Ethical Standards
Based on individual perspectives and experiences.
What is subjectivity.
What type of trial involves legal disputes between people or organizations.
What is a civil trial.
Name 2 individuals that can serve as an expert witness at a trial.
What is..
1. CSI
2. Forensic Scientist
3. Medical Examiner
4. Criminalist/ Criminologist
5. Detective
Once a piece of evidence is bagged, a crime scene investigator must seal the bag with tape. What must be written on the taped seal?
What is the CSI's signature and the date of collection.
A reason for doing something
What is motive
Not influenced by or based on a personal viewpoint. Based on fact or observation only.
What is objectivity.
Someone is found not guilty of their crimes.
What is acquittal.
An expert opinion is admissible if the scientific technique on which the opinion is based is "generally accepted" as reliable in the relevant scientific community.
What is the Frye Standard.
Name 3 things that are typically written on an evidence inventory form for a piece of evidence.
What is...
1. Case number
2. Date and time of collection
3. Location of collection
4. name of investigator
5. type of offense
6. victim and suspect
A jury of 23 individuals who are selected to examine the validity of an accusation before trial.
What is a Grand Jury
A forensic scientist is the sister-in-law of a suspect of an armed robbery. She is asked to compare fingerprints found at the scene with his fingerprints. Is she at risk of making objective or subjective observations?
What is subjective?
A legal attempt to reverse results of a court case resulting in a possible retrial
what is appeal
Provides a systematic framework for a trial court judge to assess the reliability and relevance of expert witness testimony before it is presented to a jury.
What is the Daubert Standard.
On a chain of custody log, every transfer is recorded as it passes to various individuals. What is recorded on the log with each transfer?
What is
1. Name of technician
2. Date and time of test
small pieces of evidence from a crime scene are packaged in this
What is a paper bindle.
A crime scene investigator collected several strands of hair from a murder crime scene. On the evidence log, they gave a detailed description of the hair strands without mentioning the potential race of the individual they came from. Were the observations of the hair objective or subjective?
What is objectivity.
A person who testifies at a trial because they have special or competent knowledge in a particular field of science relevant to the trial.
What is expert witness
In Frye v. United States, what piece of evidence was rejected as expert witness testimony by the court?
What is a polygraph (lie detector) test.
Each time a bag of evidence is examined by a different forensic scientist/technician, what is the procedure for un-bagging and re-bagging the evidence?
What is cut the bag along an unopened, unsealed edge and reseal with the date and name of the examiner.
Involves 12 peers from the community that decide guilt or innocence.
What is a jury trial.
Describe an ethical standard required of forensic science professionals
A standard required for a search warrant
What is probable cause.
What landmark case looked into the potential birth defects caused by a medication produced by a pharmaceutical company?
What is Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals.
Small glass shards were found at a crime scene on July 3, 2013. A CSI named Lonnie Sanchez, measured the area where the glass shards had fallen and took photographs. At 11:09 am another CSI named Charlie Walton collected the shards and bagged them. He handed the bag off to the evidence technician, Stephanie Williams, at 11:15 am. Stephanie took the evidence back to the lab where a glass analyst named Jeremy Brown examined the shards the following day at 1:35 pm.
Write out the chain of custody for the glass shards.
Charlie Walton; 7/03/2013; 11:09 am
Stephanie Williams; 7/03/2013; 11:15 am
Jeremy Brown; 7/04/2013; 1:35 pm
written statement charging a party with the commission of a crime or other offense, drawn up by a prosecuting attorney and voted and filed by a Grand Jury.
What is indictment