The D.A. and DNA

Isabella Dibbini

Mr. Ippolito

Forensics

March 25, 2018

“The D.A. and DNA.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 13 Sept. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/09/13/opinion/dna-manhattan-district-attorney.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FForensic%2BScience&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=10&pgtype=collection.

The article “The D.A. and DNA,” from the New York Times, discusses how many times prosecutors and defense lawyers rely on evidence generated by advanced forensic tools, often resulting in wrongly charged defendants. In addition, these new technologies have enabled prosecutors to rule out innocent people at the very outset of a criminal investigation. Many believe this new technology and software produce reliable results, which is why scientists are accepting them in the scientific community. Following this, the author states “That is why an overwhelming majority of legal and scientific experts, as well as New York State’s independent oversight agency, have long supported the validity and integrity of these methods.” About 40 state and federal judges have issued written opinions affirming the reliability of the F.S.T. and high-sensitivity testing. However, every defendant still has the ability to challenges the validity of evidence obtained by these forensic tools, used against them in court though cross-examination and expert testimony.

This topic plays a significant role in our society today. These new technologies are not perfect. This can be a problem, as it has the ability to send innocent people to jail thus leaving the criminals out to simply commit more crimes. This article shows that more needs to be done by way of keeping innocent people of of jail. However, because defendants are able to challenge the validity of the evidence, less innocent people are being sent to jail.

“The D.A. and DNA” is a well written article from the New York Times, new technological advances, and the role this plays in the courtroom. The author of this article, makes various statements and supports them with concrete evidence. In addition, the structure of this article is well planned out. The author begins by introducing his main argument and then goes into depth about the role this plays in the courtroom. While this article was well written, there are a few things that the author could have done to make their story more compelling. One suggestion that can be made to improve this article would be to incorporate additional plans on what will be done to further prevent innocent people being sent to jail. Overall, this article was interesting and very well written.