Forensics Chapter One

Definitions 

  • Forensic Science 

  • Any science applied to the law 

  • Science of association 

  • Emphasis on science 

  •  Scientific method 

  • Principles of biology, chemistry and physics 

  • CSI Effect 

  • Jurors were watching CSI, and they believed the forensics scientists did something wrong or weren't doing enough 

 

History  

  • Mattieu Orfila 

  • “Father of Toxicology” 

  • He improved the field and wrote lots of books 

  • LaFarge Case 

  • A lady killed her husband with Arsenic. The scientists couldn't detect the arsenic and Mattieu did the test correctly and found it 

  • Alphonse Bertillion 

  • Anthropometry  

  • First person to try and individualize  

  • Francis Galton 

  • Fingerprinting, specifically the uniqueness  

  • And their classification - along with Henry Faulds 

  • Leon Lattes 

  • He was the first to do ABO Blood typing on dried bloodstains 

  • Karl Landsteiner developed ABO blood typing 

  • Calvin Goddard 

  •  Forensic Ballistics  

  • St. Valentines Day massacre 

  • Sacco & Venzetti  

  • Albert Osborn 

  • Document Analysis 

  • Walter McCrone 

  • Forensic Microscopy  

  • Hans Gross 

  • Judge 

  • Really big on the use of forensics from a law perspective  

  • Edmond Locard 

  • If you exchange material with your surroundings, your material exchanges surroundings with you. 

  • Locards Exchange Principle  

  • “Every contact leaves a trace” 

 

The Crime Lab 

  • First Crime Lab: LA 1923 

  • Largest crime lab : FBI Lab 

  • Now 

  • 411 public crime labs 

  • 1960’s Boom 

  • Supreme Court put an emphasis on scientifically evaluated evidence  

  •  Drug Boom 

  •  DNA Profiling 

  • Disorganized because of such rapid growth 

 

Accreditation 

  • About 80% of crime labs are accredited 

  • Definition 

  • Set of agreed upon standards that a crime lab follows & an accrediting body audits. Every four years you get a full audit. They look at every case and all the paperwork. If you make too many mistakes you lose your accreditation  

  • Accrediting Body  

  • ANAB - ANSI National Accreditation Board 

  • ANSI - American National Standards Institute  

  • Standard to which crime labs are held – ISO 17025 

  • International Standard Organization 

  • Any sort of testing lab is held to this standard 

 

National Academy of Sciences Report 

  • Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forwards 

  • Came out in 2009 

  • 13 recommendations 

  • Number 7 was requiring mandatory accreditation 

  • Identified Problem Children 

  • Handwriting 

  • Firearms/bullets 

  • Tool marks 

  • Footwear impressions 

  • Tire impressions 

  • Bitemarks 

  • Fingerprints 

Sections 

  • Physical Sciences – own section or split 

  • Controlled substances – drugs outside of a person, they haven't taken the drugs yet 

  • Trace – hairs, fibers, paint 

  • Arson/explosives 

  • Biology 

  • Serology – Identification of body fluids 

  • DNA  

  • Databases 

  • Firearms 

  • Bullets and casings, trajectory  

  • GSR – gunshot residue 

  • Questioned Documents 

  • Handwriting 

  • Paper/ink analysis 

  • Photography 

  • Different types of light 

  • Other fields 

  • Psychiatry, odontology, engineering, digital 

  • Optional 

  • Toxicology 

  • Drugs inside people 

  • Might be combined with medical examiner 

  • Latent Fingerprints 

  • Often officers or former officers 

  • Crime Scene investigators 

  • Commonly found attached to law enforcement 

  • Evidence Technicians 

  • Usually attached and trained by crime lab 

  • On-call and trained to be familiar with all kinds of evidence 

  • Extremely Optional 

  • Polygraph 

  • Usually on law enforcement side 

  • Not used very much except for employment 

  • Voice Print Analysis 

  • More commonly found under digital forensics 

 

Scientific Method 

  • If there is something in question 

  • Provides consistency 

  • Everyone should get the same answer 

 

What does a forensic Scientist do 

  • Apply different methods to different aspect of evidence examination 

  • Usually physical evidence 

  • Write reports based on examinations 

  • Testify in court about their findings 

  • Expert Witness 

 

Expert Witness 

  • One type of witness 

  • Can testify on their opinions 

  • Due to their skills/education 

  • You can be accepted as an expert witness 

  • Voir Dire 

  • Direct and Cross 

  • Why can’t someone just read the report we wrote? 

  • Melendez Diaz v Massachusetts 

  • 2009 supreme court decision 

  • Sixth Amendment 

  • Confront witnesses 

  • Based on Crawford v. Washington 

  • Upheld by Bullcoming v. New Mexico 

Admissibility of Evidence 

  • New type of analysis or new type of evidence 

  • Can you testify about it 

  • Several different standards for admissibility  

  • Frye 

  • Frye v. United States 

  • Set forth in 1923 

  • One criteria 

  • General acceptance 

  • States that use Frye 

  • Illinois 

  • Minnesota 

  • New York 

  • Pennsylvania 

  • Washington 

  • Daubert 

  • Daubert v. Merrel Dow Pharmaceuticals 

  • 1993 

  • Established Judge as gatekeeper 

  • 5 criteria for admissibility  

  • Technique  

  •  Published and peer reviewed  

  • Error rate can be calculated   

  • Standards exist for this technique  

  • Widespread acceptance 

  • Covered only scientific evidence until Kumho tire v. Carmichael 

  • Expanded to technical knowledge 

  • Most States use Daubert 

  • Including CT 

  • Some use other standard or combinations 

  • Federal Rules of Evidence 

  • Specifically Rule 702 

  • 3 Criteria 

  • Based on sufficient evidence or data 

  • Product of reliable principles and methods 

  • Principles are applied reliably  

  • All federal cases use this standard 

Other legal considerations 

  • Brady v Maryland 

  • “discovery” 

  • Prosecution has to give defense access to exculpatory evidence 

  • The defense doesn't have to ask 

  • Up to state to determine what is discoverable 

  • Problems with prosecution being stingy