INTERNET LAW BOOK
REVIEWS Provided by Rob Jerrard LLB LLM (London)
Perseus Publishing
Review by Andy Day
Blood
Evidence, How DNA Is Revolutionizing the Way We Solve Crimes
Authors:
Henry C. Lee Ph.D. and Frank Tirnady.
ISBN:
0738206024
Publishers:
Perseus Publishing
Price
£19.99 RRP UK
Publication
Date: May 2003
This is a very
well-researched, interesting and informative book, with the slightly misleading
title of ‘Blood Evidence’, because as one would expect, the bulk of the book is
about DNA, and as is explained in the book, DNA is obtainable not only from
blood but also from a host of other body fluids, hair, and now, (as I
discovered from the book), also bone.
The book describes
how in its relatively short time, DNA has been responsible for the solving of
crimes considered otherwise unsolvable, abbreviated the careers of serial
rapists and serial- killers, identified the remains of soldiers missing in
action or of historical figures, established paternity in hundreds of thousands
of instances, assisted medical detectives in the tracking of diseases, helped
authorities in controlling problems with food supply, resolved contentious
public debates, and illuminated countless other controversies involving
biological issues.
The book recounts many
fascinating cases where DNA analysis has demonstrated its amazing ability as an
investigative tool, because it can differentiate between one person and
another, one animal from another, one plant from another, and even one viral or
bacterial strain from another.
The authors
explain how DNA was discovered, and also explain how it works. For those readers who have a medical or
scientific background, the book also describes the differences between the
various types of DNA analysing techniques, how they are applied, and in the
last chapter looks at the possible future of forensic DNA analysis.
Both authors are American,
and the book therefore concentrates on American cases, how the American Court
system works, and how individual States introduced legislation to accommodate
this ‘new scientific phenomenon’. The
book does, however, examine in some detail several cases in the United Kingdom,
and also looks at the British system of managing a DNA database, (in the UK the
Forensic Science Service are the custodians of the National DNA Database). In
the USA it was only in 1998 that the FBI launched a National DNA Index System,
before that, records were kept and searched on a State by State system, and
quite often one system was not compatible with the another. The authors state “America follows where
Britain leads with the idea of a national DNA database”. The book also makes the point that the UK
was way ahead of the USA in introducing legislation whereby suspects convicted
of a crime, (whether or not DNA evidence is involved), would have a DNA sample
taken, which when profiled would be placed on a national database.
The book reveals some
interesting facts and figures regarding DNA in the United States, for example,
between 1989 -2002, more than 120 men had been released from jail, (death row
in some cases), after DNA, (not available at the time of their trials), had
excluded them as contributors of biological evidence linked to the crimes for
which they had been convicted. It also
shows how much the Criminal Justice System in the USA now relies on DNA with
the fact that prosecutors submit an estimated 10,000 biological samples for DNA
testing every year. Between 25%-30% of
those samples come back excluding the prime suspect, whereas most of the rest
inspire guilty pleas.
In my view,
the authors go off on somewhat of a tangent at one point, with two chapters
entitled “The Worlds Most Wanted Man”, which deal with the eventual DNA identification
of a skeleton, unearthed in Brazil in 1985, as that of the notorious war
criminal Dr. Joseph Mengele. The
chapters describe the rise of Waffen SS and the measures taken to try to
produce “racial purity” in Germany, both before and during the war. They also describe in terrible detail some
of the experiments carried out by Mengele in the concentration camps. The book describes how Mengele escaped at
the end of the war and how he managed to evade capture until his death in
1979. This section also deals with
different identification techniques tried on the skeleton, including
comparisons with known X-rays of Mengele, and comparisons made with the remains
of the teeth and dental records, all of which only ‘pointed’ to an
identification. Eventually Professor
Alec J Jeffreys of the Department of Genetics at the University of Leicester in
England working with Dr Erica Hagelberg of the University of California,
succeeded not only in extracting enough DNA to make a comparison possible, but
also in making a positive match between the extracted DNA and that of known
living relatives of Joseph Mengele.
If, like me, you find
history interesting, then the detail in these two chapters is very informative
and well worth reading.
There are two chapters,
(entitled Bad Blood), that deal exclusively with the now notorious eight month
trial in California in 1995, of OJ Simpson, for the murder of his ex-wife
Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman. The authors skilfully take the reader through what is known of
the build up to the crime, through the immediate aftermath, the police
investigation, the scientific examinations and the court case. Despite the fact that 124 expert and lay
witnesses gave evidence, (some more than once), and that the prosecution alone
presented 488 exhibits during the trial, the book never becomes bogged down
with the weight of information, but rather, guides the reader through it all
with skill, dexterity, and in a totally unbiased way.
Before reading this book, I
like many others, had a very definite view on OJ Simpson’s guilt or
otherwise. After reading these two
chapters I have to admit to a change of mind.
The book describes the many
actions of the Los Angeles Police Department at the various scenes involved
with the crime, their exhibit handling and packaging, (and in some cases – lack
of it), and their exhibit monitoring and management, (and in most cases their
complete lack of it!). Most of their
actions, as stated in this book, made me, (as a UK trained Crime Scene Examiner),
literally cringe. No wonder the defence team found so many inconsistencies in
their evidence, and so many possibilities for contamination, that they were
able to carry out such devastating cross-examinations.
This book maintains the
interest of the reader from start to finish, examining and explaining on the
way, all the various aspects of DNA, and its use by various agencies, from the
very first criminal case in which it was used by Scotland Yard in 1986 to solve
a murder, through to the devastating attacks on the Twin Towers in New York in
2001. From the definite identification
of human remains found in Russia in the 1970s as being those of Tsar Nicholas
and his family, executed by firing squad by the Bolsheviks in 1918, to the
identification of airline crash victims, and from the use of DNA in war crimes,
such as in Bosnia and Kosovo to the examination of the Shroud of Turin.
The book also introduces the
reader to many little known aspects of this science, for example: DNA
authentication tags now being used to identify very valuable items, and how DNA
has been useful in reducing the traffic and sale of illegally obtained exotic
animals birds and plants.
The book also describes one
DNA study that shook the wine industry to its foundations, when a variation of
DNA paternity testing revealed that some of the world’s most prized and
expensive wines are, in fact, not entirely of noble origins but are instead
descended from the wine equivalent of peasant stock.
The authors use a great many
sources, and quotes. The quote that
sticks in my mind, and I believe at the same time says a great deal about this
subject, is from Jill Porter a columnist for The Philadelphia Daily News, who
at the conclusion of a high-profile paternity court case wrote “Diamonds are no
longer a girl’s best friend. DNA is”.
Andy Day. Jan 2005.
In 1993 Andy Day Retired from the City of London Police and became a
Civilian Crime Scene Examiner and Crime Scene Manager with the same force, a
post he held for nine years until he finally left the City in 2002, having
served it in total for more than forty years. He was until final retirement a Senior Lecturer in Forensic Science at the London South Bank University.
Authors
Dr. Henry C. Lee, Ph.D. is the
Chief Emeritus for Scientific Services, Chair Professor at University of New
Haven, Forensic science program, Research professor in Molecular Cell Biology
at the University of Connecticut, and the former Commissioner of Public Safety
for the State of Connecticut. He served as that state's Chief Criminalist from
1979 to 2000 and was the driving force behind establishing a modern forensic
lab in Connecticut. He has received numerous awards for his work and has helped
the police around the world with over 6,000 cases. He has authored or co-authored
over 30 books on forensic science. Frank W. Tirnady is a writer living in
Middletown, Connecticut. He is a graduate of the University of Connecticut and
the University of Connecticut School of Law. This is his first book.