrounding the topic at hand. Lastly, I appreciated how Liam discussed his own opinion concerning the subject at hand. He discussed how important it is to revisit some of the Forensic Science methods and techniques used in the city and how researchers should refine them.
Overall, Liam's report was extremely interesting and informative concerning the topic at hand. However, there are some details that he could tweak and add to make the current event report even that much better. I recommend that he explains what, exactly, the new methods being used by Forensic Scientists in New York City are. He does not go into much detail concerning the exact methods used. It would have been beneficial for him to go into some detail about these methods so he could pinpoint the exact critiques that these techniques are coming under. Also, he could have discussed what new methods are possibly going to be put into place, or how exactly researchers are going to fix the flaws in the already present system.
Liam’s report was very informative and I learned extensively about the likely flaws that some Forensic technology face. Before reading the report, I had little knowledge about the fact that there is some debate about the validity of certain DNA identifying tools. Countless people across the world could be affected by false accusations, and after reading Liam’s report, I see now that any mistakes in Forensic DNA identifying technology have to be corrected before they cause any permanent damages.
Ayten El-Hennawy
Forensics C Even
Sept. 30th, 2017
Current Event Comment 1
Kirchner, Lauren. “Traces of Crime: How New York’s DNA Techniques Became Tainted.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 4 Sept. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/09/04/nyregion/dna-analysis-evidence-new-york-disputed-techniques.html.
Liam’s review of the article “Traces of Crime: How New York’s DNA Techniques Became Tainted.” was very easy to follow and straightforward. I liked how in the beginning of the article he explains the situation for the reader. He also provided quotes from the article to provide a stronger argument and a well written review. I also liked how he provided his own opinion on the topic and he also stated how the sample used in this case wasn’t enough to provide someone’s guilt. I think Liam’s review could’ve been better if you didn't go too in depth about only one topic rather than discussing the other topics provided in the article. I also think that Liam could’ve elaborated more on his opinion and related the topic more to his life rather than the general public. I learned a lot from this review/article and how forensic DNA technology is always facing advancements which can be very beneficial for those who constantly face false accusations.
Martha Thomas
9/30/2017
Current Events Review #3
Traces of Crime: How New York’s DNA Techniques Became Tainted
Kirchner, Lauren. “Traces of Crime: How New York’s DNA Techniques Became Tainted.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 4 Sept. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/09/04/nyregion/dna-analysis-evidence-new-york-disputed-techniques.html.
Liam Grealy did a great job summarizing the article “Traces of Crime: How New York’s DNA Techniques Became Tainted” by Lauren Kirchner. Liam thoughtfully explained the relevance to the American Judicial System of the apparent errors in DNA technology. Liam felt very passionately that many legal cases should be revisited, and this showed in his writing and made his report interesting to read. Lastly, Liam had insightful criticism of the original article. He thought that a shorter article could portray the idea of the original article just as well, and capture more readers. I agree with Liam on this point, the original article was lengthy.
Liam could have improved his report by including quotes from the original article. Liam also could have provided more details about the technology that forensic scientists use in trials and how that technology operates.
I am shocked at the number of trials that this inaccurate technology has affected. I think that this information is really disturbing, especially because justice holds such a high value in the US.
I think Liam did a really great job on commenting the article "Trace of Crime: How New York's DNA Techniques Became Tainted".
He explained the details of the article very well, thoroughly and insightful which is really good.Especially he explains the U.S judicial system of the apparent errors in DNA technology overall. In addition, Liam also used an original quote from the article which draws people's attention and described how important it is to affect the Forensics field.
Liam's report is extremely interesting and he explained everything to the audience and analyzed very well. However, I think he could explain to us what is the exact methods work and how does that work, also, he could provide more details about the technology as well. I really like this article.
I didn't know how the justice work in Forensics field before, now I know and I will learn more about that.
Griffin Hall Garbarini
Forensics
Mr. Ippilito
10/01/17
Current Event 4 - Comment
MLA Citation (with link):
Kirchner, Lauren. “Traces of Crime: How New York’s DNA Techniques Became Tainted.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 4 Sept. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/09/04/nyregion/dna-analysis-evidence-new-york-disputed-techniques.html.
