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Full-Text Articles in Law

Cyanoacrylate Deposition Onto Sebum With Pretreatment Of Amine, Isaac Baltz May 2024

Cyanoacrylate Deposition Onto Sebum With Pretreatment Of Amine, Isaac Baltz

Chemistry & Biochemistry Undergraduate Honors Theses

Super glue, or ethyl cyanoacrylate, fuming is commonly used in forensic science to develop latent fingerprints on nonporous surfaces[7]. Fingerprints are primarily made up of the oily substance secreted by sebaceous glands better known as sebum. Previously it has been shown that exposure of fingerprints to diisopropylamine dramatically increases the deposition of cyanoacrylate polymers on the fingerprints[1]. However, the heterogeneity of any series of real fingerprints made it difficult to quantitatively assess this effect. This heterogeneity includes not just the amount of sebum but the presence of unknown amounts of proteins, amino acids, and other potential nucleophiles which catalyze the …


Secret Conviction Programs, Meghan J. Ryan Jan 2020

Secret Conviction Programs, Meghan J. Ryan

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Judges and juries across the country are convicting criminal defendants based on secret evidence. Although defendants have sought access to the details of this evidence—the results of computer programs and their underlying algorithms and source codes—judges have generally denied their requests. Instead, judges have prioritized the business interests of the for-profit companies that developed these “conviction programs” and which could lose market share if the secret algorithms and source codes on which the programs are based were exposed. This decision has jeopardized criminal defendants’ constitutional rights.


Escaping The Fingerprint Crisis: A Blueprint For Essential Research, Meghan J. Ryan Jan 2020

Escaping The Fingerprint Crisis: A Blueprint For Essential Research, Meghan J. Ryan

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

There is a fingerprint crisis in the courts. Judges and jurors regularly convict criminal defendants based on fingerprint evidence, but there are serious questions about the accuracy and reliability of this evidence. The few studies delving into the accuracy and reliability of fingerprint examiners’ work suggest a high error rate and demonstrate that, when faced with the same prints under different conditions, fingerprint examiners frequently reach different results than they previously reached. Further, there is no scientific basis for fingerprint matching. It is unknown whether and to what extent fingerprints are unique; the degree to which fingerprints change under various …


Optimizing A Method For Dna Recovery While Preserving Latent Prints On Paper, Niti Dalal Dec 2018

Optimizing A Method For Dna Recovery While Preserving Latent Prints On Paper, Niti Dalal

Student Theses

Paper evidence is commonly encountered in cases of kidnapping, threatening letters, extortion, and bank robbery, and the optimal workflow between latent print processing and DNA collection is of interest to the forensic community. The overall aim of this project was to achieve optimal amounts of DNA for typing without destroying the fingerprint. The first study compared two collection techniques—tape-lifting by Scotch Removable Poster Tape and dry swabbing with FLOQSwabs— using prints deposited in defined locations. Samples were processed for DNA and developed with 1,2-indanedione. The second aim was to determine if visualizing print locations with fingerprint powder prior to DNA …


The Proficiency Of Experts, Brandon L. Garrett, Gregory Mitchell Jan 2018

The Proficiency Of Experts, Brandon L. Garrett, Gregory Mitchell

Faculty Scholarship

Expert evidence plays a crucial role in civil and criminal litigation. Changes in the rules concerning expert admissibility, following the Supreme Court's Daubert ruling, strengthened judicial review of the reliability and the validity of an expert's methods. Judges and scholars, however, have neglected the threshold question for expert evidence: whether a person should be qualified as an expert in the first place. Judges traditionally focus on credentials or experience when qualifying experts without regard to whether those criteria are good proxies for true expertise. We argue that credentials and experience are often poor proxies for proficiency. Qualification of an expert …


Biometrics: The Future Is In Your Hands, Kelsey Sherman Jan 2017

Biometrics: The Future Is In Your Hands, Kelsey Sherman

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

No abstract provided.


Identification, Individualization, Uniqueness, David H. Kaye Mar 2016

Identification, Individualization, Uniqueness, David H. Kaye

David Kaye

Criminalists and many forensic scientists concerned with the identification of trace evidence have distinguished between identification and individualization, but they have not distinguished as precisely between individualization and uniqueness. This paper clarifies these terms and discusses the relationships among identification, individualization, and uniqueness in forensic-science evidence.


