The Most Suitable Way

to Conduct a Criminal Investigation


 

By Cho Eun-hee, Senior, School of Business Administration
 

Nowadays, the number of notorious serial killings and rapes is getting higher and higher. However, the current method of investigating criminals, such as finding bloodstains and fingerprints, is not enough to arrest an offender right away. For example, even though one man rapes a child and leaves semen or pubic hair, it is very difficult to arrest him promptly by using the current method. After all, additional rapes could happen by the same man because of a lack of techniques to catch criminals. Like that, the methods that we have used so far seem to need something more for prevention and quick investigation of many crimes. That is why I totally agree with the idea of building a national database using criminals' DNA which could be an alternative to current investigation methods.
 

At first, I want to tell you two things, the definition of DNA and the origin of using DNA in the field of criminal investigations. DNA stands for Deoxyribonucleic Acid and it is acid in chromosomes in the center of the cells of living things. Simply speaking, as each person has a different appearance, each person has different DNA. In 1983, there were two cases of rape in England and at that time, Dr. Gepris, a professor at the University of Leicester introduced an investigation method using DNA for the first time.

He took the criminal's semen from the bodies of the victims and found a DNA fingerprint. Finally, his investigation could help, to a great extent, find out who the diabolical perpetrator was. Since then, the skill of using DNA has been increasingly developed and now, it has become one of the most important methods of catching criminals.
 

From now on, I will let you know about the reasons why it is regarded as an alternative to current investigation methods. First, the use of DNA will reduce the possibility of the second offense and prevent crimes very effectively. Most of the infamous criminals usually commit serial crimes. Because of this reason, it is very important to arrest those criminals very quickly to prevent second offenses. However, catching the offenders very fast is hardly possible if the police do not use DNA.

For instance, in the case of Yu Young-chul who is the most notorious murderer in Korea. He killed almost 24 people and the police were not able to find who the murderer is. If the police had made a data bank of criminals' DNA before he committed those crimes, the police could have just taken his DNA and compared his DNA with other criminals' by using the database. Furthermore, the police would have arrested him much faster and many victims would have still been alive.

Like that case, now, the most important factor of catching a criminal is saving time to prevent additional victims from being killed by murderers. From this point of view, it is needless to say that setting up a DNA database is urgent. If the police take advantage of the database, the possibility that criminals will be arrested will increase more, and, at the same time, possible criminals or possible second offenders will hesitate to commit crimes once again because of the high possibility of being arrested and improved methods of catching them.
 

Second, the expense and time that the police have to spend pursuing criminals will be saved. According to statistics by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, the police have 200 cases to deal with a day. What is more, there are still a lot of remaining cases that the police have not yet arrested the criminal. Like this, the police are faced with too many cases and suffer from the lack of time to deal with all cases. Especially, if some investigation has been remaining unsolved for a long time, it can cost too much time. Besides, it will waste money due to a delay of time.

In this situation, if the government introduces this database, the waste of time and expenses related to an investigation will be eliminated. In the case of England, a country which built the database of criminals' DNA for the first time, it has 3 million entries on the database and thanks to that, the police could spend less time and money on the investigation. They could find who the murderer is in the actual spot very quickly and their skills to arrest offenders could be improved. Moreover, they said, the budget for an investigation was reduced quite a lot. Like this case, if we set up the database, it will be effective for reducing time and money.
 

Lastly, by building the database, we could be able to focus on a real-evidence investigation not a confessional investigation. So far, the police have depended on confessions from criminals or witnesses. In fact, it is not exact and scientific. Even if somebody makes a false statement, nobody can know. As an illustration, I want to mention one case that happened a few days ago. A female primary school student who is 12 years old accused her own father of raping her. The police firmly believed her statement and after that, the father was sentenced to life in prison. However, in fact, it was her deliberate lie. She frequently left her home, and when she came back, her father scolded her. Because of that fact, she was upset and lived in an academy with her boyfriend.

After that, she pretended that she is a victim of sexual violence, even though she had sex with her boyfriend. This case indicates how ineffective a confessional investigation is and it shows the necessity of introducing more forensic science. In this point, using DNA in the field of criminal investigations could be the most suitable way for a real-evidence investigation. Especially, Korea is one of the countries whose techniques of searching for people by using DNA have advanced quickly. Therefore, if we use the resources of technology, it will bring some positive changes to criminal investigations very effectively. We do not need to depend on confessions of people involved in crime any more.
 

Given the three reasons above, I agree with the introduction of making a database using criminals' DNA. Of course, I understand some concerns about the possibility that it has a reverse effect, such as civil rights violations. However, the government said that the authority to check others' DNA will be given only to the prosecution and police. And also, the information that they can confirm will be limited. In addition, if someone is innocent, the government will guarantee his innocence and remove his DNA from the DNA database immediately. Like that, if it is introduced, our information would be safe and at the same time, notorious criminals will be arrested as soon as possible by using the DNA database.


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Winner’s Remarks

 

I Am on Top of the World!
 


In the morning, as soon as I woke up, I felt blue without specific reasons. Even though I was late for school, I did not do anything for a while and just stared at the sky. After that, suddenly, I started to wash my face and got dressed in a hurry. I tried to take a taxi but there was no taxi in front of my house on that day of all days. For that reason, I had to take a bus reluctantly. On my way to school by bus, I was faced with an accident.

Though it was not that serious, I was not able to attend one class and I had to waste my time to deal with the accident. All of the things on the day made me feel like ten cents once again and it was like "Murphy's Law," if something can go wrong, it will go wrong. However, one call from Chonnam Tribune completely broke the law. At first, I did not believe the fact that I won the Gold Prize in the competition. I thought someone lied to me for fun. However, after realizing it is a real situation, I was on top of the world.


Frankly speaking, almost two years ago, I was not able to imagine writing an essay in English and I was not a person who was fluent in English at all. However, in two years, everything has changed. Now, I can freely write what I want to say in English and enjoy speaking English. In my thoughts, this change is because of BBC, the English Conversation Club at CNU. For almost two years, BBC has encouraged me to study and enjoy English all the time. That is why, now, I sincerely want to thank BBC for this prize.
 

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