Comment:
My classmate Liam Grealy wrote a review for an article from the New York Times titled “Traces of Crime: How New York’s DNA Techniques Became Tainted” by Lauren Kirchner. Mr. Grealy did a fantastic job on several aspects of this review. He elaborated on his analysis of the article which helped the readers to gain more knowledge on the article and see a different perspective. He also did a good job of setting up the frame of the article: New York City forensic labs have reacher new advances in their procedures and technology. Finally, Liam is the first review, besides my own, I have read that incorporated quotes into the review to make it stronger. This helped bring the review to life.
There were two comments I would make on Liam’s review to make his writing stronger. Liam did not make the article personal at all and it could have used that personal touch to make it a bit more reader friendly. Also, while Liam did a great job with his analysis, he didn’t connect enough of it to the writing itself. He needs to go into more detail with the text and less with his own analysis.
Although Liam’s review was good and informational, I read the full article on the New York Times website and learned more about the forensic crime labs in New York City. The textbook reading has taught me about the British, United States, and Canadian forensic crime lab system and this lab taught me specifically about one of the largest cities in the US and their system.
I read Liam Grealy’s review of, “Traces of Crime: How New York’s DNA Technique Became Tainted”. I thought Liam did a good job in his review. I liked how he used quotes from the article to strengthen the point he was making. I also thought he did a good job in his summary of the article. He was critical about the length of the article saying that if the article was shorter less people would be turned away by it and that this topic is important and should be broken down into a smaller article so more people will read it. He was able to be clear and concise and only talk about the importance of the article and how it plays in our legal system.
I thought Liam did a good job on his review however there are some things he can do to improve his article. One thing Liam can do is explain what the New York City’s forensics scientists new method is. He only mentions it but if he goes into more depth and elaborates more about the new method it would help his article. Liam also could have better transitions from thought to thought. He ends one thought pretty suddenly and starts talking about another thought not giving the reader any time to digest what he just said.
I found Liam to be very insightful in his article when he wrote, “I think it is very important that we revisit and adapt our forensic equipment. If we as a society are putting someone in jail there must be no shred of doubt that they are truly guilty.” This really got me thinking about how many men are actually not guilty and doing time for another man’s crime.
In this current event article, Liam Grealy was able to accurately summarize the article, “Traces of Crime: How New York’s DNA Techniques Became Tainted.” This article was mostly about how the standards of the FBI technology used to identify DNA differs from the technology used to identify DNA in court cases or any other types of scenarios. It changed from this high technology to questionable microscopes techniques. Liam did a good job touching upon the important point of this article, describing how technology changed in our time. In addition to this, Liam was able to talk about the relevance of this article, saying that this is relevant to our modern times because if the DNA scanning is faulty especially in court, false accusations will arise and complicates the case. A last thing Liam did well, was accurately criticize what the author could have done to make the article better. I agree with Liam and saying that the article was too long and he could have summed up the important points in just a few paragraphs. Having the article be longer and adding unnecessary detail caused the article to be confusing and hard to follow for the readers. Although Liam did a good job addressing the main points, I think he could have gave more details about the technology that the scientists use in trials and how that technology works. Another thing Liam could have done was improve her grammar. One last thing that Liam could have worked on was add additional information on the topic, although he did a good job summarizing it, I had to go back into the article to clear up any questions I had about the article. One thing I was impressed with from reading this article and review was how harmful this could be do any of us. Like i mentioned before, Having faulty equipment can lead to serious problems and can highly affect court cases. Overall Liam did a great job summarizing this article and was able to actually describe the relevance of this article.
Lucy Rizzo
October 1, 2017
Forensics
Current Event 3
Kirchner, Lauren. “Traces of Crime: How New York’s DNA Techniques Became Tainted.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 4 Sept. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/09/04/nyregion/dna-analysis-evidence-new-york-disputed-techniques.html.
After reading Liam’s summary on the article,“Traces of Crime: How New York’s DNA Techniques Became Tainted.” I was intrigues with what he had found. I thought he did a good job with summarizing the article findings and what he thought was interesting. I also think he did a good incorporating his own opinion on the article topic in regards to the opinions the article was promoting. I also appreciated the quotes Liam included, because it gave more context to the article and a feel for the author’s style. I think to improve the article summary Liam could have expanded on specific aspects of the article. The summary was too brief, which overall made it weak and provided little context to what he read. I also think it would have been helpful if Liam had dedicated more writing to his own opinion on what he read, then the few sentences he included. The article overall shooked me and I am interested to see what the improvement of forensics technology will do to the basis of evidence in criminal court settings.
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