Court Presentation of Fingerprint Evidence PDF Download

Author: William Leo
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781986703499
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
This book is an excellent resource for fingerprint examiners and criminal trial attorneys presenting and defending fingerprint evidence.The book includes extensive case law references, sample questions and answers, and addresses the issues used to challenge fingerprint evidence during Daubert and other evidence hearings. The book is divided into four sections: 1. The Fingerprint Expert in the Criminal Justice System 2. Foundation of Fingerprint Evidence 3. Court Testimony 4. Defending Fingerprint Evidence

Author: Andre A. Moenssens
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780801954191
Category : Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description

Author: Hillary Moses Daluz
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 100042233X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
Fingerprint examiners today are expected to develop, research and defend the scientific basis of their conclusions. Recent emphasis placed on scientific rigor and transparency through documentation has created a culture shift in the field. Many examiners are baffled by the resulting cultural, procedural and scientific distinctions, often becoming overwhelmed when required to testify as an expert witness to explain such concepts in the courtroom. Courtroom Testimony for Fingerprint Examiners addresses all aspects of courtroom testimony as the first book to focus solely on testifying on fingerprint evidence as a comparative science. The book is presented in two parts. Section I addresses general expert witnessing for forensic scientists. This serves as a primer for the novice or a review for experienced witnesses covering such topics as the structure of the criminal justice system and federal rules of evidence, the role of the expert witness, testimony as teaching, presenting challenging scientific concepts to the layperson, court preparation, the three phases of expert witness testimony and landmark court decisions that have shaped the modern landscape of forensic testimony. Section II focuses on specific issues affecting fingerprint examiners and how to field questions during both direct and cross-examination. While such "hot button" topics are absent from currently available texts, this section pays particular attention to these salient, emerging topics. This includes evidentiary challenges to fingerprint evidence, relevant publications such as the PCAST report, nomenclature and standards development, issues surrounding cognitive bias and subjectivity, probability models, error rates and cases of error and how to address issues of minimum point standards in both the empirical and holistic traditions. Both Section I and Section II provide examples and present innovations applicable to latent and tenprint examiners. Features include: Presents a history of fingerprint evidence and current best practices and limits on characterizing fingerprint evidence in court, including appropriate nomenclature Provides current guidelines and recommendations for standards and the courtroom Illustrates how experts can work with attorneys so that the testimony process educates and informs jurors and judges rather than perpetuating an adversarial dynamic Addresses important issues such as cognitive bias, subjectivity, error rates, probability models and ethics As a forensic training instructor for professionals – and previously as a college professor – author Hillary Moses Daluz has spent the past ten years teaching courtroom testimony courses to forensic scientists. Courtroom Testimony for Fingerprint Examiners offers an invaluable resource to forensic scientists, latent print examiners, tenprint examiners, lab personnel in related comparative fields, attorneys, investigative professionals and students enrolled in forensic science university programs.

Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309142393
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 348

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Book Description
Scores of talented and dedicated people serve the forensic science community, performing vitally important work. However, they are often constrained by lack of adequate resources, sound policies, and national support. It is clear that change and advancements, both systematic and scientific, are needed in a number of forensic science disciplines to ensure the reliability of work, establish enforceable standards, and promote best practices with consistent application. Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward provides a detailed plan for addressing these needs and suggests the creation of a new government entity, the National Institute of Forensic Science, to establish and enforce standards within the forensic science community. The benefits of improving and regulating the forensic science disciplines are clear: assisting law enforcement officials, enhancing homeland security, and reducing the risk of wrongful conviction and exoneration. Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States gives a full account of what is needed to advance the forensic science disciplines, including upgrading of systems and organizational structures, better training, widespread adoption of uniform and enforceable best practices, and mandatory certification and accreditation programs. While this book provides an essential call-to-action for congress and policy makers, it also serves as a vital tool for law enforcement agencies, criminal prosecutors and attorneys, and forensic science educators.

Author: Christine Beck Lissitzyn
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781594603709
Category : Evidence, Criminal
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Available in ebook and as print on demand via RedShelf Forensic Evidence in Court covers the use of forensic evidence at trial through expert testimony as well as court challenges to many types of forensic evidence. The case study is the 1973 murder of Penney Serra in New Haven, Connecticut, which remained a cold case until 1997, when Ed Grant was identified based on a fingerprint match and subsequently convicted. The text examines forensic evidence in the Grant trial, including fingerprint, DNA, blood spatter, and eyewitness identification. It also examines trial strategy, handwriting testimony, polygraph, and exonerations based on newly-discovered DNA. The book examines: What is circumstantial evidence? Is it as good as direct evidence? Why is forensic evidence circumstantial? What causes eyewitnesses to remember a particular face when later events prove that he is not the person they saw? Why does an appeals court allow an evidence ruling of a trial court to stand, even where the appeals court might have made a different decision? Do defendants have a Constitutional right to present certain evidence, such as polygraph, in their defense? How can the court determine if evidence is based on a reliable science that has been reliably applied? This book can be used in courses for the following degrees: paralegal, criminal justice, sociology, and political science. Forensic Evidence in Court is also appropriate for use in a legal specialty course. Assignments include case law research, study of rules of evidence, how to select and prepare an expert witness, comparison of legal tests used to admit forensic evidence, study of standards used to review admission of forensic experts on appeal, and written work demonstrating critical analysis. Any attorney can teach this course, using the Teacher's Manual and sample assignments. Adjuncts experienced in criminal law or extensive use of expert testimony are particularly well suited. Guest lecturers from state forensic laboratories and state law enforcement forensic investigators give added perspective. The author teaches the course through distance education and can offer the course at your institution. She can be contacted at [email protected]. "I am really impressed with this text. It is a brilliant piece of educational/legal writing" -- Rex Gay, Portland State University PowerPoint slides available upon adoption. To see sample slides from this 283-slide presentation, click here. Email [email protected] for more information.

