The Revolution, Reform and Reactions of DNA Testing
After discussing the history day topic of “Revolution and Reform”, both of us decided that DNA fingerprinting and testing would be a good fit with this year’s theme and was something that we were interested in learning more about. We first became aware of this topic after watching crime shows that involved DNA testing like Bones and CSI Miami. It was clear to us that DNA testing and fingerprinting has made an incredible impact on the criminal justice system and that many changes and reforms to the system have come out of this invention. In addition we were intrigued by how DNA Testing could be used or to identify, treat, and potentially cure disease. As we began digging deeper into our topic, we found that it is widely used in the study of human ancestry and to resolve paternity cases and to identify remains of solders, victims of natural disasters, etc. We decided DNA testing would be an exciting project for History Day.
The first step in our research process was to learn about the development of DNA testing. We reviewed an interview with Sir Alec Jeffries, the British scientist who developed the process for DNA testing. It was his process that was first used by the criminal justice system to determine guilt or innocence based on DNA. We discovered a non-profit organization called the “Innocence Project” that is responsible for freeing wrongly convicted people from prison using DNA. We studied several websites, documents and books that explained the different scientific approaches to DNA testing and how DNA fingerprinting is widely used today across many fields and industries. Our research included studying the use of DNA for identification of soldiers and natural disaster victims, as well as for cases involving paternity questions. We also researched the revolutionary things happening with DNA the medical field and the potential ethical issues around testing.
We decided that a website was best way to present our topic as it gave us the opportunity to share our research in a visual way. The website format allows lets us include links to other sites and video material. We also have experience developing other websites. We created our website using nhd.org, and the Weebly website maker. We created our home page first with DNA visuals and within the home page we added links to supporting pages that covered all of areas including: Sir Alec Jeffries and his DNA fingerprinting method, the Innocence Project, the impact on the criminal justice system, revolutionary medical uses and the ethical concerns around DNA testing.
Our topic relates to the National History Day theme because of the revolutionary reforms DNA testing has made to the criminal justice system and its many applications in the fields of identification and medicine. While DNA testing is considered one of the greatest innovations of the modern world it has also led to many ethical issues and concerns over the right to privacy. The uses for DNA testing continue to multiply today.
The first step in our research process was to learn about the development of DNA testing. We reviewed an interview with Sir Alec Jeffries, the British scientist who developed the process for DNA testing. It was his process that was first used by the criminal justice system to determine guilt or innocence based on DNA. We discovered a non-profit organization called the “Innocence Project” that is responsible for freeing wrongly convicted people from prison using DNA. We studied several websites, documents and books that explained the different scientific approaches to DNA testing and how DNA fingerprinting is widely used today across many fields and industries. Our research included studying the use of DNA for identification of soldiers and natural disaster victims, as well as for cases involving paternity questions. We also researched the revolutionary things happening with DNA the medical field and the potential ethical issues around testing.
We decided that a website was best way to present our topic as it gave us the opportunity to share our research in a visual way. The website format allows lets us include links to other sites and video material. We also have experience developing other websites. We created our website using nhd.org, and the Weebly website maker. We created our home page first with DNA visuals and within the home page we added links to supporting pages that covered all of areas including: Sir Alec Jeffries and his DNA fingerprinting method, the Innocence Project, the impact on the criminal justice system, revolutionary medical uses and the ethical concerns around DNA testing.
Our topic relates to the National History Day theme because of the revolutionary reforms DNA testing has made to the criminal justice system and its many applications in the fields of identification and medicine. While DNA testing is considered one of the greatest innovations of the modern world it has also led to many ethical issues and concerns over the right to privacy. The uses for DNA testing continue to multiply today.