igh
ec
J Iler EllZalteUl
Capital News Service
LA SI G - Criminals who
have eluded pro ecution for
lac of evidence may now be
convicted - beyond a respon-
ibl doubt - by a microscopic
technology that is about to make
a big imp ct in Michigan.
. D A fingerprinting enables
investigator to chemically
tr ce cell samples from blood,
m n, or even ingle hair and
connect them to suspect.
Through D A, police can also
eliminate suspects and identify
dead r missing people.
ill a relatively new proce­
dure for identifying people,
D A testing i not currently.
done in the tate. Michigan
police agencies- will no longer
have to rely on already-bac -
logged,out-of- t· te lab to test
their evidence for D A.
Michigan tate Police offi­
cially opened it wn DNA
fingerprinting lab in East Lans­
ing a month ago nd expects it
to be fully 0 rational by mid-
ummer. The next six to nine
month will be pent CUing up
equipment and validating the
operation.
"Every ca e has to be per-
CHJGAN CfTlZEN p. !t
e
,
t arms s ate police for precise 1.0.
. - . I
feet," said Charles Barn, DNA I the blocks aren't carefully or-
lab supervisor. "The way courts . Th making of a 0 A "fingerprint" ganized, the case will fall apart.
today scrutinize new tech- A DNA fingerprin looks like a bar code. Since DNA is as individual as a "The goal we've set with
nologies, we have to be fingerprint, band pall rns can be used to identify people. DNA are that if we consciously
.. prepared for attorneys and determine paternity and solve crimes. approach nd develop 0 A,
courts to go through our lab and we re providing the criminal
check it blow by blo ." W-' [l;J justice system with a tool that
D A, or deoxyribonucleic . _�=-. . will help courts decide cases
. cid, is genetic material that is .. responsibly," Barn said.
unique to each individual. It is D A is expected to have the
contained in nearly every cell in 2. ""' ..... _ ..... Faded most imp ct in criminal sexual
L h bod ""-- .AU 3. 0 fragments are sep ed I h
the uman y. Only a few trom blood. in 0 bands and trans rred � a assau t cases, owever it can
cells are needed for examina- nylon meni>rane. also be used to prove or dis-
tion, so a small blood st in or a I . prove paternity or to identify
hair with an intact root can be dead people from large dis-
u d 10 tc 1 for D A. em n, 1_=- II asters such as plane crashes.
often th only evidence avail- Barna aid he' expects the
able from a sexu I assault vic- ... MSP lab will cxamin abouf200
tim, i parti�ularly rich in DNA. evidence samplers per month t
DNA looks lik a doubl - a cost of about $100 per ample.
tranded piral which is wound !:v�� :n� :;��,.: Most of that money pa fo the
tightly. The strands are bonded called a ONA ngcrpMt. three technicians who will do
by four chemical building the wor �y hand. Ittak about
blocks which alternate in a pat_four to IX week to an lyz a
tern unique to.each Individual. sample because there is no
In the crime lab, the DNA i u e it to prove the source of the another finger or branch t Con- automation involv d in the
extracted from the evidence. biological material at a crime sider, The final step or'this tech- proce.
sample and the band are . cene. A .. reliable a' D Ai, niquc has to be d n with
chemically scpcratcd int6 fr g- the technology L only a good as . con cicncc," . aid Barna.
ments which line up in a pattern the investigators who usc it in Proper vcight mu t be given
unique to the individual. Only ceurt. 10 DNA evidence in the trail •
identical twins have DNA that "DNA bring 10 llS an ex- proce s. Barna . aid that
breaks up into the arne pat- tr aordiriary technique. What pro c cut or s prc nt th
tern . we're looking at i a quantum evidence bloc by bl ck. DNA
D A i a pov erful forensic jump. But, the important thing evidence i the mortar that •
1001 because mvcstigator can to realize is that it's given u hold tho. e block together. If
Sigma
By Jim L tickford
��cp_;tq! l'!..CJ..V: �e[Vlce
LA 'Sll '(j - For many
people . iffcring from mental
iIlne , th greatest problem
they face is not the illness, but
the tigma of mental illnc
•• J
Michigan's Office of
Recipient Rights is attempting
to help the media and the public
under land what mental health
I. .
Recipient Right .. Director
John Sanford says history has
branded the mentally ill.
