DNA and the Criminal Justice System - Research Paper Example

The discovery of DNA came into the spotlight in the 1860s after a series of scientific experiments. This led to the discovery of DNA, which appears in the genes of all living organisms. Friedrich Meischer was the first person to discover DNA. However, two major scientists made a lot more contribution to this topic in the 1950s. These were James Watson, an American biologist, and Francis Crick, an English Physicist. Their contributions enabled the application of the concept of DNA in a number of fields and schools, such as law. The first application of DNA in the course of law and justice was in the 1980s, whereby the prosecutors used DNA evidence to solve a rape case. DNA appears in two stands of polymers, made of simple units known as nucleotides, with X and Y genes (Lazer, 2004).

The replication of DNA leads to the production of a pair of identical replicas from the mother molecule. This continuous process takes place in all living organisms, and as such, ensures biological inheritance. DNA relates to the genes and chromosomes in such as way that it holds all the information in chromosomes necessary in encoding genes.