Untested Victim Lab

In “Crime and Punishment: The saga of Richie Parker” published in Sports Illustrated, Gary Smith helps to explain just how many people are affected by a single sexual assault case. He does this in a very unique style by giving 12 sections explaining the incident from different points of view and the effects of a single crime. One person affected was Jill Agostino, the sports copy editor for Newsday. Her unnamed colleague had given her a copy of an article he was writing on Richie Parker and called asking if she liked it. Little did he know, stories like his were keeping her up at night, reminding her of the time she was raped nine years earlier.

Even when Michael’s new defense team, through the innocence project, found a crime that was eerily similar to the method of murder and subsequent events to the one that Michael was convicted of, the new prosecutor in Williamson County fought hard to keep DNA testing from taking place, even stating that they objected to the testing now because the defense hadn’t requested it before (Morton, 2014). There was further evidence of ineffectiveness in that the coroner who’d changed his estimated time of death between the autopsy and trial, had come under scrutiny for his findings in this case, as well as several others, with claims of gross errors “including one case where he came to the conclusion that a man who’d been stabbed in the back had committed suicide” (Morton, 2014). This was only one of the many injustices that were committed against Michael Morton throughout his trial. In August of 2006, the defense was finally granted permission to perform DNA testing on the items that had been taken from his wife’s body (Morton, 2014). Although this testing did not reveal any information about the guilty party, it did at least give Michael the knowledge that Chris was not sexually violated before or after her death (Morton,

In 2003, the Innocence Project filed a motion for DNA testing on skin cells collected at autopsy from underneath the victim’s fingernails. Because she has defense wounds on her hands the biological evidence form the attacker could be under her fingernails. She had defense wounds on her hands, meaning that biological evidence from the attacker could be under her fingernails. The DNA test results showed that male DNA under Tina’s fingernails did not come from Chad or Jeremy Heins. Additional testing in 2005 showed that the profile from the hairs was consistent with the DNA from the fingernails, all belonging to a single, unknown male.

Policy Analysis: Megan’s Law Sexual violence, particularly against children, is a significant issue all around the world. In the early 1990’s in the United States, there were multiple well-publicized cases of sexual violence against children. From kidnappings, to rapes, and everything in between, violence was being committed against children and something needed to be done about it. In 1996, Megan’s Law was passed in response to the sexual assault and death of Megan Kanka, a seven-year-old from New Jersey (Corrigan, 2006).

Photography, measurements, and reconstruction of bloodstain all complete. I then took samples of the blood for DNA analysis. It was determined later that the blood was Jessica’s bloodstains and the semen belonged to sex offender Couey due to the sexual assault he committed to 9yr.old Jessica. Trace evidence: Jessica’s left thumb and Couey’s two index fingers were stamped on an old pizza box discovered in Couey’s bedroom closet. A glass table in the bedroom produced more matches.

However, this particular case involves a claim of consensual sex by the defendant. This means that because he admitted to having sexual relations with the plaintiff, physical evidence or DNA would not have made a difference for the plaintiff, even if it was available. The prosecution had Cosby’s deposition from 2005, a testimony of the plaintiff describing the incident, and a witness who testified her own alleged unreported sexual assault by Cosby (http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-bill-cosby-quaalude-deposition-excerpts-20160523-snap-story.html). While the testimony may have been powerful, it was not powerful enough to convince the jury. Rape cases are difficult because they often lack forensic and physical evidence, and it is not uncommon for there to be a great deal of time passed between the incident and report.

Furthermore, in this article Griffin explains the demand for research and proper documentation for sexual crimes, citing evidence from FBI statistics and analyzing court cases that display a pattern of severe negligence. Griffin’s use of ethos provides credibility and context to her argument, creating a stronger trust with herself and the reader and allowing for a powerful emotional

Nonetheless, the Innocence Project, “At the victim’s house, Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) crime scene investigators collected pubic hairs from a bed sheet that had been on the couch at the time of the rape and discovered a piece of skin near the couch which was later determined to have come from a person’s hand or foot (Innocence Project, n.d.).” However, since no one ever did a rap kit on the victim the results were not used at the time of the incident. The police officer on the case created a sketch of the potential attacker from information collected from the victim’s memories. However, a Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) agent that was investigating him at the time White matched the sketch created. On Sept, 1979 white was arrested for the case.

Science has come a long way over the years. It has helped countless every day struggles and cure diseases most commonly found. What you don’t hear about however is the advancement of forensic science. Forensic science has helped solve countless cases of murder, rape, and sexual assault. In the case of John Joubert, it helped solve the murders of three young boys with one small piece of evidence that linked him directly to the crime.

Many crimes plague the world, and with them come countless regulations and consequences. But one crime is widely different from the rest, in more ways than one. It is rape and can often be thought of as a paradox because victims are blamed for their assault. Rape is one of the most unreported crimes nationwide, and there are two main reasons for this, self-blaming by the victim and the fear that others will blame them. Unlike any other crime, rape comes with many stereotypes, biases, and gender prejudice.

[7] In his book, “Missoula,” John Krakauer analyses the issue of rape in the college town of Missoula. Krakauer begins his work by quoting the article False Allegations of Sexual Assault: Rape is unique. No other violent crime is so fraught with controversy, so enmeshed in dispute and in the politics of gender and sexuality… And within the domain of rape, the most highly charged area of debate concerns the issue of false allegations. For centuries, it has been asserted and assumed that women “cry rape,” that a large proportion of rape allegations are maliciously concocted for purposes of revenge or other motives.

The Department of Justice says, "States began passing laws requiring offenders convicted of certain offenses to provide DNA samples. " That DNA evidence can help convict someone of a crime and it helps to uncover more things about the crime itself. Investigators have been using forensic science to help them solve cases since before the 90 's, mostly fingerprints that were found at the crime scenes and on the victims (O 'Brien). DNA evidence has solved countless cases including ones that happened over a prolonged period of time because of the technological advancements there is

Law Enforcement: The American approach on sexual assault There are a variety of causes to support and a variety of topics to persuade people on. From assisting in ending world hunger, to switching phone companies, to changing policies, the choices vary. However, some topics are not as light hearted as choosing what to eat for lunch. For some, this seems blatantly clear. However, others may need more convincing.

Throughout the whole investigation of the Gail Miller rape and murder case there were many wrongs committed leading up to the false conviction of David Milgaard. The authorities were pressured by the public and other groups to convict someone of this heinous crime and in doing so this action of theirs put an innocent man behind bars for twenty-three years. Right from the start of the investigation there were faults and incorrect procedures perpetrated by the police. The events that took place leading up to the conviction of Mr. Milgaard demonstrate just how sloppy the investigation took a turn when the police became lax in their investigational procedures.

Lacy wrote that autopsy personnel were swabbed and tested for a DNA match but were the crime scene technicians or lab technicians tested? Since we do have the touch DNA test results questions remain on how many markers were in the touch DNA that was tested. The underwear DNA was not enough to run through CODIS, the federal database, but