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Forensic science, used for examining crime scenes and gathering evidence to be used in prosecution of offenders in a court of law, is comprised of multidisciplinary subjects. The main areas used in forensic science are: biology, chemistry, and medicine, and also includes the use of physics, anthropology, computer science, geology, and psychology. Forensic scientists examine objects, substances chemicals, tissue traces or impressions left at the crime scene.
Forensics has long been at the center of a debate examining the reliability of these sciences. One side of the argument says that forensics, except for DNA testing, is not an exact science with many faults. Ability to properly collect and process forensic samples can affect the ability of the prosecution to prove their case during a trial. The presence of chemical traces or DNA on a piece of debris is also crucial in establishing the chain of events leading to a crime or accident. On the other hand, advocates for forensics say the techniques are sound.
The annual H.F. Guggenheim symposium has emerged as a key date on the nation’s calendar of criminal justice events, primarily because it is the only conference that brings together a select audience of journalists, academics, practitioners and policy makers to discuss current issues of criminal justice facing the nation. You are cordially invited to join [...]
Questionable forensic testimony has kept Joseph Ramirez behind bars in Florida for 25 years. Will a fifth trial finally set him free?
 When the National Academy of Sciences issued a report earlier this year saying that courtroom identifications made by forensic scientists based on evidence such as bite marks, ballistics and other tool marks are frequently [...]
John Cayton
Osborn, Mo.
(816) 449-2752
forensiclab@msn.com
Â
Expertise: Firearms, ballistics, homicide reviews, gunshot wounds, crime scenes.
Steven Howard
Lansing, Mich.
(517) 374-9000
stevethegunguru@gmail.com
http://www.firearmsexpert.net/
Â
Expertise: Howard, an attorney and former U.S. Border Patrol officer, is an expert in gunsmithing, police armor and shooting scene reconstructions.
Dan Williams, president
Lafayette Hill, Pa.
(215) 843-2115
drarson@msn.com
www.arsonresearch.com
Â
Expertise: Arson
Jon J. Nordby
University Place, Wash.
(253) 627-2739
Finalanalysis@comcast.net
www.finalanalysisforensics.com
Â
Expertise: Death investigations, bloodstain pattern analysis, ballistics, firearms testing, crime scene investigations, crime reconstruction.
Roger Rozsas
Media, Pa.
(610) 892-7900
Forensic-science@comcast.net
www.forensic-scientific-services.com
Â
Expertise: Polygraph examinations and forensic investigations.
Gregg Stutchman, Steve Buller
Napa, Calif.
(800) 799-0828
stutchman@earthlink.net
Â
Expertise: Audio, video and photographic forensics.
Forensics Consultant
Sonoita, Ariz.
(520) 455-5697
fingers@dakotacom.net
http://www.dakotacom.net/~fingers/
Â
Expertise: Fingerprints, bloodstain patterns, crime scene.
Peter Neufeld co-founded and is co-director of the Innocence Project at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. In February 2000, Actual Innocence: Five Days to Execution, and Other Dispatches From the Wrongly Convicted, written by Peter, Barry, and Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter Jim Dwyer, was published by Doubleday.
In 1995 and 2000, Neufeld [...]
The FBI has searched the suburban Boston home of a man convicted of extortion in the 1982 Tylenol tampering killings, reports the Chicago Tribune. The bureau said it reopened the investigation into the seven unsolved murders because of advances in forensic technology and new tips to law enforcement. Yesterday’s announcement was the first indication that authorities [...]
For Peter Neufeld or Barry Scheck
Contact Press Representative:
Maddie Delone
212-364-5340/cell 917-439-9447
mdelone@innocenceproject.org
Press Contact:
Ann Marie Mazza    Â
amazza@nas.edu
202 334 2469
John Collins, EditorÂ
crimelabreport@gmail.com
Jay Jarvis, Associate Editor
jay.harvis@comcast.net
706-331-0071
Dept. of Law and Police Science
John Jay CollegeÂ
(212) 237-8402 (o)
(212) 228-2492 (h)
(646) 961-8110 (c)
aschwartz@jjay.cuny.edu
aschw81583@aol.com
Director, Center on Modern Forensic Practice John Jay College
212-484-1170
617- 686- 0275 (C)
jdoyle@jjay.cuny.edu
Director, Crime Scene Academy John Jay College
212-237-8660
aharper@jjay.cuny.edu
The proliferation of exonerations based on DNA has made it harder for prisoners seeking to prove their innocence in the much larger number of cases that do not involve DNA evidence, the New York Times reports. Many lawyers are more reluctant to take on these kinds of cases because they are much harder and more expensive to [...]
The National Science Academy blasts the shoddy scientific practices of the forensics community, reports the New York Times on their front page.
Weigh in with your thoughts on the state of forensic science.
Everyone expects the National Academy of Sciences’ report on the state of the forensic sciences to mark a watershed in criminal justice, but since the report itself has not been released, the front page preview of the report in the New York Times relied on accounts from various sources that had seen early drafts.
The article [...]
