Above all, we have learned that DNA impacts exoneration. DNA plays a huge role in the criminal justice system and the forensic field. After reading the article “Wrongful Convictions and DNA Exonerations: Understand the Role of Forensic Science” written by Gerald M. La Porte we learned that DNA could identify many factors such as where a person might have been, blood stains identifying a person or maybe an animal, shell casings identifying what gun it was shot from and how long ago it was shot, etc. As seen in Herman William’s case, he was convicted based on a false confession, police misconduct, and false DNA. However, Mr. William’s was exonerated after having a DNA retest showing that his DNA was not on the victim’s fingernails proving that he wasn’t the attacker as the victim was being defensive. “DNA testing completed in 2021 and performed on biological material collected from under Ms. Williams’ fingernails during the autopsy — which was significant because she had clearly struggled with her attacker — revealed male DNA that does not belong to Mr. Williams.” After researching for a few weeks, I have found a few things that surprised me. The articles all had a few things in common and one of those things was the factors that contribute to false convictions. Almost all false convictions happen because of government misconduct, police misconduct, false admissions, inadequate defense, mentally ill being taken advantage of, and inaccurate data. DNA is so important because it differentiates different people based off the results taken on of a person’s or animal’s skin, saliva, semen, blood, or hair. That’s what really surprised me, our government has such a big budget for the criminal justice system yet so many “mistakes” happen. I believe that forensic scientists/analysts and law enforcement agencies should know greatly about the power of forensic science. In the text above, Herman William’s is a great example of how forensic science can impact one’s sentencing. Not only may it impact one’s sentencing but expose corrupt officials such as the detective that was working on the Herman William case. Learning how DNA impacts exonerations was very important to learn about because it shows the importance of structure in our criminal justice system, it also shows even how much structure the system has there are always mistakes and wrongdoings happening because of corrupt individuals and government misconduct.