IDS and the Mecklenburg Public Defender’s Office provide regular continuing education to dozens of NC criminal defense and parent attorneys, investigators, and mitigation specialists who attend the IDS Forensic Science Education Series. In 2024, we will offer monthly 90-minute webinars on various forensic disciplines and preparations for Daubert/702 challenges. These webinars will take place typically …
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Is this all of the data?
In some cases involving cell phone extractions, public defenders and other criminal defense attorneys are being provided with incomplete discovery. When the prosecution provides only PDF and UFED Reader reports to defense counsel, this is not complete discovery. While the UFED Reader reports can be helpful in navigating the phone’s data, the UFED Reader is …
Seeing and Treating Neurodiverse Individuals in the Criminal Justice System
One-day online symposium Mar. 14, 2024 at 9:15 am GMT, 5:15 am ETHosted by the University of Sunderland More information and registration is available here. If you are an attorney handling cases involving clients or witnesses who are neurodiverse, or have a diagnosis of autism or ADHD, you may be interested in this program. The …
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Barriers to accessing mental health care and their impacts on our clients
Live webinar presented by Courtney Lockhart McMickens, M.D., M.P.H., M.H.S.April 4, 2024, 12:30pm90 min of CLE credit anticipated This presentation will define and discuss the concept of structural competency related to mental health. The influence of traumatic stress and social structures on the identification, treatment, and outcomes of mental health concerns will be reviewed. Lastly, there will …
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Finding Medical Experts
Since President’s Day is not a state holiday, I took advantage of the day to spend some time with some important leaders in my world, the experts that are listed in our online database of experts! Our category of medical experts was unwieldy. With over 50 experts from a variety of medical fields listed there, …
Webinar: Disability in the Criminal Legal System
In the United States, disabled individuals are over-represented as both victims of crime and those accused of crimes compared with their non-disabled counterparts. This overrepresentation is even higher for those with disabilities and other marginalized identities. NACDL and RespectAbility are offering a 60-minute webinar will cover the basics of disability, etiquette and language, and inclusion, …
How Novel Uses of DNA Evidence are Changing the Criminal Justice System: NAS Workshop open to criminal defense attorneys
DNA evidence is an evolving tool in criminal investigations and prosecutions and it poses new challenges defenders and our clients. How can defenders effectively represent clients when faced with complex and evolving DNA technologies? How can you ensure that the DNA evidence is reliable, valid, and admissible in court? How can you protect your clients’ …
Webinar: Evaluating Capacity to Proceed
Live webinar presented by Dr. Sherif Soliman and Jason St. Aubin, JDMarch 7, 2024, 12:30pm90 min of CLE credit anticipated This presentation will outline an innovative, collaborate approach to capacity to proceed. Mr. St. Aubin will discuss relevant legal considerations, effective advocacy on behalf of clients who are incapable to proceed, and the role of …
Registration is now open for the “Whiskey in the Courtroom” 10th Annual CLE
Indigent Defense Services, the Duke Law Center for Criminal Justice and Professional Responsibility, and the Wilson Center for Science and Justice are pleased to announce the 10th annual CLE, “Whiskey in the Courtroom: Evolving Trends in Forensic Science.” “Whiskey 10” will take place March 8 at Duke Law School. Forensic science experts and attorneys who have …
Registration is now open for the “Whiskey in the Courtroom” 10th Annual CLERead More
This year, 773,000 people across the country will be arrested based on field drug tests with known accuracy problems
The Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at University of Pennsylvania has conducted a national survey regarding presumptive field drug tests and their role in wrongful convictions across the United States. Many people suspected that the field tests used by law enforcement had problems, but until now no one knew how often, how …
2024 Forensic Trial Litigation CLE at Duke Law
Pre-recorded lectures: 2 hrs February 2: 2 pm to 5 pm (2.5 hrs.) February 3: 9 am to 12 pm, 2 pm to 5 pm (5 hrs.) Total CLE Hours: 2 hrs prerecorded + 7.5 hrs in person = 9.5 hrs(Each three hour in-person session will include two 15 min. breaks) Forensic evidence, from DNA to fingerprints …
What Attorneys Need to Know about ShotSpotter
Live webinar presented by Mitha Nandagopalan, JDDecember 7, 2023, 12:30pm90 min of CLE credit anticipated Police in dozens of cities are increasingly relying on acoustic gunshot detection technology such as ShotSpotter, which purports to use microphones in multiple locations along with artificial intelligence to identify and locate gunfire. The technology, however, presents serious evidentiary and constitutional …
Introducing the new State Crime Lab Ombudsperson
The State Crime Lab recently got a new Ombudsperson who may be familiar to many of you: former IDS Defender Administrator Susan Brooks. As Ombudsperson, Susan will be responsible for addressing concerns about the Crime Lab’s policies, procedures, and actions. She will also assist in mediating conflicts and resolving complaints, and she will apprise the …
Substitute Analyst Testimony and Smith v. Arizona
Originally posted on North Carolina Criminal Law, A UNC School of Government blog I mentioned in a recent News Roundup that the U.S. Supreme Court granted review in Smith v. Arizona. The case tees up a question that has been lingering since at least 2012: Does the Confrontation Clause permit the admission of substitute forensic analyst testimony? This …
Law Enforcement Use of Digital Evidence
Live webinar presented by Spencer McInvailleNovember 2, 2023, 12:30pm90 min of CLE credit (technology hour) anticipated Do you know what FLOCK, ALPRs, open source investigations, infotainment systems, reverse Google searches, Fusion Centers and real time crime centers are? You need to because law enforcement may be using them to investigate your cases. The presentation will …