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15.01.2019 Feature Article

When Will Ghana Embrace DNA-Forensic Method For Crime Investigation?

Forensic identification officer at a crime scene, using a swab to absorb saliva from the mouth of a beer bottle to find the perpetratorForensic identification officer at a crime scene, using a swab to absorb saliva from the mouth of a beer bottle to find the perpetrator
15.01.2019 LISTEN

Decades ago, crimes were painstakingly investigated. Some detectives were using magnifying glass around the world with success or without success since certain investigations came to a standstill because comparative analysis of genetics was not carried out at that time.

This enabled crime to rise sporadically in many parts of the world. Crime rates reached unprecedented peaks in the ‘80s and early ‘90s in America, Asia, Africa, and the United Kingdom. It wasn’t until 1995 that the height of crime began declining due to new development in solving crime through technology in the laboratory.

DNA examination, or genetic fingerprinting, was used in the investigation of crimes in the 20th century. Today, in a costly way of examining evidence, it is getting closer to the routine, and the technology has been so advanced that you can detect DNA particles that are not visible to the eye.

The success of forensic science and the use of laboratory investigations have transformed the judicial process, and the appearance of the results of genetic examinations in court seemed to have made it possible to find undeniable evidence of the guilt of the criminals.

However, Africa is still holding on tightly to those primitive methods of crime investigation, resulting in the increase of crime in many countries. For example, after the fall of Apartheid, the regime which deprived blacks of equal access to education, and many other benefits, crime has increased in South Africa putting the lives people in danger every minute.

According to a crime rate survey, by the leadership of the South African police, every day, about 51 people die in South Africa, and about 150 women become victims of rape. The published data suggest that the crime rate increased by 4.9% compared to last year.

Since the beginning of March 2017 to March 2018, a total of 18,673 people have been killed. The Law Enforcement Minister, Nati Nhleko acknowledged that despite the efforts being made, the country continues to plunge into a culture of violence. Illiteracy and poverty are the sources of crimes in the country which hasn’t fully embraced DNA and forensic methods in solving a crime.

DNA is a molecule that contains genetic instructions and in many ways determines how we look. 99.9% of our DNA is identical to that of other people, but it is the remaining 0.1% that distinguishes us as individuals.

They are important for forensic geneticists, who use this data to create a DNA profile from a biomaterial from the crime scene. The sample is compared to the reference DNA of the suspect. To calculate how much the probability that a person is involved in a crime.

Since such a large part of our DNA is almost the same, forensic scientists do not analyze DNA completely. It would be very expensive. Instead, they usually concentrate on short, highly variable regions of repetitive DNA, called short tandem repeats, or STR.

In individuals, they differ and can be used as genetic markers to create a DNA profile that is extremely rare among unrelated individuals. When a DNA profile is created from a sample taken from the crime scene, it can be compared with other profiles already listed in the national base, and with the DNA of the suspect and the victim.

If both profiles are identical, it is a complete match; partial matching of profiles is also possible. Once a match is found, you can calculate how high the probability of a particular person. Extracting DNA profiles from various body tissues is not always easy.

So, it is relatively easy to create a DNA profile from a fresh sample of blood, saliva, and sperm, but getting DNA from objects that a person has touched is not an easy task. Relatively recently, it became clear that a lot of useful information was hidden at the crime scene, which can be interpreted and presented to the court with the help of science.

Even though South Africa is one of the most violent countries in the world, Africa has to move forward as technology advances to embrace forensic methods in crime investigation.

Not South Africa, alone, crime is escalating rapidly but also throughout many African countries, including Ghana.

Thus, without embracing these modern methods for crime investigation, dealing with criminals and putting them behind bars will be a daunting task as well as giving them the chance to commit more crime.

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