AACP Executive Director Benj min L. Hoo (R)
pre nts pl qu on behalf of the major civil right organiza­
tion to AFL-CIO Union Pre 'dent Lane Kirkland to honor
olid rity" between the two ovements t union' enni
convention in hin D.C., ere Po' olidarit)"
leader, Lech W , lso ddre the co vention. Hoo
pn d Kir land and labor' ro In-the ongoing truggle for
civil, economi political and human rights in t e United
es, Atri d throughout the orld
Sanford said there' little dif­
ference between an article
about a mad gunman who the
gunman may have in been in-
titutionalizcd, or a motion pic­
ture depicting a per on with a
developmental disability
referred to as an imbecile.
"Th branding practice i the
arne. The effect i that it
dchum nizcs the individual.
Our society ha stigmatized
both per n with dcvelopmen­
tal di abilities and per on.
I belled mentally ill, and by
ding ha relegated them to
being lcs than human."
Mark Rein ticn, ental
Health A sociati n of Michigan
a sistant executive director,
agrees with Sanford, and thinks .
the m dia can do more (0 help
dispel public tereotypc .
I think there are a number of
things th t can be done,"
Reinstein said. "We can see
more covera · of what mental
ilIne is, and what mental iIl­
ne . not. The print media can
stop u ing he dlin that in­
volve 'mentally ill'. If a per on
h a history of mental ilIne , it
u ually find i way into the
headline. An alternative could
be to use the word 'person' and
exp in bou the mental iU
in the story."
Rein tein said a lot of people
just read the headline , and
• those kinds of he dlin give the
imor ion that all mentally ill
people, or people who have uf-
fered from mental iIIne in the
past, arc dangerou .
"Most pap r have policy
where they don't mention r ce,
religion, 'ex, or age unle it is
important to the. tory. It would
be nice if people suffering from
mental illne , got the arne con­
sideration," Reinstein aid.
In 1987, th . Mental Health
As.ociation conducted a
telephone poll in Michigan, and
found that residents thought
mentally ill p ople wer more
.. npredict blc" and more "un­
employabl " I en ·the r 1 .of
icty.
"That's not true, and tho c
mi conception are omcthing
the media can do omething
about," Rein tein aid. "There
arc a lot of i ue the media can
cover better, and mental illne
is one of them. All we s is th t
people and the media be more
cnsitivc to the concern of
people who uffer from a di -
case.'
Reinstein cited an ct. 23,
19 Detroit Free Pre article
as an example of media insen­
sitivity. The headline re d," 2
Cop , Mentally III Man ) in."
According to police, the
suspect Chari Knowle ot
and killed two Detroit police of­
ficers on Oct 22, 1988. Kno le
suffered (rom a nu ber of
seriou ment I iIlne es, nd
h d been institutionalized in the
past.
Conti do
C·YiI Rights to'
reveal study
of higher
education
The Michigan IV! Rights
Commi ion i xpected to dis­
cu and rei a e it report on
ivil Right in Higher Educ -
ti n on M nday, Deccmb r 11
at 10 a.m. in Detroit.
The Commi ion will meet
t the tate f Michigan Plaza
Building, 1200 ixth treet
(corn r of ixth and Howard),
ivil Righ nference Room,
'eventh F1 r.
The rep rt i ba ed 0 tes­
timony from four regional
publi hearin at colleg nd
univer ities around the tate.
The ommi i n al 0 held
. final con ultati n with univ r-
it y and c lleg offici I w
I ted rpe entation to
"Similaritie and Difference :
Enhancing Min rity ucce in
the Univer ity mmunity."
Commi ion hair Benny
N poleon aid, "It' no ecret
that ther have been racial t n­
sion on orne of our coli e
camp e and, a result, e
sought public input on thi
i ue. Now, we r re dy to
relea our findings nd recom­
mendations which Wi hope will
lead to the d velopment of a
pluraJi tic academic environ- '
ment free of h ra ent, in­
timidation, ten i nand
violence."
Copie of th report will
vailable at th meeting. Pre i­
den of Michigan' four-ye r
. titutions h ve been invited to
ttend.
17