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| Dr. Michael J. Spence |
In an interview with News New Mexico, Dr. Michael J. Spence (Spence Forensic Resources) offered his commentary on Governor Susana Martinez's initiative to expand the parameters of DNA collection in New Mexico. According to Spence, his organization, Spence Forensic Resources (SFR) is in complete agreement with Governor Martinez. He said, the proposed initiative represents a productive means of enhancing public safety and improving the criminal justice system. SFR is in favor of technological advancements in the effectiveness of criminal investigations. Some individuals have voiced their fears that forensic DNA data will somehow be misused. The basis for these fears is understandable, but misguided. The sophisticated technology utilized for DNA testing appears intimidating to most people-especially when it rests in the hands of faceless government employees.
Dr. Spence was able to break down this daunting technology during our interview into terms that can be digested by most average individuals-even those who desperately avoided their biology homework assignments. What follows are his observations and comments: "The scientific rational for SFR’s support of our Governor on the issue of expanded DNA testing is based on a basic understanding of a DNA profile. This is determined for a person during the forensic testing process. DNA data emerge from a series sophisticated forensic steps as nothing more than a collection of numerical pairs, such as 11,13 .... 8,9 .... 22,24, .... 12,12, etc. NONE of these numbers are genes or portions of genes. No, ....they are merely small fragments of DNA from areas within a person's genetic material. These areas are referred to as "junk DNA" or "non-coding DNA" regions. These parts of the human genome have nothing to do with determining physical characteristics such as height, hair color, eye color, racial characteristics, disease susceptibility, etc. Read full story here:
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1 comments:
Excellent article...extremely enlightening.
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