Novel Concepts for the Application of Rapid DNA Technology as a Sentinel Event Prophylactic in the Criminal Justice System

Abstract

Rapid DNA Technology (RDNA) holds the key to the elimination of a significant number of sentinel events. Sentinel events in the criminal justice system may best be explained through the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations’ (JACHO) definition as “an unexpected occurrence involving death or severe physical or psychological injury, or the risk thereof”. The most notable sentinel event in the criminal justice system today is a wrongful conviction – which exposes all attendant parties to significant personal and institutional liabilities. The International Association of Chiefs of Police/U.S. Department of Justice released its August report on the Wrongful Convictions Summit. In the report, there were thirty recommendations to reduce sentinel events in the criminal justice system. Sentinel events are likely the result of compound errors. The recommendations of the Summit Advisory Group focused on preventing the compounding of errors (racial profiling, investigative biases, aggressive interviewing, faulty line-up protocols, false testimony and eyewitness errors) to which Doyle refers. Currently, the public safety community seems to be virtually silent on the use of RDNA as a sentinel event prophylactic in fulfilling the criminal justice system’s goal to protect the blameless while holding the blameworthy accountable. The injection of RDNA at the earliest opportunity in the pre-charging phase of the criminal process may provide relief from the seemingly endless rise of sentinel events in the criminal justice system.