The Importance of DNA Evidence

We need to thank the ability to use DNA testing in our courts since now many innocent folks are being let out of prison who were wrongly convicted and sent to jail for crimes they did NOT commit. How did they even go to jail for crimes they didn’t commit? One could be in constant fear of being arrested for a crime at any given moment because someone said you did something horrific. If you have an identifying tattoo that was described as someone wearing who committed a crime your chances for freedom is even less. At least with your blood sample, it is YOU despite what anyone says you did or even if you admit to a crime. For far too long innocent folks even pleaded guilty for a crime they DIDN’T commit just to get a lesser sentence in jail. The most dangerous person in the courts is the prosecuting attorneys who can decide even what evidence they wish to present in a trial.

Our criminal justice system could use some changes. Sure we talk all the time about the police, judges and prisons but we never scrutinize the all so powerful prosecutors. Why not when it is the prosecuting attorneys   who work for the state, federal and local government and have the power to decide on  what cases that will go to trial. There are about 2,500 District Attorney’s Offices nationwide. Ultimately it will be the prosecutors who will decide on whether you get charged, what you will be charged with and they even influence what kind of sentence you can face.

We usually don’t care much about what prosecutors do until we are outraged about a uncharged seemingly obvious crime like in all the shootings where no charges were against LAPD officers who shot and killed Ezell Ford, or that an ex-LAPD officer won’t be charged in a fatal shooting of an unarmed man despite the chief’s recommendation or in the Cook County prosecutors decline charges in a fatal Chicago police shooting of a teenager. Even sexual predator rich movie producer Harvey Weinstein walked away from charges in 2015 despite the fact that police officials said there was plenty of evidence for the crimes he committed at the time.

The majority of the time is that your fate is decided not in a court room but in what happens before you even get a chance to defend yourself in court. Nearly 95% of the cases that prosecutors decide to prosecute end up with the defendant pleading guilty so a trail won’t even happen. Are they guilty? Many say they are not but they settle on a lesser jail time rather than take their chances in a courtroom that can still end not in their favor. DNA evidence now eliminates all that wheeling and dealing instantly and could either prove that you are the criminal or also prove that your fluids had nothing to do with the crime.

During Obama’s Presidency, one of his initiatives launched a review of FBI testimony in cases. Another brought together scientists, prosecutors, judges and other lawyers to create the National Commission on Forensic Science. Both of these initiatives were ended in April by Trump’s appointed Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who said the Trump administration would seek its own path toward improving criminal investigations under a new task force. So far Disastrous Donald has done nothing but play golf for personal profit at his resorts, go  to re-election rallies twice a week, insult allies and align himself with Dictators and take away babies from imprisoned deported parents. Someone tell me how he is making any aspect of America great?