Forensic sciences

Change can be intimidating and making a transition to a paperless system can be daunting task. This presentation discusses two perspectives on how laboratories embraced technology for administrative and casework processes, the lessons learned, and the vision for additional growth.

This webinar was hosted by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on February 2, 2023. 

This webinar presents laboratory managers with a discussion on case management in forensic science laboratories. All forensic science laboratories struggle with caseloads and backlogs in some way and to varying extremes. The answer to this struggle is a process to manage caseloads through evidence triage, case information management, and communication. A discussion on the challenges involved in case management is followed by practical experiences in writing and implementing case management policies.

The Forensic Technology Center of Excellence assisted the National Institute of Justice in hosting the annual NIJ Forensic Science Research and Development Symposium on Tuesday, February 18, 2025 at the 77th Annual American Academy of Forensic Sciences meeting in Baltimore, Maryland. This video is one of five recorded sessions from the event. 

Presentations include -

The Forensic Technology Center of Excellence assisted the National Institute of Justice in hosting the annual NIJ Forensic Science Research and Development Symposium on Tuesday, February 18, 2025 at the 77th Annual American Academy of Forensic Sciences meeting in Baltimore, Maryland. This video is one of five recorded sessions from the event. 

Presentations include -

The Forensic Technology Center of Excellence assisted the National Institute of Justice in hosting the annual NIJ Forensic Science Research and Development Symposium on Tuesday, February 18, 2025 at the 77th Annual American Academy of Forensic Sciences meeting in Baltimore, Maryland. This video is one of five recorded sessions from the event. 

Presentations include - 

The Forensic Technology Center of Excellence assisted the National Institute of Justice in hosting the annual NIJ Forensic Science Research and Development Symposium on Tuesday, February 18, 2025 at the 77th Annual American Academy of Forensic Sciences meeting in Baltimore, Maryland. This video is one of five recorded sessions from the event. 

Presentations include - 

A roadmap to successfully utilizing contract forensic pathologists, also known as locum tenens, was presented by a Chief Medical Examiner and a Coroner with extensive experience in employing these useful contractors to perform forensic autopsies and other professional tasks in today’s environment of increasing caseloads. Topics include the forensic pathologist workforce shortage, scheduling, budgeting, fee structures, and different business models for the use of locum tenens forensic pathologists in busy Medical Examiner and Coroner offices. \

A world in crisis and a 24/7 media cycle demands consistent, clear, and effective communication from organizations tasked with death investigation and related responsibilities. Two seasoned professionals share their experiences reaching diverse stakeholders and engaging the public in the vital work of the largest medical examiner’s office in the country.

This webinar was hosted by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on November 28, 2023.

Part I: GeoFOR is a free web-based collaborative forensic taphonomic application and database that utilizes geospatial technology and machine learning to deliver data-driven postmortem interval estimations to better facilitate identification and reconstruct events around the time of death. This presentation describes the geoFOR application and its potential for advancing the field of forensic science.  

This presentation explores the issue of lawfully “owed” DNA, which is a DNA sample from a qualifying offender who should have their DNA sample in CODIS (based on applicable state law), but from whom a sample has never been collected or submitted to a lab for testing.

This webinar shares insight into why it is important to have a positive quality culture within a laboratory. Attendees see how establishing a culture where the proactive pursuit of quality is a positive for a laboratory. When actively pursuing quality, staff will help management navigate and be successful during the time of change. The presentation discusses how change, whether small or large, can be perceived and affect employees differently, and will provide some strategies on how to mitigate the effect change could have on their employees.

This webinar introduces attendees to the Organization of Scientific Area Committees for Forensic Science (OSAC) Registry of Standards, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Technical Committee (TC) on Forensic Science, and the Academy Standards Board (ASB). Attendees learn about forensic science standard development in the national and international space as well as standard implementation tools provided by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS).

Adopting new technology, particularly new software, can often present unforeseen challenges to business owners who have limited experience with this process. In a laboratory setting, leaders not only need to prepare staff for change, but they need to strategically plan for product implementation up to two years before release.

Successful leadership is more than just managing people—it’s about assembling the right team, placing individuals in roles where they thrive, and fostering a culture of accountability and collaboration. This session explores key leadership principles based on the concept of "getting the right people on the bus" and ensuring they are in the right seats. Strategies for identifying talent, aligning team strengths with organizational goals, and creating an environment where individuals feel empowered to contribute their best are discussed.

While forensic DNA analysis can identify an individual(s) at a crime scene, it cannot identify the biological source from which that DNA was obtained – e.g. blood, saliva, or semen. Identification of the biological source of DNA can provide important contextual information for forensic investigations as well as evidence in court. Nearly all current methods used for body fluid identification are presumptive. Here we present a new proteomic mass spectrometry method for the confirmatory identification of blood, saliva, and semen.

It is well-known that bloodstain pattern analysis (BPA) on textiles is difficult and subject to many errors or misinterpretations. In this webinar, we probe the reason for this and suggest useful information that a bloodstain pattern analyst may be able to extract from the observed bloodstains. The data set demonstrates the roles of drop volume and impact speed in bloodstain formation on textiles.

This webinar was hosted by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on December 12, 2023. 

As evident by the Cannabinoid Conundrums webinar series, the rapidly changing world of cannabinoids offers many conundrums. To tackle some of these questions, Dr. Ruth Winecker led a panel discussion with Dr. Ed Cone, Dr. Nathalie Desrosiers, Mr. Justin Poklis, and Mr. Nelson Santos. This diverse slate of thought leaders includes experts in analytical chemistry, forensic toxicology, clinical research, and drug chemistry. This webinar was hosted by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on August 3, 2023. 

Controlled drug administration studies are valuable tools for acquiring a detailed understanding of the pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic profiles of cannabinoids. ∆9-tetrahydrocannabinoid (THC) is the primary psychoactive cannabinoid in cannabis with the potential to negatively impact cognitive and psychomotor performance and workplace safety. These studies establish behavioral and subjective effect profiles while simultaneously collecting pharmacokinetics data.

This webinar addresses a common cross-cultural issue experienced every day in the crime laboratory and within the greater criminal justice community, the generation gap. Simply defined as the different outlooks or opinions between individuals of different generations, this complex topic can create division within a workforce or, if understood, can elevate personnel to achieve organizational goals.

THC isomers, also known as THC analogs or semi-synthetic cannabinoids, are structurally related to Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC) and have similar toxicity and impairing effects. A recent study indicated that Δ8-THC use was around 27% of marijuana use, based on detection and ratios of cannabinoid metabolites in workplace drug testing. Other analogs of interest include hexahydrocannabinol (HHC) and THC-O. THC isomers are generally perceived as legal and are also seen in states with legal marijuana.

The pubic symphysis joint on the pubic bone is frequently used in anthropology to estimate age-at-death in late adolescent and adult individuals. This webinar will provide a background on the age indicator, as well as a review of the anatomical features used in the age estimation methods based on this joint. The primary focus of the webinar is to help participants better interpret the written phase descriptions in pubic symphysis age estimation methods.

This webinar was hosted by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on January 11, 2023.