Dear Mirror Lawyer, Is DNA effective in aiding policing and criminal investigations in Ghana? Can a suspect be compelled by the police to submit to a DNA test?

Tony Martinson, Tema.

Dear Tony, DNA is the short form for a scientific term called DeoxyriboNucleic Acid. DNA profiling is a forensic technique used to identify individuals by characteristics of their DNA.

A DNA profile may vary from one individual to another. These DNA variations can be used to identify people or at least distinguish one person from another just in the same way as fingerprints are unique to an individual.

DNA is the modern way of determining a person’s parentage and criminal activity, among others. It is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms.

The DNA material governs the inheritance of eye colour, hair colour, stature, bone density and many other human and animal traits. Our body’s cells each contains a complete sample of our DNA.

There are muscle cells, brain cells, liver cells, blood cells, sperm cells and others. Basically, every part of the body is made up of these tiny cells and each contains a sample or complement of DNA identical to that of every other cell within a given person though there are a few exceptions such as our red blood cells which lack DNA.

First developed and used in 1985, DNA profiling is used in, for example, parentage testing and criminal investigations to identify a person or to place a person at a crime scene, techniques which are now…