Forensic sciences
Spreading the Word on Novel Drugs
Extending the Period for Detecting Illicit Drugs in the Bloodstream
The Importance and Impact of Cold Case Units
Opening the Black Box of NIBIN
Bill King discusses the operations of the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN), a program through which firearms examiners at state and local crime laboratories compare tool marks on fired bullets or cartridges found at a crime scene to digitized images of ballistic evidence in a nationwide database.
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Human Factors in Latent Print Examination
The NIJ-sponsored Expert Working Group on Human Factors in Latent Print Analysis is clarifying potential sources of error in pattern recognition analysis. It will develop best practices to remove or minimize these sources. NIJ is addressing recommendations in the 2009 National Academy of Sciences' report titled "Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward." Specifically, the panelists focus on recommendation 5, which encourages research programs on human observer bias and sources of human error in forensic examinations.
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How Collaboration Between Researchers and Police Chiefs Can Improve the Quality of Sexual Assault Investigations: A Look at Los Angeles
Panelists discuss the application of research findings from an NIJ-sponsored study of sexual assault attrition to police practice in Los Angeles. There are three main focal points: (1) the mutual benefits of researcher/practitioner partnerships, (2) the implications of variation in police interpretation of UCR guidelines specific to clearing sexual assault (with an emphasis on cases involving nonstrangers), and (3) the content of specialized training that must be required for patrol officers and detectives who respond to and investigate sex crimes.
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Benefit-Cost Analysis for Crime Policy
How do we decide how to allocate criminal justice resources in a way that minimizes the social harms from both crime and policy efforts to control crime? How, for that matter, do we decide how much to spend on the criminal justice system and crime control generally, versus other pressing needs? These questions are at the heart of benefit-cost analysis.
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Spreading the Word on Novel Drugs
The Evaluation of NIJ by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences: NIJ's Response
The National Academies conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the National Institute of Justice. This panel provides an overview of the evaluation and NIJ's response to it. NIJ has accepted many of the recommendations in the NRC report, and you will learn what the agency is doing to implement them. A few of the recommendations were challenging and created considerable debate within NIJ. Plans to address these thorny issues also are discussed.
Just Wrong: The Aftermath of Wrongful Convictions
The strength of our criminal justice system depends on its ability to convict the guilty and clear the innocent. But we know that innocent people are sometimes wrongfully convicted and the guilty remain free to victimize others. The consequences of a wrongful conviction are far-reaching for the wrongfully convicted and the survivors and victims of the original crimes.
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Impact of Research and Development on Lab Efficiency and Operations
Forensic science research and development is critical to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the nation's crime laboratories. Watch how the National Institute of Justice takes an idea from a need to a reality in the laboratory.
You may also be interested in our video Why Is There an Evidence Backlog?
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Sexual Assault: Obtaining DNA From Evidence Collected up to a Week Later
Technological advances have made it possible to detect male DNA in evidentiary samples collected several days after a sexual act has taken place. Panelists will present the research that has led to these findings, followed by a discussion of the potential impact of this work from the perspectives of the sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) and the crime laboratory communities.
The NIJ-FBI Sexual Assault Kit Partnership — A Research Initiative for Unsubmitted Sexual Assault Kits
Extending the Period for Detecting Illicit Drugs in the Bloodstream
NIJ-funded researchers adapted a method used to detect human exposure to environmental and occupational chemicals to significantly extend the limited time period when tests can identify evidence of certain illicit drugs in the body.