A Fourth Amendment Theory For Arrestee Dna And Other Biometric Databases, David H. Kaye Mar 2016

A Fourth Amendment Theory For Arrestee Dna And Other Biometric Databases, David H. Kaye

David Kaye

Routine DNA sampling following a custodial arrest process is now the norm in many jurisdictions, but is it consistent with the Fourth Amendment? The few courts that have addressed the question have disagreed on the answer, but all of them seem to agree on two points: (1) the reasonableness of the practice turns on a direct form of balancing of individual and governmental interests; and (2) individuals who are convicted — and even those who are merely arrested — have a greatly diminished expectation of privacy in their identities. This Article disputes these propositions and offers an improved framework for …


Why So Contrived? Fourth Amendment Balancing, Per Se Rules, And Dna Databases After Maryland V. King, David H. Kaye Jan 2014

Why So Contrived? Fourth Amendment Balancing, Per Se Rules, And Dna Databases After Maryland V. King, David H. Kaye

Journal Articles

In Maryland v. King, 133 S. Ct. 1958 (2013), the Supreme Court narrowly upheld the constitutionality of routine collection and storage of DNA samples and profiles from arrestees. In doing so, it stepped outside the usual framework that treats warrantless searches as per se unconstitutional unless they fall within specified exceptions to the warrant and probable cause requirements. Instead, the Court balanced various individual and state interests. Yet, as regards the state interests, the Court confined this direct balancing analysis to the perceived value of using DNA to inform certain pretrial decisions. Oddly, it avoided relying directly on DNA’s …


A Fourth Amendment Theory For Arrestee Dna And Other Biometric Databases, David H. Kaye Jan 2013

A Fourth Amendment Theory For Arrestee Dna And Other Biometric Databases, David H. Kaye

Journal Articles

Routine DNA sampling following a custodial arrest process is now the norm in many jurisdictions, but is it consistent with the Fourth Amendment? The few courts that have addressed the question have disagreed on the answer, but all of them seem to agree on two points: (1) the reasonableness of the practice turns on a direct form of balancing of individual and governmental interests; and (2) individuals who are convicted — and even those who are merely arrested — have a greatly diminished expectation of privacy in their identities. This Article disputes these propositions and offers an improved framework for …


How Jurors Evaluate Fingerprint Evidence: The Relative Importance Of Match Language, Method Information, And Error Acknowledgment, Brandon L. Garrett, Gregory Mitchell Jan 2013

How Jurors Evaluate Fingerprint Evidence: The Relative Importance Of Match Language, Method Information, And Error Acknowledgment, Brandon L. Garrett, Gregory Mitchell

Faculty Scholarship

Fingerprint examiners use a variety of terms and phrases to describe a finding of a match between a defendant's fingerprints and fingerprint impressions collected from a crime scene. Despite the importance and ubiquity of fingerprint evidence in criminal cases, no prior studies examine how jurors evaluate such evidence. We present two studies examining the impact of different match phrases, method descriptions, and statements about possible examiner error on the weight given to fingerprint identification evidence by laypersons. In both studies, the particular phrase chosen to describe the finding of a match-whether simple and imprecise or detailed and claiming near certainty-had …


Faulty Foundations: How The False Analogy To Routine Fingerprinting Undermines The Argument For Arrestee Dna Sampling, Corey Preston Dec 2010

Faulty Foundations: How The False Analogy To Routine Fingerprinting Undermines The Argument For Arrestee Dna Sampling, Corey Preston

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.


Identification, Individualization, Uniqueness, David H. Kaye Jan 2009

Identification, Individualization, Uniqueness, David H. Kaye

Journal Articles

Criminalists and many forensic scientists concerned with the identification of trace evidence have distinguished between identification and individualization, but they have not distinguished as precisely between individualization and uniqueness. This paper clarifies these terms and discusses the relationships among identification, individualization, and uniqueness in forensic-science evidence.


