The 2016 President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology Report found that latent fingerprint analysis is a foundationally valid subjective methodology, but with a false positive rate that is substantial and is likely to be higher than expected by many jurors based on longstanding claims about the infallibility of fingerprint analysis. Conclusions of a …
Resources
PCAST Report
The 2016 President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology Report concluded that “bitemark analysis does not meet scientific standards for foundational validity, and is far from meeting such standards. To the contrary, available scientific evidence strongly suggests that examiners cannot consistently agree on whether an injury is a human bitemark and cannot identify the …
Forensic Science in Criminal Courts: Ensuring Scientific Validity of Feature-Comparison Methods
The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology issued a report (known as the PCAST report) in September 2016. This report assesses the scientific validity and reliability of some important forms of forensic evidence and of testimony. In Jan. 2017, PCAST published an addendum to their report which is available here.
Urine Drug Screening: Minimizing False-Positives and False-Negatives to Optimize Patient Care
Article from US Pharmacist that addresses potential false-positives and false-negatives in urine screens.
State v. Daughtridge, 248 N.C. App. 707 (2016)
Trial court erred in allowing a forensic pathologist’s opinion that the decedent’s death was a homicide as opposed to a suicide that was based on his interpretation of non-medical information conveyed to him by law enforcement officers. The State failed to adequately explain how the expert was in a better position than the jurors to …
NIST 3D Ballistics Research Database
Information about a new research database and techniques used in firearm-toolmark comparisons.
State v. McGrady, 368 N.C. 880 (2016)
Affirming the decision below, the NCSC held that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by ruling that the defendant’s proffered use of force expert testimony did not meet the standard for admissibility under Rule 702(a). The court determined that the 2011 amendment to NC Rule 702(a) adopts the federal standard for the admission …
National Protocol for Sexual Abuse Medical Forensic Examinations – Pediatric
April 2016 U.S. Department of Justice protocol for medical forensic examinations of children. See requirements for documentation and photography. For the interview portion of the investigation, attorneys should be aware of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Investigative Interview Protocol.
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PCAST Report
The 2016 PCAST Report found that “firearms analysis currently falls short of the criteria for foundational validity, because there is only a single appropriately designed study to measure validity and estimate reliability. The scientific criteria for foundational validity require more than one such study, to demonstrate reproducibility. Whether firearms analysis should be deemed admissible based on …
Traumatic shaking: The role of the triad in medical investigations of suspected traumatic shaking
Swedish Agency for Health Technology Assessment 2016 review of the available scientific evidence finding: There is limited scientific evidence that the triad and therefore its components can be associated with traumatic shaking (low quality evidence). There is insufficient scientific evidence on which to assess the diagnostic accuracy of the triad in identifying traumatic shaking (very …
Weak DNA evidence could undermine justice, experts say
Chicago Tribune article uses a case example to demonstrate the dangers of using DNA evidence that has very little probative value. New technology is allowing DNA analysis to be performed on very small amounts of DNA which may generate incomplete genetic profiles that may or may not be meaningful in a case.
Weak DNA evidence could undermine justice, experts sayRead More
What’s In a (Trade) Name?
Today, the court of appeals reversed a defendant’s drug convictions because the indictments identified the controlled substances in question using terms that are widely used to describe the drugs, but that are neither the chemical names listed in the controlled substance schedules nor – according to the court – “trade names” for the drugs. Because …
An experimental investigation of the indirect transfer and deposition of gunshot residue: Further studies carried out with SEM–EDX analysis
In this research study, as many as 22 particles were found to have undergone tertiary transfer via a series of handshakes following a firearm discharge. Significant numbers of particles were also recovered from bystanders, with as many as 36 being detected on a sample taken from an individual who was in the proximity of a …
Forensic DNA Mixups
Feb. 2015 Ted Talk video by Dr. Greg Hampikian covers forensic DNA errors including statistical and interpretation errors and contamination issues.
The path forward on bite mark matching – and the rearview mirror
4-part Washington Post series on the flawed “science” of bite mark analysis
The path forward on bite mark matching – and the rearview mirrorRead More