
Despite being a relatively recent field, it had a significant global influence on both criminal justice system and society. After some years, a chemical company named Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) introduced the first ever commercially available kit to the world. Pitchfork's profile matched that of DNA left by the murderer which confirmed Pitchfork's presence at both crime scenes he pleaded guilty to both murders. Pitchfork was arrested, and his blood was sent to Jeffrey's lab for processing and profile development. Another coworker reported the deception to the police. Pitchfork, a local bakery employee, had coerced his coworker Ian Kelly to stand in for him when providing a blood sample-Kelly then used a forged passport to impersonate Pitchfork.


In the murder inquiry, led by Detective David Baker, the DNA contained within blood samples obtained voluntarily from around 5,000 local men who willingly assisted Leicestershire Constabulary with the investigation, resulted in the exoneration of Richard Buckland, an initial suspect who had confessed to one of the crimes, and the subsequent conviction of Colin Pitchfork on January 2, 1988. The process, developed by Jeffreys in conjunction with Peter Gill and Dave Werrett of the Forensic Science Service (FSS), was first used forensically in the solving of the murder of two teenagers who had been raped and murdered in Narborough, Leicestershire in 19. These discoveries lead to the first use of DNA profiling in a criminal case. These patterns were a part of inherited traits that could be used to advance the field of relationship analysis. Jefferys discovered that a DNA examiner could establish patterns in unknown DNA. The first patent covering the direct use of DNA variation for forensics ( US5593832A ) was filed by Jeffrey Glassberg in 1983, based upon work he had done while at Rockefeller University in the United States in 1981.īritish geneticist Sir Alec Jeffreys independently developed a process for DNA profiling in 1985 while working in the Department of Genetics at the University of Leicester. Starting in the 1980s, scientific advances allowed the use of DNA as a material for the identification of an individual. His discovery led to the conviction of Colin Pitchfork in 1988. Background Sir Alec Jeffreys, pioneer of DNA profiling. DNA profiling has also been used in the study of animal and plant populations in the fields of zoology, botany, and agriculture. It is also used in paternity testing, to establish immigration eligibility, and in genealogical and medical research.

DNA analysis intended to identify a species, rather than an individual, is called DNA barcoding.ĭNA profiling is a forensic technique in criminal investigations, comparing criminal suspects' profiles to DNA evidence so as to assess the likelihood of their involvement in the crime. DNA profiling (also called DNA fingerprinting and genetic fingerprinting) is the process of determining an individual's deoxyribonucleic acid ( DNA) characteristics.
