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Forensic sciences

Tracking Movements With Isotopes

Date Published
December 13, 2015

NIJ-supported researchers are using oxygen and strontium isotopes to help law enforcement identify victims.

NIJ Directors, 1969–Present

NIJ was created in 1969 and has been in the forefront of nearly every innovation in criminal justice research and policy ever since. The following Director's have led the Institute in that work. Select a director to view a list of their speeches, remarks, and testimony.

How Reliable Are Latent Fingerprint Examiners?

September 2015

Brian Cerchiai discusses a NIJ-supported a study conducted by the Miami-Dade Police Department on the accuracy of fingerprint examiners. The study found that fingerprint examiners make extremely few errors. Even when examiners did not get an independent second opinion about their decisions, they were remarkably accurate. But when decisions were verified by an independent reviewers, examiners had a 0% false positive, or incorrect identification, rate and a 3% false negative, or missed identification, rate.