Evidence Found
Evidence Found

Author: David Miranda

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2015-01-05

Total Pages: 199

ISBN-13: 0128020946

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Evidence Found: An Approach to Crime Scene Investigation is not another analysis of forensic errors using an "After the Fact" or "Lessons Learned" approach but a "Before the Fact" guide that examines the thought processes that can lead to those mistakes. Plus a few extras tips and tricks from the author's experience of over 25 years. Many high-profile crime scene investigations (and routine ones, for that matter) have suffered errors that have had negative impact on the investigation result and in the courtroom. Typically, we examine what happened and develop a useful list of what to do and what not to do, fixing the symptoms but potentially leaving ourselves open to the same error type on the next scene. The reason? Many crime scene mistakes are the result of systemic issues that are repeated due to a failure to include an evaluation of the decision-making process, including our own foundations of knowledge. Through case study and logical argument, this book attempts to provide a framework to recognize, evaluate, and alter negative decision-making patterns, including evaluating our own experience, before they negatively impact an investigation or the overall operation of a forensic unit. - Enhances the base concepts of evidence search and sequential processing for error avoidance - Examines the systemic areas/practices of a crime scene investigation where errors can occur - Includes a Evidence Matrix - a crime scene evaluation tool that aids in sequential processing decisions - Contains tips on overcoming common crime scene issues, inlcuding night time searches - Provides courtroom Testimony - communicating comparison findings to a jury

Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States
Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2009-07-29

Total Pages: 348

ISBN-13: 0309142393

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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.

Forensic Evidence Field Guide
Forensic Evidence Field Guide

Author: Peter Pfefferli

Publisher: Academic Press

Published: 2015-01-19

Total Pages: 231

ISBN-13: 0127999256

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Forensic Evidence Field Guide: A Collection of Best Practices highlights the essentials needed to collect evidence at a crime scene. The unique spiral bound design is perfect for use in the day-to-day tasks involved in collecting evidence in the field. The book covers a wide range of evidence collection and management, including characteristics of different types of crime scenes (arson, burglary, homicide, hit-and-run, forensic IT, sexual assault), how to recover the relevant evidence at the scene, and best practices for the search, gathering, and storing of evidence. It examines in detail the properties of biological/DNA evidence, bullet casings and gunshot residue, explosive and fire debris, fibers and hair, fingerprint, footprint, and tire impression evidence, and much more. This guide is a vital companion for forensic science technicians, crime scene investigators, evidence response teams, and police officers. - Unique Pocket Guide design for field work - Best practice for first evidence responders - Highlights the essentials needed to collect evidence at a crime scene - Focus on evidence handling from documentation to packaging

Failed Evidence
Failed Evidence

Author: David A. Harris

Publisher: NYU Press

Published: 2012-09-03

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 0814790550

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With the popularity of crime dramas like CSI focusing on forensic science, and increasing numbers of police and prosecutors making wide-spread use of DNA, high-tech science seems to have become the handmaiden of law enforcement. But this is a myth,asserts law professor and nationally known expert on police profiling David A. Harris. In fact, most of law enforcement does not embrace science—it rejects it instead, resisting it vigorously. The question at the heart of this book is why. »» Eyewitness identifications procedures using simultaneous lineups—showing the witness six persons together,as police have traditionally done—produces a significant number of incorrect identifications. »» Interrogations that include threats of harsh penalties and untruths about the existence of evidence proving the suspect’s guilt significantly increase the prospect of an innocent person confessing falsely. »» Fingerprint matching does not use probability calculations based on collected and standardized data to generate conclusions, but rather human interpretation and judgment.Examiners generally claim a zero rate of error – an untenable claim in the face of publicly known errors by the best examiners in the U.S. Failed Evidence explores the real reasons that police and prosecutors resist scientific change, and it lays out a concrete plan to bring law enforcement into the scientific present. Written in a crisp and engaging style, free of legal and scientific jargon, Failed Evidence will explain to police and prosecutors, political leaders and policy makers, as well as other experts and anyone else who cares about how law enforcement does its job, where we should go from here. Because only if we understand why law enforcement resists science will we be able to break through this resistance and convince police and prosecutors to rely on the best that science has to offer.Justice demands no less.

Evidence-Based Imaging
Evidence-Based Imaging

Author: L. Santiago Medina

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2011-04-28

Total Pages: 672

ISBN-13: 1441977775

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Evidence-Based Imaging is a user-friendly guide to the evidence-based science and merit defining the appropriate use of medical imaging in both adult and pediatric patients. Chapters are divided into major areas of medical imaging and cover the most prevalent diseases in developed countries, including the four major causes of mortality and morbidity: injury, coronary artery disease, cancer, and cerebrovascular disease. This book gives the reader a clinically-relevant overview of evidence-based imaging, with topics including epidemiology, patient selection, imaging strategies, test performance, cost-effectiveness, radiation safety and applicability. Each chapter is framed around important and provocative clinical questions relevant to the daily physician’s practice. Key points and summarized answers are highlighted so the busy clinician can quickly understand the most important evidence-based imaging data. A wealth of illustrations and summary tables reinforces the key evidence. This revised, softcover edition adds ten new chapters to the material from the original, hardcover edition, covering radiation risk in medical imaging, the economic and regulatory impact of evidence-based imaging in the new healthcare reform environment in the United States, and new topics on common disorders. By offering a clear understanding of the science behind the evidence, Evidence-Based Imaging fills a void for radiologists, family practitioners, pediatricians, surgeons, residents, and others with an interest in medical imaging and a desire to implement an evidence-based approach to optimize quality in patient care.

The Rift Valley and the Archaeological Evidence of the First Humans
The Rift Valley and the Archaeological Evidence of the First Humans

Author: Kristina Lyn Heitkamp

Publisher: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc

Published: 2016-07-15

Total Pages: 66

ISBN-13: 1499463200

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East Africa’s Rift Valley has proven a rich source of information about our distant ancestors. Fossil finds there, including the famous Lucy and Turkana Boy, have permanently altered our understanding of how modern humans evolved. Readers will learn about the other hominins—such as the species "Homo erectus" and the genus "Australopithecus"—who help fill out the human family tree. The engaging text explains how archaeologists’ discoveries of bones, tools, early art, evidence of hearths, and other evidence has furthered our understanding of the origins of modern humans. A timeline helps readers understand the chronology of the topic.

Criminal Evidence in Context
Criminal Evidence in Context

Author: Jonathan Doak

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2009-06-02

Total Pages: 532

ISBN-13: 1135246270

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This book explains the key concepts of evidence law clearly and concisely, set against the backdrop of the broader political and theoretical contexts. It helps to inform students of the major debates within the field, providing an explanation as to how and why the law has developed as it has.