Term
| Frye v. United States 293 F. 1013 |
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Definition
| 1923, Defendant charged with 2nd degree homicide, took a polygraph test, courts needed to know how reliable this "systolic blood pressure deception test". |
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Term
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Definition
| Requires that "the things from which the deduction is made must be sufficiently established to have gained general acceptance in the particular field in which it belongs." |
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Term
| 1993 - Daubert v Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals |
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Definition
| U.S. Supreme court asserted that the Frye Standards is not an absolute prerequisite to the admissibility of scientific evidence. Trial judges were said to be ultimately responsible as "gatekeepers" for the admissibility and validity of scientific evidence presented in their courts, as well as all expert testimony. |
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Term
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Definition
| Rule 702 of the Federal Rules of Evidence: If scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will asset the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education, may testify thereto in the form of an opinion or otherwise. All federal courts must use the Daubert Standards, California uses Frye Standards. |
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Term
| Daubert criteria for admissibility |
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Definition
| 1) Whether the scientific technique or theory can be tested, 2) Whether the technique has been subject to peer review and publication, 3) The techniques potential rate of error, 4) Existence and maintenence of standards, 5) Whether the scientific theory or methid has attracted widespread acceptance within a relevant scientific community. |
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Term
| Kumho Tire Company., Ltd. V. Carmichael 526 U.S. 137 (1999) |
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Definition
| Injured family of an automobile accident sue Kumho Tire Company because of faulty tires. Defendant attorney challenged the expert's qualifications. This case held that Daubert standards apply to all expert opinions, including technical and other specialized knowledge, not just scientific knowledge. |
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Term
| Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts (2009) |
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Definition
| Charged with possession of over 14 grams of cocaine, felony possession. Experts who analyzed the evidence found that it was cocaine and submitted a note to the court. The findings was ruled inadmissible because the expert did not testify in person, a violation of the 6th amendment right to confronted with the witnesses against the person. |
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Term
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Definition
| Any report given by an expert without testifying in person will be stipulated until an objection by the defense. |
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Term
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Definition
| right to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizure. No warrants shall be issued without probable cause. Punishment through the exclusionary rule of ruling evidence inadmissible. |
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Term
| Consent exception under exclusionary rule |
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Definition
| Waive the right to privacy. |
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Term
| Protective Search under exclusionary rule |
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Definition
| For the safety of others, pad downs are not a violation of 4th amendment. |
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Term
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Definition
| No expectation of privacy to things that are discarded, unless within the confines of that person's private property. |
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Term
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Definition
| No attempt to make private, must assume no privacy. |
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Term
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Definition
| evidence will be non existent if action is not carried out promptly |
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Term
| Good faith/honest mistake |
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Definition
| Evidence still applies if the warrant issued is invalid after the fact. |
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Term
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Definition
| A list of all persons who came into possession of an item of evidence. Must be established whenever evidence is presented in court as an exhibit. |
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Term
| Critical to Chain of Custody |
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Definition
| Adherance to standard procedures in recording the location of evidence, marking it for identification, and properly completing evidence submission forms for laboratory analysis. Every person who handled or examined the evidence and where it is at all times must be accounted for. |
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Term
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Definition
| Known Sample or Standard/Reference Sample: Physical evidence whose origin is known, such as blood or hair from a suspect, that can be compared to crime-scene evidence. |
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Term
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Definition
| The questioned sample or unknown sample. Gathered at the crime scene. |
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Term
| Five basic services of Forensic Science Technical Support |
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Definition
| Physical Science Unit, Biology Unit, Firearms Unit, Document Examination Unit, & Photography Unit. |
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Term
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Definition
| identifies and compares physical evidence. |
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Term
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Definition
| investigates blood samples, body fluids, hair, and fiber samples. |
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Term
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Definition
| investigates discharged bullets, cartridge cases, shotgun shells, and ammunition. |
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Term
| Document Examination Unit |
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Definition
| Provides the skills needed for handwriting analysis and other questioned-document issues. |
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Term
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Definition
| Applies specialized photographic techniques for recording and examining physical evidence. |
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Term
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Definition
| Examines body fluids and organs for the presence of drugs and poisons. |
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Term
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Definition
| Processes and examines evidence for latent fingerprints, non science study. |
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Term
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Definition
| Conducts polygraph or lie-detector tests, non science study. |
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Term
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Definition
| Attempts to tie a recorded voice to a particular suspect. 5th Amendment ruled this as physical evidence with no right to privacy because analysis is on the voice itself, not the content of the speech. |
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Term
| Crime Scene Investigation Unit |
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Definition
| Dispatches specially trained personnel to the crime scene to collect and preserve physical evidence. LAPD has a designated crime scene unit vs. LASD does not have a designated unit. There is a crime scene rotation. |
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Term
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Definition
| Examines the relationship between human behavior and legal proceedings. |
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Term
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Definition
| Involves using teeth to provide information about the identification of victimes when a body is left in an unrecognizable state. Also investigates bite marks. |
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Term
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Definition
| Concerned with failure analysis, accident reconstruction, and causes and origins of fires or explosions. |
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Term
| Forensic Computer and Digital Analysis Unit |
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Definition
| Examines Digital Evidence. |
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Term
| Physical evidence used to exonerate a person from suspicion |
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Definition
| If physical evidence collected at a crime scene is found to be different from the Standard/reference samples collected from that subject. |
