If you're a fan of crime shows such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, you're likely familiar with the term "DNA." In the past decade, advances in DNA testing have helped convict criminals, while eliminating possible suspects.

This powerful criminal justice tool: deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA is used to pinpoint criminals with incredible accuracy when biological evidence has been left at a crime scene. However, DNA is also being used to clear suspects and exonerate innocent people who have been convicted of crimes they did not commit.

Ways DNA Solves Crimes

According to the United States Department of Justice, DNA solves crimes by:

• Sampling a suspect's DNA, and comparing it to evidence collected from the crime scene.
• When there's no suspect, comparing DNA evidence left behind at the crime scene to offender profiles in DNA databases used by state and federal agencies.
• Linking crime scene evidence to other crime scenes through DNA databases.

In the 1980s, the federal government established a system for local, state, and federal DNA databases so DNA information can be stored and exchanged. This system is known as the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).

CODIS maintains the DNA profiles from local, state, and federal agencies; the DNA information is made available to law enforcement agencies nationwide for solving crimes. CODIS is a remarkable system, and can even link DNA evidence from different crime scenes, in effect identifying serial rapists and murderers.

In order to take full advantage of CODIS's investigative potential, in the late 1980s and early 1990s states began passing laws that required offenders convicted of certain offenses to give samples of their DNA.

Currently, the federal government and all 50 states have laws in place that require DNA samples be collected for certain categories of offenders.

Was your DNA recently collected after an arrest or in connection to a criminal investigation? Contact a criminal defense lawyer immediately to ensure that your rights are protected!