JustScience Podcast

This webinar discussed intact low explosives analysis with a focus on microscopical methods. It covered terminology for explosives, the rationale of low explosives analysis for most crime laboratories, six categories of low explosives, and examples of three analyses using microscopical methods.

This webinar was presented by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on July 16, 2020.

This webinar highlighted the results of a full developmental validation of a method that estimates the A Posteriori Probability (APP) of the number of contributors in a DNA sample(NOC), and demonstrated that estimating the APP based on peak heights outperforms methods that rely on binary determinations alone. This presentation focused on including the true NOC in Likelihood Ratio interpretations and on repeatability.

This webinar was presented by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on July 14, 2020.

This webinar covered management challenges unique to a digital forensics unit in a laboratory and offer practical solutions to overcome these challenges.

This webinar was presented by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on July 1, 2020.
 

Highly toxic, synthetic drugs introduce significant health hazards to the forensic laboratory.  Understanding current knowledge and best practices will help laboratories manage their liability. This presenter covered topics such as known risks of handling hazardous drugs, creating a practical framework for the assessment, development, and improvement of safety systems, and additional research needed regarding exposure risks.

This webinar was presented by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on June 25, 2020.

This presentation provided an overview of the activities and programs the Phoenix Police Department’s Crime Lab has implemented and the corresponding impact to the organizational culture and employee morale.

This webinar was presented by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on June 18, 2020.

This webinar presented the findings of the ASCLD/NIJ collaborative Gap Assessment of Stress, Vicarious Trauma and Resiliency for Forensic Science Professionals. The assessment gathered survey responses from forensic and medical examiner laboratories to evaluate vicarious trauma, burnout, job satisfaction, and participants perceptions of their organization’s resiliency efforts.  Our findings inform future directions in research, policy, and practice to better manage stress and increase resiliency among forensic professionals.

Residential structure fires are predominantly fueled by synthetic contents and commonly become ventilation-limited.  Therefore accounting for the impact of ventilation on fire is important. Examining flow paths within the structure can aide in fire pattern analysis.

This webinar was presented by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on June 10, 2020. 

Using a typical OEM paint system, the PDQ Maintenance Team will walk through the best practices to efficiently use the database and spectral libraries to identify the most likely source of an unknown paint system. Details gathered from this process include manufacturing plant, year range, and models.

This webinar discussed the role of emergent technologies for both separation and detection techniques employed in chromatographic systems to increase selectivity for the identification of emerging drugs. Techniques include supercritical fluid chromatography, multi-dimensional liquid chromatography, multi-modal liquid chromatography, nano liquid chromatography, vacuum ultraviolet detection, and cold electron ionization mass spectrometry.

This webinar was presented by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on March 19, 2020.

This presentation described, presented the results of, and discussed a recent black box study to establish an error rate estimate for palm comparisons. These results provided the first step in establishing the foundational validity of palmar comparisons, as defined by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) report.

This webinar was presented by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on March 12, 2020. 

After the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (Farm Bill) was enacted in December 2018, many states rushed to make changes to their own laws to allow the hemp industry to grow and thrive in their jurisdictions. By removing hemp from the Controlled Substances Act, Cannabis sativa L. plant material with a concentration of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol less than 0.3% on a dry weight basis was no longer considered marijuana.

Awareness of how to provide culturally appropriate and trauma informed services to the American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) community is important for forensic examiners. This webinar discussed includes jurisdictional factors affecting examinations, pertinent laws to consider, and health care services that may be available to AI/AN populations.

This webinar was presented by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on February 27, 2020.
 

Attendees will hear from experts in agricultural policy, hemp industry analytical testing, and the DEA Special Testing and Research laboratory to obtain a better understanding of the issues that have developed for forensic drug testing since the signing of the 2018 Farm Bill.  This webinar will provide a history of the Farm Bill as it relates to the legalities of hemp and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).  Information on farming and quality testing used by the hemp industry will be presented.

Given the vital role of medical examiners and coroners (ME/C) in recognizing emerging trends in drug overdose deaths, partnering epidemiologists with ME/C offices can greatly enhance the utility of the significant volume of data generated by medicolegal death investigation. Epidemiologists from three unique ME jurisdictions—North Carolina, New Mexico and Virginia—share their experiences with monitoring drug overdose deaths, trends observed, and how best to utilize ME/C data to inform public health policy.

Legacy workflows in toxicology generally involve a drug class screen followed by a gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy (GC/MS) and liquid chromatography mass spectroscopy (LC/MS-MS) confirmation analysis. Additional techniques could also be used in workflows, but their applications were focused on specific drugs. In general, analyses were serial, limited, and often required multiple methods depending on the number of drug classes in the samples. Results required lengthy and costly workflows, especially when toxicologists were working with complicated samples.

This webinar built on the concepts presented in the webinar “The Time to Collect is Now: DNA Evidence in Groping Sexual Assault Cases” presented by Dr. Julie Valentine.

In this webinar we discussed the theory and development of Investigative Genetic Genealogy, including some ethical and legal considerations raised by this technique.  Additionally, we explored the current status of case investigations, the impact on crime laboratories, implementation strategies, and recommendations for jurisdictions considering applying Investigative Genetic Genealogy to their unsolved cases.

This webinar was presented by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on January 23, 2020. 

In this webinar, we will discuss quality and accreditation, how they fit together, and the ASCLD Accreditation Roadmap and Toolkit.  We will also discuss the concepts of organizational transformation, organizational culture, and the cultivation of a quality culture in your laboratory. Lastly, we will review the various quality initiatives in forensics, including ISO TC 272, the Organization of Scientific Area Committees (OSAC) for Forensic Science, and the scientific and technical working groups (SWG/TWG).

The results of a bloodstain pattern analysis are communicated through written reports and courtroom testimony.  Principles of communication science will be discussed and explained to develop the audience’s ability to transfer meaning through writing and verbal testimony.

This webinar was presented by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on December 11, 2019.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Early Warning Advisory (EWA) on new psychoactive substances (NPS) was launched in June 2013 as a response to the emergence of NPS at the global level. The EWA aims to monitor, analyse, and report trends on NPS as a basis for effective evidence-based policy responses. It also serves as a repository for information/data on these substances and a platform for providing technical assistance, tools, and relevant analytical information for national drug testing and toxicology laboratories in member states.

A team of researchers from West Virginia University’s Department Forensic and Investigative Science will discuss emerging methods for identification of organic and inorganic gunshot residues. Fast electrochemical, spectroscopic techniques, and LC/MS are presented as effective approaches to streamline gunshot residue investigations.

This webinar was presented by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on November 20, 2019.

By participating in this webinar, participants will be able to discuss the breadth, diversity, and array of substance and substance combinations as well as the latest trends in novel psychoactive substances contributing to our current substance abuse pandemic.

Alternate light has the potential to be an important tool for improving the detection and documentation of bruises among victims of violence. In this webinar, we discussed the science behind the technology, new evidence supporting its use, and clinical considerations regarding its application.

This webinar was presented by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on October 30, 2019.

This Webinar presented a fully-automated 3D imaging technology that can capture 3D fine features at approximately 137 ppi (pixels per inch) within a couple of seconds. This technology was tailored for tire and shoe impression capture but with the potential for other evidence collection.

This webinar was presented by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on October 23, 2019.

Medical examiner offices handle cases that present both technical and psychosocial challenges. Psychosocial challenges include communicating with highly distressed families of decedents and addressing complex moral and emotional concerns raised by disturbing cases and mass fatality events. This webinar provides information and skills to enhance the capacity to address the psychosocial demands of medical examiner and coroner work.

This webinar was presented by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on October 17, 2019.