Articles Published by NIJ

“Wherever he steps, whatever he touches, whatever he leaves, even unconsciously, will serve as a silent witness against him.” Edmond Locard (1877-1966), forensic science pioneer

Improving postmortem interval estimation with standardized and simplified protocols could significantly impact medicolegal death investigations by providing more accurate and reliable data for determining time since death.

Two leading funding agencies renew a joint commitment to evaluate and support scientific activities relevant to criminal justice.

Identifying individuals through next generation DNA sequencing may involve degraded or mixed samples. A researcher has developed a technique to make fragmented DNA more readable, and a method to help pull individual profiles from mixed samples.

The regions of the genome relied on for identification of individuals pose challenges for analysts because they often produce artifacts during processing. NIJ-funded research has led to a solution that lessens the artifact problem.

Key questions have arisen about how DNA data are to be interpreted statistically. Two NIJ grants have supported research that has far-reaching implications for testing hypotheses using DNA evidence and expressing confidence in the conclusions reached.

Forensic scientists have explored whether lifted and archived fingerprints retain forensically useful amounts of DNA.

Investigators in two NIJ-supported studies have demonstrated that people carry unique microbial communities on their skin, and traces of those communities, left on touched objects, can be linked to the individual.

Scientific inquiry into the process of decomposition has studied a wide range of mammals and developed a fundamental understanding of the stages of decomposition, but forensic scientists should use caution in applying nonhuman data to human bodies.

Researchers investigate the potential of using isotopes in specific amino acids in human hair as a forensic tool to provide information about an individual's age, sex, race, body mass, genetic disorders, health, and region of origin.