Daily Pioneer News

PLATTEVILLE - With the increased public interest in DNA evidence, a forum featuring two faculty members of the University of Wisconsin-Platteville was held to address both the effects on society that defendants cleared by DNA testing can have and society's effects on the recent importance placed on DNA testing.

Joseph LeFevre, a lecturer in UWP's criminal justice department, began the discussion by saying, "I hate to burst anyone's bubble, but DNA isn't releasing that many offenders." According to LeFevre, more people have been released due to erroneous eye-witness testimonies, police errors, false confessions and judicial mistakes. Of the dozen-plus defendants released in Wisconsin, only five were due to DNA evidence.

Due to the human element of mistake, the history of law enforcement features many wrongful convictions based on circumstantial evidence, prosecutorial misconduct and an inadequate defense attorney. At the Dec. 3 faculty forum, LeFevre described a few of these cases that were overturned, focusing on non-DNA related clearings and speaking about the change in public view of these cases due to the "CSI Effect."

The "CSI Effect" is the term used to describe the amount of press that DNA testing has received due to television crime dramas such as "Bones," "Cold Case" and the many incarnations of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation." The effect has led to many jurors not convicting criminals due to a lack of DNA evidence, despite overwhelming evidence of guilt. However, LeFevre stated that the effect hasn't had just negative results, as many younger crime scene investigators who were raised on these crime dramas are collecting more evidence from a crime scene, resulting in an increase of positive results. Programs such as the Wisconsin Innocence Project-law students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who work on questionable cases-also have led to more exonerations.

"DNA is a rallying point. It's something people can understand," said LeFevre when speaking on the hope and effect that DNA has on society. Upon further inquiry, LeFevre also noted that "because of TV, people understand the underlying workings of DNA, yet, it is hard for someone who is not part of the justice system to understand the police process and the court system."

Responding to LeFevre's presentation was UWP associate professor of psychology, Theron Parsons.

"People believe, right or wrong, justice exists in this country," he said.

In countering LeFevre, Parsons spoke of a dependency on DNA evidence in an era where the results of justice are becoming more and more necessary. Before a question and answer session, Parsons closed with a statement that speaks to the hope of, if not reliability on, DNA testing for the future, saying, "We need to believe in the veracity of DNA evidence, because if there is no evidence, there is no justice. If there is no justice, there is no peace."

For more information on DNA testing and its social and psychological effects, contact Joseph LeFevre at (608) 342-1676 or lefevrej@uwplatt.edu or Theron Parsons at (608) 342-1760 or parsonst@uwplatt.edu.

Contact: Joseph LeFevre, criminal justice lecturer, (608) 342-1676, lefevrej@uwplatt.edu Written by: Ryan Werner, UWP Public Relations, wernerr@uwplatt.edu