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Term
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Definition
| Encompasses any and all objects that can establish that a crime has been committed or can provide a link between a crime and its victim or a crime and its perpetrator. |
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Term
| Effective Physical Evidence |
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Definition
| To be used effectively, its presence first must be recognized at the crime scene. If physical evidence cannot be recognized or cannot properly preserve it for laboratory examination, no amount of sophiticated laboratofy instrumentation or technical expertise can salvage the situation. Many items of evidence are clearly visible but others may be detected only through examination at the crime laboratory. |
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Term
| Possible carriers of Trace Evidence |
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Definition
| Clothing, vacuum sweepings, fingernail scrapings, tape dabbing |
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Term
| Types of Changes to Prevent with Physical Evidence |
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Definition
| Contamination, breakage, evaporation, accidental scratching, bending, or improper/careless packaging |
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Term
| Equipment for reducing contamination |
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Definition
| latex gloves, disposable forceps, and sanitized equipment reduces the change for contamination. Also protects ourselves from blood borne pathogens and drugs. |
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Term
| Original condition of physical evidence |
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Definition
| One should keep evidence in its original condition as found at the crime scene, unless threat of losing the evidence. A judgement call. |
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Term
| Physical evidence packaging |
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Definition
| Different items or similar items collected at different locations must be placed in separate containers. Prevents damage through contact and prevents cross-contamination. |
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Term
| Plastic pill bottles with pressure lids |
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Definition
| Excellent containers for hairs, glass, fibers, and various other kinds of small or trace evidence. |
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Term
| Containers for most crime scene evidence |
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Definition
| Manila envelopes, screw-cap glass vials, or cardboard pillboxes. |
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Term
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Definition
| Small amounts of trace evidence can be conveniently packaged in a carefully folded paper container. |
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Term
| Arson evidence containers |
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Definition
| Airtight metal or glass containers to prevent the loss of accelerant vapors. |
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Term
| Biological or bloodstained material containers |
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Definition
| Must be allowed to be air dried before being packaged in wrapping paper, manila envelopes, or paper bags. |
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Term
| Eyewitness requirements in order to testify |
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Definition
| Must have personally seen the crime occur. |
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Term
| Locard's Exchange Principle |
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Definition
| Says the transfer of evidence occurs when two people come into contact. |
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Term
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Definition
| Evidence that shows directly, exactly what happened. Testimony from an eyewitness must have been from someone who saw the crime happen. Breathalyzers directly prove blood alcohol content. Direct possession of drugs proves the actual possession of the drugs. |
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Term
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Definition
| Something that supplements or represents an item of evidence. Photographs of a crime scene, of a large item of evidence, of a car or boat, or of a decedent's injury. |
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Term
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Definition
| Evidence to show exoneration or innocence. |
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Term
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Definition
| Real, circumstantial, and physical evidence. Evidence that does not directly show what happened. |
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Term
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Definition
| a.k.a. blank or background, testing for a negative result so we know a reagent or testing process doesn't react when tested on the material or background that the target evidence is on. Example: test the reagent to the empty portion of a bloodstained t-shirt. |
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Term
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Definition
| a.k.a. reference or sample, testing for a positive result so we know a reagent or the testing process is in working order with the evidence. Example, test a chemical reagent with a known sample of blood to determine the reagent is in working order to test the evidence. |
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Term
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Definition
| The trier of fact in criminal trials |
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Term
| Importance of Standard/Reference Samples |
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Definition
| Gives the forensic scientist something to compare the found samples to. |
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Term
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Definition
| Evidence that cannot be associated with a single source, nor have the ability to relate to a common origin with a high degree of certainty. Never certain that the evidence came from the source, can only say "could have been" |
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Term
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Definition
| subjects as suspect specimen and a standard/reference specimen to the same tests and examinations for the ultimate purpose of determining whether or not they have a common origin. |
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Term
| individualization evidence |
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Definition
| determine who or what the evidence came from. Determine who is involved in the crime as a suspect. |
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Term
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Definition
| determine the physical or cheminal identity of a substance. Items like fire debris, explosive residues, drugs, chemicals, blood, semen, hair or wood. |
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Term
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Definition
| Evidence that finds out what happened at the scene. Recreate what actually happened. |
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Term
| Individual Characteristics |
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Definition
| specific and to the point. Evidence that is able to conclude with an extremely high degree of probability. |
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Term
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Definition
| Evidence that really exists. |
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Term
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Definition
| Evidence that is a logical connection, not directly showing what happened, but shows through inferrence. |
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Term
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Definition
| The Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System, a national fingerprint and criminal history system maintaned by the FBI in 1999. 68 million subjects. |
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Term
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Definition
| The Combined DNA Index System enables federal, state, and local crime laboratories to electronically exchange and compare DNA profiles. Launched in 1998, it contains 350,000 profiles in its forensic index from unsolved crimes. |
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Term
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Definition
| The National Integrated Balistics Information Network allows firearms analysis to acquire, digitize, and compare markings made by a firearm on bullets, and cartridge casings. 1.6 million items in database, 34,000 hits have been recorded. |
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Term
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Definition
| The International Forensic Automotive Paint Data Query database contains chemical and color information pertaining to original automotive paints. 13,000 vehicles. |
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Term
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Definition
| Shoeprint Image Capture and Retrieval is a showprint database, SoleMate is a shoe sole database, while TreadMate is a tire tread database with 6,000 records. |
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