North Carolina Office of Indigent Defense Services
// by Alec Rees
In July of 2019, Virginia became the first US state to acquire a new drug test created by a team of forensic chemists in Switzerland. The 4-AP test, or “Cannabis Typification” or “Swiss Test,” purports to be able to help differentiate between hemp– a legal variety of cannabis– and marijuana. However, laboratory documentation says that …
Newly-Developed Drug Test May Be Able to Help Distinguish Hemp from MarijuanaRead More
// by Alec Rees
As part of our mission to help North Carolina’s public defense community understand forensic science evidence and achieve better outcomes for clients, the office of the Forensic Resource Counsel continues our efforts to make information related to forensic science evidence more easily accessible to attorneys through this website. In that vein, we are pleased to …
// by Alec Rees
On Monday, July 13th, the Electronic Frontier Foundation put out a press release (available here) announcing the launch of their Atlas of Surveillance. The Atlas, created in partnership with the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno, is a searchable database of the specific surveillance technology law enforcement agencies across the country …
The Electronic Frontier Foundation Launches the Atlas of SurveillanceRead More
// by Alec Rees
This past Sunday, on his weekly half-hour HBO show, Last Week Tonight, comedian John Oliver discussed the growing prevalence of facial recognition technology in the criminal justice system. The issue is particularly relevant as protestors in the recent demonstrations demanding justice for George Floyd (and the numerous other BIPOC who have been subjected to violence …
// by Alec Rees
Thursday, June 25, 2020 at 3:00PM If you plan to attend please use this link and we will send you WebEx instructions via email prior to the program. If you have questions please email Sarah.R.Olson@nccourts.org. Description: The webinar will provide essential information about evidenced-based forensic interviews of children in sexual abuse cases. By the end …
Upcoming Webinar: Best Practice Interviewing of Children in Sexual Abuse CasesRead More
// by Alec Rees
This month the National Institute of Justice’s (NIJ) Forensic Technology Center of Excellence published a Digital Evidence Policies and Procedures Manual to be used as a guide for law enforcement agencies. The preface to the manual clarifies that policies and procedures should be tailored to fit each lab’s particular circumstances, and further that a manual …
NIJ Publishes Digital Evidence Policies and Procedures ManualRead More
// by Alec Rees
On May 19th, 2020 the North Carolina Court of Appeals issued its opinion State v. Sasek. Mr. Sasek was convicted in March of 2019 of possession with intent to sell or deliver a schedule II controlled substance and sale of methamphetamine, which led to the revocation of his probation. Defense counsel should be aware of …
State v. Sasek: Importance of making 702 challenges at trialRead More
// by Alec Rees
Thursday, May 21, 2020 at 1:00PM If you plan to attend please register using this link and we will send you WebEx instructions via email prior to the program. If you have questions, please email Sarah.R.Olson@nccourts.org. Dr. Michelle Barrett, a forensic psychologist at Central Regional Hospital, presented this live webinar recently for the NC Conference …
Upcoming Webinar: Determining Malingering and Deception in Forensic SettingsRead More
// by Alec Rees
Even though the courts are currently holding only a limited number of essential hearings to help limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus, attorneys who are teleworking may still need to hold pretrial conferences with forensic scientists. While in-person meetings are not possible at this time, there are still options for holding remote meetings with …
// by Alec Rees
From the National Academy of Sciences, to the Washington Post, to Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, there seems to be consensus that additional research is needed to validate several fields of forensic science. One challenge in collecting sufficient evidence to establish foundational validity is that because there is no ground truth in forensic casework, …
The Blind Leading the Blind: Recent Article Discusses the HFSC Blind Testing ProgramRead More