Helpful Resources

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

I always love John Oliver's take on criminal justice related topics. In this video, he talks about the problems with forensic evidence and the inaccurate perceptions about forensic evidence infallibility.

Evidence Admissibility

Once evidence has been collected at a crime scene and analyzed at a crime laboratory, it must be admitted into a courtroom as part of a criminal or civil case. Here are resources relating to a Daubert admissibility hearing, including sample questions that are asked to establish each of the five Daubert criteria as well as a video summarizing the Daubert v Merrell Dow Pharmaceutical case.

Questions for Daubert Expert Witness.pdf

Bloodstain Pattern Analysis

Death Investigation

In this course, you learn about the lack of death investigation standardization across the United States. Below are two investigations detailed concerns within our present system. Another interesting source is the CDC's map on death investigation. This map shows you the legal requirements for coroners and/or medical examiners for every state.

Frontline Investigations: Post Mortem

Forensic Entomology

Entomology, or the study of insects, is an important component of death investigation. Insects can tell investigators when someone died, what they died from, and if there were drugs or toxins involved in the death.

Forensic Biology

Wrongful Convictions

Nothing is more disturbing than the unjust conviction and incarceration of innocence people. Unfortunately, forensic science evidence has played a role in some wrongful convictions. Luckily, forensic biology - particularly DNA analysis - has played a valuable role in identifying those cases and helping overturn wrongful convictions. In 2016, the National Institute of Justice published the article: Wrongful Convictions and DNA Exonerations: Understanding the Role of Forensic Science. This article is free to download and print, and I encourage you to read through it. Below is a link to a listening session featuring victims and wrongfully convicted persons that accompanied the NIJ article, as well as a YouTube video describing their stories.

NIJ Listening Session Transcript for Wrongful Convictions.pdf

Forensic Chemistry

Fingerprint Identification

The resources provided below will help you understand latent fingerprint comparison process terminology, evaluation strategies, and analysis limitations. These documents were published by the Scientific Working Group on Friction Ridge Analysis, Study and Technology (SWGFAST), which was established to identify best practices in fingerprint analysis.

Fingerprint Examination Standards
SWGFAST Examination Standards.pdf
Fingerprint Examiner Qualification and Training Standards
SWGFAST Examiner Qualifications and Training Standards.pdf
Standard Terminology for Fingerprint Examination
SWGFAST Standard Terminology Guide.pdf

ACE-V Process

The book excerpt provided here is provided by the National Criminal Justice Reference Service. This chapter explains the ACE-V examination method used for fingerprint analysis and summarizes the Quality/Quality debate in fingerprint identification.

Chapter 9 _ Examination Process.pdf

Madrid Bombing Case

An important case relating to fingerprint evidence is the Madrid Bombing Case. This case, which highlighted the problem of implicit bias in fingerprint comparison, shows why blind verification is key to the fingerprint comparison process.