Small but Significant Clues
DEOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACID. Few can pronounce it, let alone remember it. Most know it simply by its acronym: DNA. The DNA molecule is so tiny that scientists with all their powerful microscopes had never actually seen one until just recently. Yet such molecules contain vast stores of information that affect the lives of all of us. Your height, hair texture, eye and skin color—these were all determined in advance, recorded in your DNA.
But this chemical decision-maker is now being used to help in making a different kind of decision: whether men will go free or go to prison, live or die. The very uniqueness of each individual’s DNA has opened the way to a new method of identifying individuals, called DNA fingerprinting.
Since DNA is found in virtually all the cells of the body and in most body fluids, criminals may be convicted because of leaving behind a few hairs or a bit of skin, even a wad of chewing gum. The new technique has been especially effective against sex offenders. Already, rapists who adamantly denied their guilt have been convicted by their own DNA. One murderer was sent to the electric chair on the strength of such testimony.
DNA fingerprints make defense lawyers feel defenseless. The National Law Journal of the United States quotes one as saying: “It’s devastating. When an expert comes in and says there’s a one in 700 million chance that your man is not the one [the perpetrator of the crime]—it just kills you.” On the other hand, DNA fingerprinting can exonerate the wrongly accused and so could reduce the risk of imprisoning or executing the innocent.
Still, no scientific method, however sophisticated, can solve the global tragedy of crime. Besides, most violent crimes don’t leave any DNA evidence. No, only the day that sees the wicked ones cut off from the earth will see the end of crime.—Psalm 37:10, 11.