Criminal Identification Procedures in the 21st Century - Research Paper Example

In the nascent stage of criminal identification, the law enforcement agencies and institutions relied on raw techniques like anthropometry that relied on the dimensions of varied body parts like cheek width and arm span for identifying criminals (Stern, 2001). However, the cause of justice soon realized that criminal identification happened to be a pivotal legal step and hence needs to be based on more reliable techniques (Stern, 2001). Hence, fingerprinting eventually evolved to be a more specialized method of criminal identification.

However, this technique also has its limitations. Many a times the distorted or smudged fingerprints picked up from a crime scene do not totally corroborate with the intact fingerprints taken by a technician under ideal conditions (Stern, 2001). However, doubts are now being raised on the credibility of finger printing in the light of the techniques used to gather fingerprints from the crime scenes not being that perfect (Stern, 2001). Yet, there is much to hope in the sense that in the 21st century, science has facilitated law with varied more accurate criminal identification techniques like DNA analysis, biometrics, palmprint technique, which are more accurate and authentic.

In that context it is heartening to mention that DNA analysis has emerged as being a highly reliable procedure in the arena of criminal identification. DNA or deoxyribonucleic acid, simply speaking happens to be a blueprint of any individual’s body that all humans carry in the cells of their body (Snow, 2005, p. 124). The DNA of a suspect could by easily recovered from hair, skin cells, body fluids like blood and semen and also any trace of any tissue left by a suspect at a crime scene (Snow, 2005, p. 124). Scientific studies have proven beyond doubt that the DNA of every individual happens to be unique and unlike the smudged or tampered fingerprints collected from a crime scene, the DNA of a suspect in no way gets altered under