Lesson 1

Question 1

Define a best practice.

Answer 1

Commercial or professional procedures that are accepted or prescribed as being correct or most effective.

Question 2

List some of the reasons discussed in class for when and why things go wrong in forensic science.

Answer 2

Bias
Forceful/false confessions
Mistreatment of evidence Breakdown of chain of custody
Improper courtroom etiquette
Pressure
Tunnel vision
Outdated practice
Improper QC/QA
Overconfidence
Deviation from policy
Lack of resources
Speaking outside of expertise

Question 3

Give some background of the Richard Oland case.

Answer 3

Prominent businessman found bludgeoned to death in his office.

Question 4

Who was the suspect in the Richard Oland case?

Answer 4

His son, Dennis Oland.

Question 5

Name some issues related to the Saint John PD’s handling of the Richard Oland case. (6)

Answer 5

Used bathroom for two days before testing for blood and prints
Couldn’t recall if evidence had been handled with or without gloves
Blood spatter expert did not arrive until four days later
Officers touched the back door before checking for prints
Photographed back alleyway three years after crime
Interviewed some witnesses three years after crime

Question 6

Describe the issues relating to footprint evidence in the Richard Oland case.

Answer 6

A footprint at the scene was not made by police or paramedics
Not discovered until a review of crime scene photos three years later

Question 7

What was the issue with the jacket evidence in the Richard Oland case?

Answer 7

Dennis Oland’s bloodstained jacket stored in a locker for nearly four months before undergoing forensic testing

Question 8

Describe the issue with the blood stain evidence in the Richard Oland case?

Answer 8

Small blood stains found on jacket.
Were they consistent with the bloody crime scene? Transfer?

Question 9

What was the issue with the back door in the Richard Oland case?

Answer 9

Most covert exit and was never tested for DNA because it was contaminated before Forensic Officers arrived on scene

Question 10

What was the purpose of the NAS report?

Answer 10

Consortium of Forensic Science Organizations sought to establish national support for funding and good policies for the forensic science disciplines at all levels of government.

Question 11

What was the significance of the passing of the Appropriations Act of 2006?

Answer 11

Under the terms of this statute, Congress authorized the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a study on forensic science, as described in the senate report.

Question 12

When did NAS establish a committee for the Nas report?

Answer 12

Fall 2006

Question 13

What was the NAS committee tasked with?

Answer 13

Assessing the present and future resource needs of the forensic community, amongst other things

Question 14

What was the title of the NAS Report?

Answer 14

Strengthening forensic science in the US: A path forward

Question 15

When was the NAS report published?

Answer 15

2009

Question 16

What were the general findings of the NAS Report? (2)

Answer 16

Found that scientists in a number of disciplines had yet to establish the validity of their approach or the accuracy of their conclusions.
Warned that the adversarial justice system is not suited to the task of finding the scientific truth.

Question 17

What two questions did the NAS report say were necessary when the law is deciding to admit and rely upon forensic evidence in criminal trials?

Answer 17

1. The extent to which a forensic discipline is founded on a reliable scientific methodology
2. Extent to which practitioners in a forensic discipline rely on human interpretation that could be tainted by error, bias or poor standards,

Question 18

What was meant when the NAS Report stated that there is disaggregation in US forensic service delivery?

Answer 18

Multiple types of practitioners with different levels of education and training and different professional cultures and standards for performance and a reliance on apprentice-type training.

Question 19

Give examples of some of the 13 recommendations of the NAS Report.

Answer 19

Create a National Institute of Forensic Sciences (NIFS)
Standardize terminology and reporting practices
Expand research on the accuracy, reliability and validity of the forensic sciences
Remove forensic science services from the administrative control of law enforcement agencies and prosecutors’ offices
Support forensic science research on human observer bias and sources of error
Develop tools for advancing measurement, validation, reliability, info sharing, and proficiency testing and to establish protocols for examinations, methods and practices
Require the mandatory accreditation of all forensic labs and certification for all forensic science practitioners
Labs should establish routine QA procedures
Establish a national code of ethics with a mechanism for enforcement
Support higher education in the form of forensic science graduate programs, to include scholarships and fellowships
Improve the medico-legal death investigation system
Support AFIS interoperability through the development of standards
Support the use of forensic science in homeland security

Question 20

What was the Hart House Report?

Answer 20

Canadian version of NAS Report

Question 21

When was the Hart House Report published?

Answer 21

2012

Question 22

What were the three major trends in forensic science outlined in the Hart House report?

Answer 22

A shift to evidence-based paradigm in forensic scientific inquiry
The recognition that there is a need to bridge the gap between expectation and deliverables in expert opinion evidence
The seminal publication of the NAS report - influenced other jurisdictions to reflect on their own systems

Question 23

What were the nine core disciplines investigated in the Hart House Report?

Answer 23

Forensic…
Pathology
Anthro
Odontology
Nursing
Entomology
Physical sciences
Toxicology
Biology
Psychiatry

Question 24

What were the three conclusions of the Hart House Report?

Answer 24

Forensic science is an integrative activity, multidisciplinary approach is important
Expert-knows-best paradigm replaced by system where experts are accountable and have to explain why they hold their views with reference to current scientific literature
As much attention should be given to teaching and research as to service

Question 25

What were the four types of recommendations made by the Hart House report?

Answer 25

Research
Education and training
Best practices
Administration and regulation

Question 26

What were the best practice recommendations made by the Hart House report?

Answer 26

International guidelines and standards should be adopted for use in Canada
Professional certification
Organizations should be accredited
Practitioners should embrace professionalism and adopt strong codes of ethics
Recognizing the harmful effects of bias, a culture of scientific neutrality should be encouraged.
A systemic response to error is needed when it occurs.

Question 27

Describe the Phantom of Heilbronn case.

Answer 27

1993 - elderly woman murdered in Germany. Only evidence left by perp was DNA on a teacup
Over next decade, series of almost 40 cases had the same DNA at various crime scenes
Suspect identified as female, eastern european or russian descent
Crimes had little in common
Doubts arose when DNA appeared on documents belonging to a person who had died in a fire
Ended up being due to contamination of cotton swabs a point of manufacture
Worker along assembly line occasionally did not follow procedure

Question 28

Describe the ISO best practice associated with the Phantom of Heilbronn case.

Answer 28

ISO 18385
test against lab workers, past instances of contamination