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It's Evident... NCSTL's e-Newsletter
FROM THE DIRECTOR’S DESK...
This issue of Its Evident finds the staff at NCSTL as busy as ever. Here’s what’s new:
FROM THE RESEARCH DESK...
TECHNOLOGY AND DISTANCE EDUCATION NEWS During the first half of 2008, two new video elements were added to www.ncstl.org/education. Find out more ... NCSTL ACTIVITIES and PRESS: Find out where NCSTL staff has been and what we’ve been doing, as well as information about our publications, professional associations, and the press coverage we have received. |
July, 2008
RESEARCH FOCUSThe "CSI Effect"—There's No Such Thing as Questions, Just Hidden Answers Television crime dramas in recent years have included increasing amounts of forensic science. As a result of this exposure, jurors may be under the mistaken belief that they are educated about forensic science and investigation procedures. They often expect forensic examinations similar to what is depicted on television, including techniques that may not exist in real life. Such jurors may interpret testimony from technologically unsophisticated investigations as the reasonable doubt necessary to acquit a defendant. Full Paper RESEARCH EXTRAForensic Linguistics: Recognizing Individual Written and Spoken Word Usages and Characteristics Forensic linguistics provides two functions: determining what text means and who wrote it.1 Experts in this field assist with investigations and have worked with attorneys in this capacity for over 20 years.2 The 1993 Daubert decision holds that trial judges must conduct a two-pronged test of admissibility by evaluating proffered expert witness testimony to determine both relevancy and reliability. Since that decision, the need for forensic linguistic expert testimony has increased and has made it imperative to prove scientific reliability of forensic linguistic findings.3 These experts are now being called to the witness stand to analyze spoken words and handwritten or computer-generated documents. Full Paper SPOTLIGHT ON LODISLODIS, a New Investigative Tool: DNA Is Not Just Court Evidence Linked directly to Police Chief Magazine where this article was published in April, 2008. LODIS, a New Investigative Tool: DNA Is Not Just Court Evidence Anymore is collaboratively written. On December 2006, the Palm Bay, Florida, Police Department (PBPD) and DNA Security, Inc. (DNA:SI LABS), collaborated to develop a local agency databank of forensic DNA evidence for use on most crimes. The project was established to determine if mass collection of DNA from common crimes and subject reference samples, placed into a database, could be developed into an effective investigative evidence tool, identifying criminals and ... Read more |