ABSTRACT
Science-based DNA criminal case profiling, developed in the late 1980s, quickly ushered in a new age of criminal justice system inquiry because of its unparalleled ability to match biological crime evidence to known suspects and, in particular, to exonerate prisoners. By conclusively proving criminal justice system error at levels never before imagined, DNA technology launched the “innocence movement.” The DNA exonerations of hundreds of individuals who were wrongly convicted and sentenced clearly demonstrated that the American criminal justice system was faulty. The fact that many were sentenced to death helped to focus more attention on wrongful convictions.
