According to the Latest in Forensic Science DNA Evidence can be Faked

What has been the gold standard in court-recognized evidence in every murder that's been tried over the last 20 years? What kind of proof is considered so strong and so incontrovertible that people who’ve spent 15 years in prison for crimes they never committed can be set free in a matter of days? Of course, the only kind of scientific evidence anyone is aware of that could change the course of trials in such a commanding way happens to be DNA-related evidence. But now, the criminal justice system is having its trump card called into question. According to experts in forensic science, DNA can be custom-manufactured by anyone today who has nothing more than a minimal training in science. The technique was invented in Israel.

The scientists in Israel have demonstrated that when a person has the right equipment, training, and accurate information about someone's DNA, they can easily and quickly manufacture DNA strands that look exactly like the DNA of that person. If a criminal were to plant this evidence at a crime scene, current forensic science DNA tests would never be able to tell the difference.

A criminal would only need scientific training to the undergraduate level, and a bit of someone's DNA from, say, the dried saliva on a discarded cigarette or a drinking glass. He could use a technique called genome amplification to turn one or two strands of DNA from the sample into a whole lot of the stuff so that it could be planted all over a crime scene.

But apparently, and thankfully, the copies made are not perfect. While most regular forensic science DNA tests could not tell the difference, a new technique developed by an Israeli company called Nucleix could. And they want to sell their method to our law enforcement.

Our poor criminal justice system has not even had the time or the resources to find ways to apply the DNA technology we've had all this while to all needed cases. There still are thousands of people in jail awaiting the results of their requests for DNA tests to be applied to their cases. And now we have something to undermine the hopes of all these people. Basically, before long, lawyers are going to be bringing this up in court and calling all DNA evidence suspect. Perhaps Law and Order SVU will have a great time dramatizing the outcome of all of this. Innocent people caught up in a crime they haven't committed have just had an important tool taken away from them. The DNA tests they have always relied on are suddenly not good enough.