Biometrics: Weighing Convenience And National Security Against Your Privacy, Lauren D. Adkins Jan 2007

Biometrics: Weighing Convenience And National Security Against Your Privacy, Lauren D. Adkins

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

The biometric identifier relies on an individual's unique biological information such as a hand, iris, fingerprint, facial or voice print. When used for verification purposes, a "one-to-one" match is generated in under one second. Biometric technology can substantially improve national security by identifying and verifying individuals in a number of different contexts, providing security in ways that exceed current identification technology and limiting access to areas where security breaches are especially high, such as airport tarmacs and critical infrastructure facilities. At the same time, a legitimate public concern exists concerning the misuse of biometric technology to invade or violate personal …


Daubert Challenges To Fingerprints, Paul C. Giannelli Jan 2006

Daubert Challenges To Fingerprints, Paul C. Giannelli

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


A Brief History Of Lawyers Without Borders: Crossing Borders To Make A Difference, Houston Putnam Lowry Jan 2005

A Brief History Of Lawyers Without Borders: Crossing Borders To Make A Difference, Houston Putnam Lowry

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) come in all shapes and sizes


Law Enforcement Officers And Agencies Georgia Bureau Of Investigation: Clarify Procedures For Submission Of Bar Applicants' Fingerprints For Criminal Background Checks, J. A. Schneider Sep 2003

Law Enforcement Officers And Agencies Georgia Bureau Of Investigation: Clarify Procedures For Submission Of Bar Applicants' Fingerprints For Criminal Background Checks, J. A. Schneider

Georgia State University Law Review

The Act gives the Georgia Crime Information Center the responsibility of receiving fingerprints from bar applicants and submitting these fingerprints to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Act also removes the restriction on the use of information obtained by the background check.


Mandatory Fingerprinting Of Public School Teachers: Fascilitating Background Checks Or Infringing On Individuals' Constitutional Rights?, Christina Buschmann Apr 2003

Mandatory Fingerprinting Of Public School Teachers: Fascilitating Background Checks Or Infringing On Individuals' Constitutional Rights?, Christina Buschmann

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

With the continuing growth of governmental intrusions into the private lives of its citizens, critics increasingly have taken aim at state actions which unnecessarily burden an individual's right to be let alone. One group in particular - public school teachers - often endure tedious examinations of their private affairs as a condition of employment. This Note examines the current state of privacy concerns, specifically in the realm of public school teachers, and argues that a compromise must be struck that better balances the public's need to protect children from dangerous teachers with the individual teacher's right to privacy. The Note …


Can Fingerprints Lie?: Re-Weighing Fingerprint Evidence In Criminal Jury Trials, Tamara F. Lawson Jan 2003

Can Fingerprints Lie?: Re-Weighing Fingerprint Evidence In Criminal Jury Trials, Tamara F. Lawson

Articles

This article discusses fingerprint evidence and its use in criminal jury trials. It is commonly thought that fingerprints "never lie"; however, this article reveals the little known fact that the "science" of fingerprint identification has never been empirically tested or proven to be reliable. It further exposes the seldom-discussed issue of fingerprint misidentification and latent print examiner error. The article explains the importance of fingerprint evidence and its extensive use in all phases of the criminal justice system. Specifically, the article plays out the dramatic courtroom scenario of incriminating fingerprints being found at a crime scene and matching the accused …


Expert Testimony On Fingerprints: An Internet Exchange, Richard D. Friedman, David H. Kaye, Jennifer Mnookin, Dale Nance, Michael Saks Jan 2002

Expert Testimony On Fingerprints: An Internet Exchange, Richard D. Friedman, David H. Kaye, Jennifer Mnookin, Dale Nance, Michael Saks

Articles

In United States v. Llera Plaza, 188 F. Supp. 2d 549 (E.D. Pa. 2002), a federal district initially limited expert opinion testimony on fingerprint identifications because the government was unable to show that such identifications were sufficiently valid and reliable under Federal Rule of Evidence 702. Then, the court withdrew the opinion. This article reproduces an exchange of notes on the initial opinion submitted by five law professors.


Education Elementary, Secondary, And Adult Education: Provide For Fingerprinting And Criminal Record Checks Of Prospective Education; Provide For Sanctions Against Students For Damage To State-Provided Class Materials; Provide For Voting Requirement For School Boards, Josie Redwine Sep 1994

Education Elementary, Secondary, And Adult Education: Provide For Fingerprinting And Criminal Record Checks Of Prospective Education; Provide For Sanctions Against Students For Damage To State-Provided Class Materials; Provide For Voting Requirement For School Boards, Josie Redwine

Georgia State University Law Review

The Act provides for fingerprinting and criminal record checks of persons to be employed as teachers or principals in the state school system. The Act further provides sanctions against pupils who fail or refuse to pay for lost or damaged textbooks, library books or media materials which are the property of the State. Finally, the Act specifies the number of members of local boards of education required to vote to take certain actions.


Recent Decisions Jan 1947

Recent Decisions

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.