Welcome to the Forensics Library. Browse the library
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only by practicing criminal defense lawyers but most are open to the public.
We invite you to submit materials to the library. We welcome briefs,
memoranda, transcripts, training materials, weblinks--anything that may help lawyers deal
more effectively with forensic evidence.
Click "submit a document" to upload materials directly from your computer.
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Out of the Daubert Fire and into the Fryeing Pan?Draft manuscript argues that many attorneys and scholar have erroneously assumed that latent print evidence is obviously admissible under Frye. Argues that latent print evidence should be excluded under any reasonable reading of Frye.
*Is Fingerprint Identification Valid?Beginning around 1999, a growing number of scholars have claimed that validation studies for forensic fingerprint identification do not exist. This article revisits that claim by reviewing literature produced by proponents of fingerprint ...
Fingerprint EvidenceArticle by Northwestern University Mathematics & Statistics Professor Sandy Zabell in the Journal of Law & Policy offers a excellent critique of latent print practice from a statistical point of view.
Meagher letter on "50K Study"Letter from "50K Study" author Stephen Meagher to The New Scientist Magazine asserting that the study does NOT concern the reliability or error rate of latent print identification. Useful for refuting claims that 50K study demonstrates reliability ...
Fingerprint, and Other Friction Skin ImpressionsChristophe Champod et al.'s book provides an excellent overview of fingerprinting from a truly scientific point of view. Champod et al. are believers in latent print identification, but their approach is scientific.
*On the Individuality of FingerprintsNotes that the underlying scientific basis of fingerprint individuality has not been formally established and criticizes the 50K study.
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01/01/02
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Submitter: Sharath Pankanti et al.
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more info ]
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12/01/01
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Submitter: Jennifer Mnookin
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more info ]
Suspect Identities: A History of Fingerprinting and Criminal IdentificationThe first comprehensive scholarly history of fingerprint identification by a University of California, Irvine Professor of Criminology, Law & Society. Argues that courts accepted forensic fingerprint evidence without demanding scientific proof of ...
*Fingerprint Forgery - A SurveySurvey of latent print examiners showing shocking lack of awareness of issue of forgery and low self-assessments of ability to detect them.
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03/01/00
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Submitter: National Institute of Justice
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more info ]
When Bad Science Leads to Good LawOn-line article by San Jose State University Professor of Engineering and supporter of the admissiblity of fiingerprinting critiquing "50K X 50K Study"
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02/02/00
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Submitter: James Wayman
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more info ]
Quantitative-Qualitative Friction Ridge AnalysisAn important book. The Bible of "ridgeology" and "ACE-V," the methodology now endorsed by the FBI and many other law enforcement agencies as alternative to basing conclusions of identification on a set number of "points." Can be used as a "learned ...
What Counts for Identity?Article by University of California, Irvine Professor Simon Cole discussing historical and rhetorical differences between "point counting" and "ridgeology."
