Category: US National Institute of Justice (video statements)

Source: US National Institute of Justice (video statements)

When processing a digital image for scientific analysis and comparison, there are proper procedures that must be followed. This is to ensure the processed image’s admissibility in court and to provide the highest level of clarity and detail possible. Adobe Photoshop provides many tools for processing digital images; however, there are some tools that should not be used in forensic digital image processing.

This webinar was presented by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on August 5, 2021.

(Opinions or points of view expressed represent the speaker and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Any product or manufacturer discussed is presented for informational purposes only and do not constitute product approval or endorsement by the U.S. Department of Justice.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrvvlXHpPwI

Source: US National Institute of Justice (video statements)

Data availability is the cornerstone of progression of any scientific inquiry. For forensic anthropologists, the data sources are limited, as they must be contextually appropriate (temporal, geographical, etc.) for study and application in forensic research on human variation. In this webinar, the presenters will discuss The Forensic Anthropology Database for Assessing Methods Accuracy (FADAMA), a database that offers access to unique, innovative, and nuanced data. The webinar will cover the database’s goals, ethical considerations, research potential, data accessibility, and more. FADAMA provides a dynamic dataset for teaching purposes, starting on your first research project, or building on broad reaching questions. Furthermore, in the time of COVID-19, FADAMA offers an alternative to field research, and houses data that can answer an abundance of research questions, all while being accessed safely and securely online.

This webinar was presented by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on August 31, 2021.

(Opinions or points of view expressed represent the speaker and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Any product or manufacturer discussed is presented for informational purposes only and do not constitute product approval or endorsement by the U.S. Department of Justice.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0My5zC-_cQ

Source: US National Institute of Justice (video statements)

Analyzing, comparing, and evaluating forensic digital images relies on understanding two essential elements: image quality and image clarity. Resolution provides image quality, while bit depth provides clarity between the details in an image. It is important to understand how image quality and clarity can affect the probative value of a forensic digital image as well as an examiner’s ability to accurately analyze those images.

This webinar was presented by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on August 3, 2021.

(Opinions or points of view expressed represent the speaker and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Any product or manufacturer discussed is presented for informational purposes only and do not constitute product approval or endorsement by the U.S. Department of Justice.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQqPWrQ4dIM

Source: US National Institute of Justice (video statements)

This webinar will provide an overview of overdose fatality reviews (OFRs) with a specific focus on engaging partnerships with coroners, medical examiners, and medicolegal death investigators. The presenters will highlight OFRs that have been implemented by engaging the medicolegal death investigation system and will discuss challenges and recommendations associated with implementing an OFR. The webinar will consist of three presentations on OFRs highlighting a county-level, a rural community, and a state-wide approach.

This webinar was presented by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on July 27, 2021.

(Opinions or points of view expressed represent the speaker and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Any product or manufacturer discussed is presented for informational purposes only and do not constitute product approval or endorsement by the U.S. Department of Justice.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71xjz4ei0Zc

Source: US National Institute of Justice (video statements)

Microhaplotypes (microhaps) are biomarkers fewer than 300 nucleotides long that display multiple allelic combinations. The main advantages of microhaps over conventional short tandem repeats (STRs) include the 1) absence of stutter, 2) same-size alleles within each locus, 3) lower mutation rate, and 4) ancestry informative alleles. These forensically relevant loci can yield a power of discrimination similar to STRs while enhancing human identification (HID), mixture deconvolution, and biogeographic ancestry prediction. In this presentation, the subject matter expert will discuss the current status of the research conducted in the GW-FMB lab on a new multi-function DNA marker and its potential impact to the field of forensic genetics.

This webinar was presented by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on June 22, 2021.

(Opinions or points of view expressed represent the speaker and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Any product or manufacturer discussed is presented for informational purposes only and do not constitute product approval or endorsement by the U.S. Department of Justice.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDC4wJN4TDs

Source: US National Institute of Justice (video statements)

Over the last ten years, numerous novel psychoactive substances (NPS) have emerged in the recreational drug supply. Upon synthesis or discovery, each of these drugs has been given a name other than its IUPAC chemical name, primarily for ease of communication. This has resulted in various naming convention for NPS, sometimes multiple within a given subclass. This webinar is aimed at tackling the naming conventions for NPS and the associated challenges encountered along the way.

This webinar was presented by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on July 22, 2021.

(Opinions or points of view expressed represent the speaker and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Any product or manufacturer discussed is presented for informational purposes only and do not constitute product approval or endorsement by the U.S. Department of Justice.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaD1wHjX9HM

Source: US National Institute of Justice (video statements)

LatentSleuth is a novel software tool set designed for (and with direct feedback from) latent print examiners. The toolset includes a small-scale automated fingerprint identification system (AFIS) matcher that leverages a novel matching algorithm that calculates a warp between a latent print image and a given reference print image. This webinar will demonstrate a comprehensive quantification of a latent images entire structure and how that quantification is exploited in a commercially available workstation for latent print examination.

This webinar was presented by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on June 8, 2021.

(Opinions or points of view expressed represent the speaker and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Any product or manufacturer discussed is presented for informational purposes only and do not constitute product approval or endorsement by the U.S. Department of Justice.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1DiIbVnTTs

Source: US National Institute of Justice (video statements)

In the sixth and final webinar, participants will be introduced to the use of PMCT in the investigation of a variety of unnatural deaths not discussed in previous webinars.  Topics include overdose deaths, select asphyxial mechanisms of death, and sharp force injury.

This webinar was presented by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on May 18, 2021.

(Opinions or points of view expressed represent the speaker and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Any product or manufacturer discussed is presented for informational purposes only and do not constitute product approval or endorsement by the U.S. Department of Justice.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhP4_ExxgLg

Source: US National Institute of Justice (video statements)

In the fifth webinar, participants will be introduced to the use of PMCT in the investigation of natural deaths.  At the New Mexico OMI, a PMCT scan may be used to rule out trauma in apparently natural deaths, or to confirm a natural cause of death.  Depending on investigative details (circumstances, age, and medical history), and the PMCT findings, pathologists may choose to perform an external exam or a full autopsy.

This webinar was presented by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on May 11, 2021.

(Opinions or points of view expressed represent the speaker and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Any product or manufacturer discussed is presented for informational purposes only and do not constitute product approval or endorsement by the U.S. Department of Justice.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YMnk1YRuSA

Source: US National Institute of Justice (video statements)

In the third webinar, participants will be introduced to the use of PMCT for examining decedents with gunshot wounds, both homicidal and self-inflicted. At the New Mexico OMI, a PMCT scan is performed in virtually all gunshot wound (GSW) related deaths. In cases of suspected homicide or suspicious suicides, autopsy is also performed. However, in non-suspicious cases involving self-inflicted GSW, PMCT is combined with an external examination, and sometimes a partial autopsy to retrieve a retained projectile, replacing the full autopsy.

This webinar was presented by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on April 27, 2021.

(Opinions or points of view expressed represent the speaker and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Any product or manufacturer discussed is presented for informational purposes only and do not constitute product approval or endorsement by the U.S. Department of Justice.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU9czt8O_II