Author: Gary W. Jones
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781933373034
Category : Evidence, Expert
Languages : en
Pages : 114

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Book Description

Author: Mark R. Hawthorne
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1000336441
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 170

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Book Description
Fingerprints: Analysis and Understanding the Science, Second Edition is a thorough update of Mark Hawthorne’s classic written by two professionals with combined experience not only in crime scene investigations but also as court-recognized experts in latent print examination. Designed as a concise text to cover the fundamental techniques and principles of obtaining and analyzing latent fingerprint evidence, the book is laid out and written in an easy to understand format for those front-line professionals collecting and analyzing fingerprint evidence. Over time, the degree of sophistication and education on fingerprints and friction ridge analysis has increased. Ultimately, through scientific study by pioneers in the field, the composition of friction skin soon became evident: that it could be used as a unique identifier of individuals. Now, fingerprints and footprints as unique identifiers—and their use in criminal cases—have become commonplace and an essential component of criminal investigation with most cases involving some component of fingerprint evidence. Divided into two parts, the book begins with the basics of analysis, providing a brief history, systematic methods of identification, fingerprint pattern types and their associated terminologies and current classifications. The second part of the book discusses the identification and presentation of evidence in the courtroom, demonstrating both the traditional, manual method of lifting prints and the newer techniques for automated and live scans. Coverage provides instruction on searching and developing latent prints, storage, and comparison of prints. New to this edition are updated techniques on collecting and preserving fingerprint evidence—including packaging and maintaining chain of custody. More detailed documentation processes, and additional chemical and lifting techniques, are described including use of light sources, latent backing cards and lifting material, casting material, ten print cards, and the enhancement of prints in blood. A discussion of laboratory equipment and comparison tools, the addition of photography techniques, and recent courtroom challenges to fingerprint evidence is also presented. Fingerprints, Second Edition will provide a hands-on, fresh look at the most commonly utilized evidence found at crime scenes: fingerprints. The book will provide law enforcement, crime scene personnel and students just such an opportunity to easily understand and grasp the concepts, and relevant issues, associated with friction skin and fingerprint evidence.

Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309121949
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
In 1992 the National Research Council issued DNA Technology in Forensic Science, a book that documented the state of the art in this emerging field. Recently, this volume was brought to worldwide attention in the murder trial of celebrity O. J. Simpson. The Evaluation of Forensic DNA Evidence reports on developments in population genetics and statistics since the original volume was published. The committee comments on statements in the original book that proved controversial or that have been misapplied in the courts. This volume offers recommendations for handling DNA samples, performing calculations, and other aspects of using DNA as a forensic toolâ€"modifying some recommendations presented in the 1992 volume. The update addresses two major areas: Determination of DNA profiles. The committee considers how laboratory errors (particularly false matches) can arise, how errors might be reduced, and how to take into account the fact that the error rate can never be reduced to zero. Interpretation of a finding that the DNA profile of a suspect or victim matches the evidence DNA. The committee addresses controversies in population genetics, exploring the problems that arise from the mixture of groups and subgroups in the American population and how this substructure can be accounted for in calculating frequencies. This volume examines statistical issues in interpreting frequencies as probabilities, including adjustments when a suspect is found through a database search. The committee includes a detailed discussion of what its recommendations would mean in the courtroom, with numerous case citations. By resolving several remaining issues in the evaluation of this increasingly important area of forensic evidence, this technical update will be important to forensic scientists and population geneticistsâ€"and helpful to attorneys, judges, and others who need to understand DNA and the law. Anyone working in laboratories and in the courts or anyone studying this issue should own this book.

Author: DANIEL. COBLE
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780359129324
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
Everyday Evidence (Federal Court) is a guide book to the Federal Rules of Evidence. It is divided into chapters on the main areas of evidence law. Each chapter contains the rule, a brief explanation, an example, and case law. The case law in this edition mainly consists of Fourth Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court cases. The Federal Rules of Evidence are located in the back of the book.

Author: U. S. Department Justice
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781500674151
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The idea of The Fingerprint Sourcebook originated during a meeting in April 2002. Individuals representing the fingerprint, academic, and scientific communities met in Chicago, Illinois, for a day and a half to discuss the state of fingerprint identification with a view toward the challenges raised by Daubert issues. The meeting was a joint project between the International Association for Identification (IAI) and West Virginia University (WVU). One recommendation that came out of that meeting was a suggestion to create a sourcebook for friction ridge examiners, that is, a single source of researched information regarding the subject. This sourcebook would provide educational, training, and research information for the international scientific community.