Prepare a detailed press release outlining the benefits of forensic science in the criminal justice system.

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Prepare a detailed press release outlining the benefits of forensic science in the criminal justice system.

The aim of the Forensic Science Service (FSS) is to provide forensic science information in the detection of crimes and the prosecution of offenders.  The FSS offers services which are an integral part of the criminal justice system.

The services provided by the FSS to help the police in their investigations include fibre analysis, DNA profiling, footwear marks, chemical analysis, blood patterns and many more.  

Criminal cases hang on forensic evidence, even the smallest of evidence such as fibres left at the crime scene can be most vital in solving a case and prosecuting an offender. Today it is difficult to secure a conviction without forensic evidence to prove the offenders guilt.

Fibre analysis by the FSS was vital in securing the arrest and subsequent conviction of Roy Whiting.  Whiting was found guilty of the murder and kidnapping of Sarah Payne following forensic evidence of fibres and a single hair.

The first link between Whiting and Payne was made when 350 fibres were taken from the Velcro strap on Sarah’s shoe using a low-powered microscope.  Four of the fibres were matched to Whiting’s red sweatshirt using a high-powered microscope.  This technique was used to identify the shoe as Sarah’s – the blue polyester and cotton fibres found on the shoe matched her school sweatshirt.

Identification of Sarah’s badly decomposed body was done via DNA profiling using muscle from the body which provided a full DNA profile and matched to a full profile obtained from a milk tooth saved by Sarah’s mother.

In 2001/2 DNA profiling was used in approximately ½ of all cases compared to ¼ in 1997/8.

In the case of Marion Crofts, FSS scientists played a crucial role in helping police find her attacker 20 years later.  Scientists, knowing that DNA profiling techniques were rapidly advancing, left a laboratory microscope slide containing samples from Marion’s body untouched until such a time when they could unlock the secrets of her death.

The scientists used DNA Low Copy Number (DNA LCN) to obtain a DNA profile and checked it against the National DNA Database (NDNAD) until they got a match, which led to the subsequent conviction of Tony Jasinskyj.

This case highlights the value of the NDNAD which is growing all the time making it quicker and more cost-effective to match a DNA profile.

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The turn around times of DNA criminal justice samples is now 5 days compared to 350 days in March 1997.  With the everyday advancements of forensic science 5 days will be reduced to crime scene testing giving an all most immediate result.

An example of advancements in DNA profiling helping to convict criminals is that of ‘Operation Phoenix’, where forensic work by the FSS helped the police to get a conviction from their re-investigation of more than 200 sex crimes between the period of 1985 – 1999.

The Project used DNA techniques such as FSS SGM Plus™ ...

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