North Carolina Office of Indigent Defense Services
// by Sarah Olson
The Legal Aid Society’s DNA Unit is presenting its 6th Annual Forensics Conference on the afternoons of January 27-29. If you have ever wanted to attend, this year is a great opportunity as it is virtual and free to attend. 2020 brought expansion of new technologies (like DNA phenotyping and genealogy), and expansion in the courts’ …
NY Legal Aid Society’s DNA Unit presents 6th Annual Questioning Forensics ConferenceRead More
// by Sarah Olson
Friday, February 5 (9 am to 12 pm)Thursday, February 11 (2 pm to 5 pm) Friday, February 12 (9 am to 12 pm) Forensic evidence, from DNA to fingerprints to ballistics, has never been more important in criminal cases. Actually litigating scientific evidence in the courtroom can be challenging and requires some specialized skills. Duke Law …
// by Sarah Olson
In Dec. 2020, the NC State Crime Laboratory posted a new Forensic Update for criminal justice stakeholders regarding digital evidence. The update addresses how digital evidence should be submitted to the lab and the lab’s examination capabilities. Attorneys should review the Forensic Update to have a better understanding of how the lab will process digital …
Forensic Update from North Carolina State Crime LaboratoryRead More
// by Sarah Olson
Live webinar presented by Brittany Bate, Ph.D.Feb. 4, 2021, 1:00 pm60 min of CLE credit anticipated Mental health practitioners oftentimes find themselves engaging in court-ordered and/or forensic work, whether they are being called to testify regarding a therapy client, asked to perform a violence risk assessment, or tasked with reviewing another professional’s work. However, licensed psychologists have ethical …
// by Sarah Olson
The Mecklenburg County Public Defender’s Office is hosting a free-to-attend CLE webinar on DNA Mixture Interpretation: Conventional and Software-driven Probabilistic Genotyping Methods. Pending approval by the NC State Bar, this CLE is for 2 general hours (1 of which can count as the technology hour) and the State Bar will charge you $3.50/hour. Please register at …
// by Sarah Olson
The latest volume of Behavioral Science Briefs for the Trial Advocate was published recently and is available here. It summarizes research on issues including juror decision-making, mock jurors’ evaluation of firearm testimony, eyewitness identifications, child interviewing, and other topics relevant to the criminal practitioner. A deep understanding of human behavior offers an edge to trial attorneys. …
// by Sarah Olson
Dec. 16, 20201:00 pm via Webex1 hour of general CLE credit anticipated Register for the program here. Dr. William Crozier will present an overview of the 2020 scientific review paper on eyewitness identification evidence published by the American Psychology-Law Society. The paper, “Policy and Procedure Recommendations for the Collection and Preservation of Eyewitness Identification Evidence,” …
// by Sarah Olson
Dec. 10, 20201:00-2:15 pm via WebEx1.0 hours of general CLE credit anticipated Click here to register for the program. Mental health experts routinely rely upon psychological testing when formulating psycholegal opinions. In this 1-hour live webinar, Dr. Maureen L. Reardon will review the role of personality testing in the forensic context and its implications for …
Psychological Testing in Criminal Cases: the Utility of the MMPIRead More
// by Sarah Olson
There have been several posts on this and related topics here and here. This post will attempt to compile all of the resources and walk attorneys through the process of making these challenges. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-87(16) provides the statutory definition of marijuana, specifically excluding from its definition industrial hemp. Industrial hemp, as defined in …
Challenging an officer’s identification of marijuana by sight or smellRead More
// by Sarah Olson
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 Sarah Olson
I posted in June 2020 about conducting mental health evaluations on in-custody clients during the COVID-19 pandemic here. In some cases, evaluations have proceeded. In others, defense teams have sought motions to continue to the dangers inherent in-person mental health evaluations of in-custody clients during the COVID-19 pandemic. This declaration by epidemiologist Eric T. Lofgren, …
// by Sarah Olson
On Thursday November 5th and Friday November 6th, 2020 NIST will present a free-to-attend virtual conference where NIST scientists will discuss how they are using advanced methods in metrology, computer science and statistics to strengthen forensic science. Registration is available here. Topic Areas to be covered: Drugs/Toxins Statistical Methods in Forensic Science Firearms and Tool Marks Forensic …
// by Sarah Olson
Just Science is a forensic science podcast funded by the NIJ’s Forensic Technology Center of Excellence. The current season of Just Science is devoted to digital evidence, including the history and interpretation of digital evidence, emerging technologies used in investigation and as evidence, and the validation of digital forensic tools. Attorneys may be particularly interested …
// by Sarah Olson
Attorneys have asked me whether labs test for saliva, particularly in sexual assault cases. Dr. Maher “Max” Noureddine wrote the Forensic Tests for Saliva: What you should know post for this blog in 2011. His informative post explains how forensic tests for saliva work, including limitations of these tests. He discusses the RSID-Saliva test which …
// by Sarah Olson
Research by Jonathan J. Koehler and Siquan Liu on the accuracy of distinguishing between two close non-matches was published in Sept. 2020. Attorneys should be aware of the error rates presented in this paper, particularly when working on cases involving a match to a suspect developed by searching a fingerprint database. As fingerprint databases grow, …