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Articles » Trials of The
Century and Mock Trials
Forensic Automation
Matthew Senison
As computers are becoming more important in everyday life, they are becoming more important for the forensic scientist in the laboratory and the courtroom. In both respects, care must be taken to ensure that all samples and evidence are not tampered with. In the Simpson case, the blood evidence was faulty due to human error and the credibility of DNA evidence was reduced in the public eye in the most criminal case in the world. Automation in the lab is taking strides because of the lack of human error, and cost effectiveness. Instead of hiring new scientists, existing ones are trained to use and maintain them. Computers also do tedious mathematical calculations, process large data, and store the massive amounts of data needed for a DNA data bank.
On the courtside of computer applications, using computer imagery to give a jury a better sense of the crime scene is not a novelty. Computers have produced images for jury use for many years using enhancements and manipulation. The difference is that enhancements increase the contrast in an image, or change the value of a color, and manipulation actually alters the image. This difference is so small that unless the witness documents each stage of development, the testimony and evidence could be ruled inadmissible.
One of the best features of digitized graphics is cropping. An expert witness may present a picture of a wound, or it's characteristic, without showing "gore" which is usually ruled prejudicial. Another benefit to computer imagery is the utilization of three-dimensional rendering programs. After creating the three-dimensional crime scene, the jury can view it in different angles. There are two approaches to this method. The line rendition method (which shows all of the outlines of objects with no solid surfaces) has become much more popular than the painted method (which gives objects solid textures and is more lifelike) which while has not fallen out of use is just used less often.
The three-dimensional pictures can be lined up to create a storyboard or used as frames in a "movie." The storyboard has several more advantages. The storyboard is quicker to make. All pictures in the storyboard are directly in relation to the evidence. Blanks between pictures in the movie are filled in with the subjective opinions of the witness. It must be made clear that the movie is not what actually happened, but just a representation of the witness's theory. The movie method fares worse than the storyboard method in court because as the testimony gets more and more subjective, it is more likely to be thrown out. This can ruin a movie, which cannot be practically edited in time for the court, and may be thrown out entirely. This is not the case with a storyboard, were individual pictures can be removed without damaging it as a whole.
Another debated topic in automation technology is software that tells a scientist the most probable origin of blood splatter. It takes the information a scientist gives it and uses established mathematical equations and behavior analysis to provide new data. So even though it is not subjective, it still give the scientist new information, making this has been the subject of light debate. Also, the scientific community does not predict that a computer will ever take the stand as an expert witness in a trial, but its role as an aid in among other things the development of DNA analysis will continue to grow in leaps and bounds. However, this growth must be controlled; but not by the courts and lawyers who do not understand it's potential growth and limitations. The community is already establishing peer-based standards, and unless this continues, the future applications of automation will cut off by unyielding judges.
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Bevel, Tom and Ross M. Gardner.
Bloodstain Pattern Analysis: With An Introduction to Crime
Scene Reconstruction. Boca Raton Fla: CRC Press, 1997.
Innman, Keith and Norah Rudin. An Introduction to Forensic DNA analysis. Boca Raton Fla:
CRC Press, 1997.
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