History
The fictional detective famous for scientific reasoning authored by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Who is Sherlock Holmes.
This French police officer developed bertillonage, a system for identifying criminals using detailed body measurements
Who is Alphonse Bertillon?
a forensic analyst's preexisting beliefs, expectations, and other factors can unconsciously influence the collection, perception, and interpretation of evidence, leading to errors
What is bias?
Requires scientific evidence to be generally accepted by the scientific community
What is the Frye standard?
Evidence that can be linked to a group but not a single source (e.g., fibers)
What is class evidence?
Every contact leaves a trace.
What is Locard’s Exchange Principle?
Name the major limitation of the Bertillon system.
Measurements could be very similar between individuals or human error in measuring
the commitment to unbiased, impartial analysis and reporting of evidence to provide accurate, fact-based conclusions in legal proceedings
What is objectivity?
A judge assesses the reliability and relevance of scientific evidence before admitting it
What is the Daubert standard?
Evidence that can uniquely identify a single source (e.g., full fingerprint, DNA)
What is individual evidence?
Developed DNA fingerprinting in 1984.
Who is Alec Jeffreys?
List three body parts measured in Bertillonage.
Head length, middle finger length, foot length
involves protecting sensitive information collected during investigations, requiring stringent data security, secure communication, and clear legal safeguards to maintain trust and prevent breaches
What is confidentiality?
This 1993 Supreme Court case replaced the Frye standard in federal courts and gave judges a more active role as gatekeepers for expert testimony.
What is Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals?
Footprints or tire tracks
What is impression evidence?
The first U.S. crime lab established in this year.
What is 1923?
Bertillonage relied on this type of data—precise measurements of the skull, limbs, and other body parts—to identify repeat offenders.
What are anthropometric measurements?
Three types of bias in forensics:
Confirmation, contextual, cognitive
These rights must be read to suspects before custodial interrogation to ensure their Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination and Sixth Amendment right to counsel.
What are the Miranda rights?
type of evidence involves tiny materials like fibers or soil that can link a suspect to a crime scene but poses challenges such as contamination risk and difficulty in proving unique origin.
What is trace evidence?
Place these events in chronological order: Bertillon system, DNA fingerprinting, Locard’s Principle, first U.S. crime lab.
Bertillon system → Locard’s Principle → first U.S. crime lab → DNA fingerprinting
Before fingerprints became widely used, bertillonage was considered the most reliable method of this in law enforcement.
What is personal identification?
Blind testing, peer review, standardized protocols, and separation from investigators
What are safeguards to reduce forensic bias?
This 1966 U.S. Supreme Court case established that suspects must be informed of their rights before police questioning to protect against self-incrimination.
What is Miranda v. Arizona?
type of evidence includes data from computers, phones, or networks, but investigators must carefully preserve it to avoid altering metadata or losing critical information.
What is digital evidence?