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In The News

2015-04-23 | Bloodstain Patterns on Textile Surfaces: A Fundamental Analysis
While DNA evidence might link a person to a particular bloodstain, it does not indicate how it got there and — more importantly — what exactly happened. Bloodstain pattern analysis, on the other hand, is an important forensic tool that can provide useful information that may help fill the gaps in the investigation of the crime. The examination of bloodstains or bloodstain patterns on clothing can provide information about the position, activity, and movements of the wearer during and after the bloodshed event.

2015-04-23 | The science (and lack thereof) behind the FBI’s retreat on hair analysis
However, problems were apparent quite early on. As early as 1976, a paper concluded that “due to the fact that so many of the characteristics coded are subjective—for example, color, texture—it was not possible to get complete reproducibility between two or more examiners coding the same hair." And once DNA analysis became available, problems with this approach were obvious. Researchers at the FBI itself found that in 11 percent of the cases where hair examiners declared hair "similar," DNA testing revealed that there wasn't a match.

2015-04-23 | 15 Suspended after NY State Police Probe
After a six-month internal investigation, the New York State Police are seeking to fire 15 employees for “unauthorized information sharing” regarding a DNA proficiency exam. The employees in question have been issued notices of discipline seeking termination, according to a spokesperson statement, and have been suspended until further notice.

2015-04-23 | Forensic science: The soil sleuth
Dawson saw opportunities to develop new techniques, especially for soil's organic matter — the part made up of dead and decomposed plants and organisms. The advantage of studying organic characteristics is that they vary on the scale of centimetres or metres, whereas inorganic components may be broadly the same over kilometres. “The organic takes you to a much finer spatial scale of resolution,” she says. When combined with soil-survey databases that document a variety of soil characteristics, that resolution could help investigators to use soil attached to a suspect's shoe or tyre to locate a burial site, for example.

2015-04-23 | Uncovering the Smoking Gun is a Team Effort
Today’s investigative teams are buried under a mountain of digital data that comes from an increasing number and variety of sources. As the quantity of potential evidence continues to grow, some might yearn for a simpler time before the latest advances in technology; especially since criminals have become quite efficient at using these tools to hide their crimes and evade detection and prosecution. The communication revolution has brought us an onslaught of data. But technology can also add speed, flexibility, scalability, teamwork and actionable intelligence to the forensic process.

2015-04-23 | Preserving Forensic Evidence after Terrorist Attacks
“Preservation of evidence was key in those first few hours following the Boston Marathon bombing because most of the amputations were being processed while the suspects were at large,” said Cathryn J. Byrne-Dugan, chief resident of the department of pathology and laboratory medicine at the hospital, in a piece published in the Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine this week.

2015-04-23 | New Report Recommends Policies for Improved Preservation of Biological Evidence
All states should have laws ensuring that criminal justice systems properly handle, store and retain forensic biological evidence, according to a new report from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). NIST's guide, Biological Evidence Preservation: Considerations for Policy Makers, encourages legislators, judges, law enforcement officials, crime laboratory managers and other policy makers to implement or update laws that support best practices in this critical area.

2015-04-22 | Lab scandal scuttles Rockland murder sentencing
The analysts are accused of obtaining answers and other information for training exams on a new DNA testing system. They have been suspended after a six-month internal investigation, state police spokesman Beau Duffy said Tuesday. The state police are providing information to local prosecutors so they can evaluate their legal obligations regarding cases that involved the employees, Duffy said.

2015-04-22 | DNA as a Sketch Artist: How Forensic Science Benefits from Physical Predictions
Although the methods described above have advanced to a stage where preliminary predictions may assist investigators in some cases, much work remains. Many more genetic markers must be analyzed in more panels of participants. Likewise, there are many societal, ethical, and legal questions that should be addressed. How do we, as a society, embrace this new technology while exercising caution and vigilance about possible misuse? To what extent could new technologies be used, not just to capture bad guys, but also to prevent unnecessary dragnets of innocent people? And finally, are critics’ objections purely scientific and sociological, or is there an emotional layer of resistance when it comes to the face?

2015-04-21 | Fix the Flaws in Forensic Science
The problem is not limited to hair analysis. Last month, Alabama released a man from death row who had been convicted 30 years ago based solely on ballistics evidence; the state now concedes that the bullets in question did not actually match the weapon used. A few years earlier, Mississippi released two men who had been convicted of separate murders based on testimony that their teeth perfectly matched bite marks on the victims. After the true killer was later identified by DNA, experts concluded the wounds were not human bites after all but were most likely caused by crawfish and insects nibbling on the corpses.