This 2013 document traces the development of forensic DNA analysis and its use by the NC State Crime Lab. It attempts to identify what technologies were available at what time. Information about the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Crime Laboratory is not included.
Featured Articles
Hypothesis Testing of the Critical Underlying Premise of Discernible Uniqueness in Firearms-Toolmarks Forensic Practice
Article by William A. Tobin and Peter J. Blau that argues that existing studies that are typically presented in court as support for firearm/projectile comparisons are fatally flawed and thus are of no value for validation of the techniques used. The authors offer a solution that would allow a scientifically defensible opinion to be proffered …
Analysis of experiments in forensic firearms/toolmarks practice offered as support for low rates of practice error and claims of inferential certainty
Article by Clifford Spiegelman and William A. Tobin that evaluates experiments used to justify conclusions of “individualization” or specific source attribution to “100% certainty” and “near-zero” rates of error claimed by firearm toolmark examiners in court testimonies and suggests approaches for establishing statistical foundations for this firearm and toolmark comparisons.
UNC School of Government Blog: Voluntary Intoxication
UNC School of Government Criminal Law blog post by Jeff Welty from June of 2011 about the voluntary intoxication defense in North Carolina.
UNC School of Government Blog: Voluntary IntoxicationRead More
BBC Radio investigative program
Radio program that covers challenges to the reliability of fingerprint evidence, including bias. Includes coverage of the Brandon Mayfield case (from Mar. 10, 2011).
Knife and Saw Toolmark Analysis in Bone: A Manual Designed for the Examination of Criminal Mutilation and Dismemberment
by Steven A. Symes, Ph.D. et al. for the U.S. Department of Justice. Available through the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (2010)
Expert Testimony Regarding Impairment
Shea Denning of the UNC School of Government discusses the adoption of Rule 702(a1) and the admissibility of HGN and DRE evidence. For additional information, contact Shea Denning. She is available as a resource on this topic.
Sworls and Whorls: Litigating Post-Conviction Claims of Fingerprint Misidentification after the NAS Report
by Jacqueline McMurtrie, , Utah Law Review, Vol 2010, No. 2. – addresses uniqueness, individualization and infallibility claims of fingerprint examination, the history of latent print individualization, recent legal challenges to latent print individualization, and the NAS report and its use in post-conviction claims based upon new developments in forensic science.
Suggestive Eyewitness Identification Procedures and the Supreme Court’s Reliability Test in Light of Eyewitness Science: 30 Years Later
by Gary Wells and Deah Quinlivan, Law Hum Behav (2009) 33:1-24.
The Controversy Concerning Gunshot Residues Examinations
by Dennis L. McGuire, M.S., Forensic Magazine – discusses the lack of a uniform standard for GSR analyses based upon validated studies. States that until those studies are completed, “positive determinations of GSR should be seriously scrutinized.”
The Controversy Concerning Gunshot Residues ExaminationsRead More
Daubert Challenges to Firearms (“Ballistics”) Identifications
Article by Paul Gianelli
Daubert Challenges to Firearms (“Ballistics”) IdentificationsRead More
FBI Lab Scraps Gunfire Residue
by Julie Bykowicz, The Baltimore Sun. 2006 article which discusses a 2001 contamination study and the FBI’s decision to no longer analyze gunshot residue in its investigations.
Summary of the FBI Laboratory’s Gunshot Residue Symposium, May 31-June 3, 2005
Article that summarizes the findings of a group of scientists and practitioners who met to address issues with gunshot residue analysis and attempt to create guidelines for this type of analysis. This document references several studies that have been published regarding contamination of subjects and proper collection, testing, and reporting procedures.
Summary of the FBI Laboratory’s Gunshot Residue Symposium, May 31-June 3, 2005Read More
More than Zero: Accounting for Error in Latent Fingerprint Identification
by Simon Cole, Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Vol. 95, No. 3, 2005 – Comprehensive review of what is known about the potential error rate of latent print identification. Includes all known cases of fingerprint misattributions. Examines proficiency test data as well as the profession’s and courts’ efforts to minimize or dismiss fingerprint error. …
More than Zero: Accounting for Error in Latent Fingerprint IdentificationRead More
Eyewitness Identification Procedures: Recommendations for Lineups and Photospreads
by Gary Wills, Mark Small Steven Penrod, Roy Malpass, Solomon Fulero, C.A.E. Brimacombe, Law and Human Behavior, Vol. 22, No. 6, 1998.
Eyewitness Identification Procedures: Recommendations for Lineups and PhotospreadsRead More