Tag Archives: DNA

Hidden Evidence, Identified

by Kendrick Fitzgerald and Steven Yarmoska

DNA. The foundation of our genes. What makes us unique.

These claims are not articulated in an epic introduction to a Nova special on deoxyribonucleic acid, but they are two essential points science journalist David Owen offers in Chapter 14 of his book, Hidden Evidence. In his text, Owen describes in excruciating detail the structural make-up of DNA and, more importantly, how it is discovered, collected, and employed in forensic investigations. What he omits from his narrative, is information about how DNA evidence can fail, fall short, or undermine a criminal case.

After reading Chapter 14, a reader might be tempted to adopt a mindset similar to that of CSI viewers: that DNA evidence is present at every crime scene and, once found, it can be easily analyzed but never disputed.  This assertion is rooted in the constant presence of a self-evident chain of connections between collection, analysis, identification, and employment. True crime literature submits to a similarly rigid structure, as Professor Jean Murley categorizes: “murder/background/trial/execution” (44).  Further exploring this comparison, one can relate Owen’s non-fiction narrative to other elements of true crime and detective fiction stories, most notably the juxtaposition of mystery and clarity.

DNA is not infallible because it is interpreted by humans; and as long as it is, DNA is only as good as the people who manipulate it. That is to say, the investigators that find it and the scientists that determine to whom it belongs. DNA, on its own, cannot tell a story. There needs to be circumstance as well as DNA, and this is a fact that Owen manages to dodge in his presentation of DNA in “DNA: The Ultimate Identifier?”

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