Trace and Physical Evidence Concepts Flashcards
Requirements of a Forensic Scientist
- ability to reason during times when human emotion may attempt to override rationality
- ability to address life’s grimmest realities while maintaining human feelings
what do forensic scientists do?
- recover human remains
- idenitfy human remains
- document the cause of human death
- assist in criminal investigations through scientific analysis of evidence
how does a forensic scientist contribute to scientific reliability in court?
- ensure the guilty receive punishment
- free innocent people
- provide a method to correlate a measurement of scientific reliability with a specific facet of forensic science
DMORT
disaster mortuary operational response team
forensics scientists, unlike their counterparts, must become ?
familiar with lawyers and the law
forensic scientists must combine scientific skills with ?
a sworn duty to the public good
forensic science = ?
public science
what is an expert witness?
an individual whom the court determines possesses knowledge relevant to the trial that is not expected of the average person
a forensic scientist may also provide ?
expert court testimony
why is the expert witness called on?
to evaluate evidence based on specialized training and experience that the court lacks the expert to do
what happens after the expert witness is called on to evaluate evidence based on special training?
express an opinion as to the significance of the findings
Forensic scientists also participate in training law enforcement personnel in the ?
proper recognition, collection, and preservation of physical evidence
forensic scientists are independent finders of ?
fact
must operate under ?
police jurisdiction or administration
forensic scientists have a duty to strike ?
a balance between duties of job and results of tests
must be committed to ?
ethical behavior
must be able to distinguish reliable from ?
unreliable scientific practice
what is the Frye Standard?
Frye v. United States decision set guidelines for determining the admissibility of scientific evidence into the courtroom
how to meet the Frye standard?
the evidence in question must be “generally accepted” by the scientific community
what happened in the 1993 case of Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceutical, Inc?
the U.S. Supreme court asserted that the Frye standard is not an absolute prerequisite to the admissibility of scientific evidence
trial judges were said to be ultimately responsible as
“gatekeepers” for the admissibility and validity of scientific evidence presented in their courts, as well as all expert testimony
the Supreme Court offered some guidelines as to how a judge can gauge scientific evidence. what is the first criterion?
whether the scientific technique or theory can be (and has been) tested
2nd criterion of Daubert
whether the technique or theory has been subject to peer review and publication
3rd criterion of Daubert
the technique’s potential rate of error
