Resources
N.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner
The North Carolina Medical Examiner System is a network of medical doctors and allied health professionals throughout North Carolina who voluntarily devote their time, energy, and medical expertise to see that deaths of a suspicious, unusual or unnatural nature are adequately investigated. The OCME investigates all deaths in North Carolina due to injury or violence, …
Medicolegal Death Investigation Subcommittee
The Medicolegal Death Investigation Subcommittee of OSAC focuses on standards and guidelines related to sudden, unnatural, unexplained or suspicious deaths, including homicides, suicides, unintentional fatal injuries, drug-related deaths and other deaths that are sudden or unexpected; determination of the cause and manner of death.
Crime scene forensics: How does it work?
BBC News has posted a series of narrated images that describe various crime scene investigation techniques and laboratory tests.
Overcoming Defense Expert Testimony in Abusive Head Trauma Cases
National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse publication that provides information on how to rebut specific defense arguments.
Overcoming Defense Expert Testimony in Abusive Head Trauma CasesRead More
NC Child Medical Evaluation Program
CMEP has developed a statewide network of providers who perform medical and psychological assessments of children referred by DSS agencies. This website contains information about the program and other resources.
Portable Guides to Investigating Child Abuse
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention publications that might be helpful in evaluating how a child abuse investigation was carried out.
Sudden Unexplained Infant Death Investigation
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guide that teaches techniques for investigating child deaths, including scene investigation, interview techniques, and reporting practices for investigators.
Additional bite mark articles
The bibliographies (here and here) contain citations to published articles on bite mark analysis. If you need access to these articles, contact Sarah Rackley Olson.
Cases Where DNA Revealed that Bite Mark Analysis Led to Wrongful Arrests and Convictions
Article by the Innocence Project identifying concerns with bite mark analysis and discussing five cases where individuals were convicted based largely on bite mark analysis, only to be proven innocent through DNA years later.
Cases Where DNA Revealed that Bite Mark Analysis Led to Wrongful Arrests and ConvictionsRead More
Forensic Ontology – Bitemark Evidence
Blog created by David C. Averill, DDS, and past president of the American Board of Forensic Odontology. It includes articles and news reports on the controversial area of bite mark analysis, as well as information about cases where bite mark evidence has played a role.
Innocence Project’s amicus brief
For a copy of the Innocence Project’s amicus brief in a Frye challenge to the admissibility of bite mark evidence, email Sarah Rackley Olson.
American Board of Forensic Odontology (ABFO) Reference Manual
As of 2016, the ABFO Standards and Guidelines no longer permit conclusions of “exact match” or that a perpetrator made a mark without a doubt. This marks a significant change in the field. The strongest conclusion permissible now is that a person is “not excluded as having made the bitemark.” See p. 94 and 102. …
American Board of Forensic Odontology (ABFO) Reference ManualRead More
Pillbox
This US National Library of Medicine website allows users to learn the possible identity of pills based on their appearance, color, shape, and markings.
PubChem
This National Institute of Health searchable database allows users to search for a compound and learn more about its chemical structure, uses, properties, toxicity, and other information.