Explains how the NIBIN database works to search for possible connections between bullets or casings fired a separate crime scenes. Explains that every NIBIN lead must be verified by a firearms examiner. The NIBIN technician report of a lead is not sufficient reliable and should not be the basis of testimony. Advises prosecutors not to …
Featured Articles
Field Sobriety Tests and THC Levels Unreliable Indicators of Marijuana Intoxication
Researchers investigated how marijuana affects skills required for safe driving and found that biofluid levels of THC did not correlate with field sobriety test performance or marijuana intoxication, regardless of how the cannabis was ingested.
Field Sobriety Tests and THC Levels Unreliable Indicators of Marijuana IntoxicationRead More
Safe, Efficient, Reliable: New Science in the Fight Against Killer Drugs
NIST article about testing of drugs that may contain fentanyl or other dangerous synthetic opioids. The article contains video clips showing how powder substances can contaminate various surfaces in laboratories and addresses ways that labs work to eliminate contamination.
Safe, Efficient, Reliable: New Science in the Fight Against Killer DrugsRead More
Biological Evidence in the Courtroom: Mandatory Judicial Inquiry
Mar. 23, 2021 SOG blog post by Jacquelyn Greene about requirements for preservation and disposal of biological evidence
Biological Evidence in the Courtroom: Mandatory Judicial InquiryRead More
Guidelines for Digital Forensics First Responders
Interpol guidelines for best practices for search and seizure of electronic and digital evidence
Cognitive bias in forensic pathology decisions
Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus:
The Science and The Law
National District Attorneys Association resource guide
Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus:<br>The Science and The LawRead More
NIST Study Will Help Labs Distinguish Between Hemp and Marijuana
PG Software and the Courts: The Verdict So Far
Bruce Budowle provides an overview of challenges to STRMix and other PG software for The Prosecutor magazine.
NIST Scientific Foundation Reviews
Document outlining NIST’s approach to conducted scientific foundation reviews (including data sources used, evaluation criteria, and expected outputs) of DNA mixture interpretation, bitemark analysis, digital evidence, and firearms examination.
Policy and procedure recommendations for the collection and preservation of eyewitness identification evidence
Wells, G. L., Kovera, M. B., Douglass, A. B., Brewer, N., Meissner, C. A., & Wixted, J. T. (2020). Policy and procedure recommendations for the collection and preservation of eyewitness identification evidence. Law and Human Behavior, 44(1), 3–36. The Executive Committee of the American Psychology-Law Society appointed a subcommittee to update the influential 1998 scientific review …
Forensic Footwear Reliability
Three NIJ-funded research articles on the reliability of footwear comparisons were published in 2020. Part I—Participant Demographics and Examiner AgreementPart II—Range of Conclusions, Accuracy, and ConsensusPart III—Positive Predictive Value, Error Rates, and Inter-Rater Reliability
FBI admits flaws in hair analysis over decades
The Justice Department and FBI have formally acknowledged that nearly every examiner in an elite FBI forensic unit gave flawed testimony in almost all trials in which they offered hair comparison evidence against criminal defendants over more than a two-decade period before 2000. Of 28 examiners with the FBI Laboratory’s microscopic hair comparison unit, 26 …
Portable NIST Kit Can Recover Traces of Chemical Evidence
A chemist at NIST has developed a portable version of his method for recovering trace chemicals such as environmental pollutants and forensic evidence including secret graves and arson fire debris. The briefcase-sized kit could enable detectives, field inspectors and others to carry with them a convenient version of NIST’s “headspace analysis” technique, which identifies solid or …
Portable NIST Kit Can Recover Traces of Chemical EvidenceRead More
Improving a Database to Help Identify a Vehicle by Using Paint Fragments
For years, investigators have relied on the Paint Data Query database to identify the make of a vehicle by matching the physical attributes, chemical composition, and infrared spectrum of the paint, primers, and clear coating layers. However, there are concerns with the database, generic coding being one of them.
Improving a Database to Help Identify a Vehicle by Using Paint FragmentsRead More