ACR102 – 2020

Introducing Crime
& Criminal Justice

Week 9
Experts, Lay People and Forensics
Dr Andrew Groves
 Contact Information
Unit Chair: Dr Andrew Groves
Burwood / Online Campus Coordinator
Room 3.06, Building D, Burwood Campus
(03) 9246 8961 [email protected]
Consultation time: Tuesdays 1pm on Bb, OR by appointment

“There is no such thing as a silly question…except the one that isn’t asked!”

 Well done on the use of the Discussion Boards, in particular those students that have helped
others, keep up the good work!

 Make sure you read all information – incl. Announcements, Discussion Boards and Study
Guides for each week. Also, use the relevant resources for their intended purpose – e.g. AT3
Discussion Board.

 Note: communication make take a little longer, so please be patient!

 Important Information Th
in gs
to t
h ink
• AT2 (Report): feedback and grades have now been returned a bo
ut !
!
o Make sure that you read the feedback and consider where you can improve!
o If you have any queries about the feedback or grade received, you can contact the Unit Chair, but you must
have read the feedback provided and have a detailed explanation for any issues you identify, made with
reference to the Instructions and the rubric.

• AT3 (Essay) is due today Monday 14 September, 8pm (AEST).

• Remember: there is a grace period for all assessments until 11:59pm on the due date;
penalties apply for submissions made 12-midnight and after.

• Extensions
o Online Extension Request Form – see ‘Tools > Assignment Extension Form’ – keep using for all
extensions; must include supporting documentation.
o MUST be made prior to assignment deadlines and using the online form – late and/or email requests will
not be granted.
o Note: Previous approvals for other tasks are not justification for extension for future tasks and having
multiple assignments due is not sufficient grounds for extension.

o The Take-home Exam (AT4) will be open from 9am Monday 12 October until Thursday 15 October,
8pm (AEST) (+ grace period until 11:59pm). Be prepared!
o No extensions are possible for AT4. If students experience unforeseen barriers/issues that prevent
completion of this task, they must apply for Special Consideration, within three days of the final deadline.
 Important Information
Some feedback regarding AT3 (but also assessments generally)
• Please make sure you read all documents available to you, carefully (e.g. Instructions, FAQs,
rubric, Discussion Board, etc.).
• Check assessment deadlines!
• Don’t leave your essays to the last minute, this is inevitably when errors happen and some
panic.
• Submit files in the correct format (i.e. Word or PDF only). Typically, if a file cannot be read, it
will receive a mark of ‘0’.
• Do not submit any work that has been previously submitted for other assignments – this is
self-plagiarism and a breach of academic integrity, as well as University policy.
• Please be patient in your communication with the Unit Chair and teaching staff, now more
than ever. If you contact your tutor or Unit Chair by phone, please leave a detailed voicemail,
including return contact details!
• Reminder – if you are seeking an extension for any assessment, it must be prior to the
deadline, using the online extension request form and must include supporting documentation
(e.g. medical certificate, funeral notice, counsellor’s letter, IT Support job ticket, etc.), and the
length request must correspond with the issue/supporting documentation.
 Lecture Overview
• What is forensic science?
• Where are forensics and experts used in the CJS?
• Types of forensic analyses
• Forensics in the courtroom: legal standards for reliability?
• The Expert – who are they and why it’s important!
• Is forensic evidence reliable?
• Key theme: The CSI Effect
• Current issue: Mandatory DNA collection upon arrest?

• Think about how this week’s topic relates to the key themes for the Unit, of
discretion and accountability?
 Contemporary, relevant and applied!
• Reliability of forensics questioned
in Victoria

• Raises issues regarding discretion

and, in turn, accountability

• For example, consider the phrase:

“when it comes to fingerprints,

they are most often right…”

Does that fill you with

confidence…?

Consider influence of
discretion and
accountability
URL embedded!
 What is Forensic Science?
• Forensics is now an integral part of the CJS.
• Forensic science: “the application of science to those criminal and civil
laws that are enforced by police agencies in a criminal justice system”
(Safterstein 1998, p. 2).

Functions of forensic science Crime occurs

1. Informs law enforcement during

investigations, about the nature of crimes. Detected by/reported to police

2. Assist in the detection and prosecution of Offender(s) identified

known offenders.
Arrested
• Inform decision about the legal guilt, Charged

prospective legal guilt, or innocence of an

Court
offender.

Convicted &
sanctioned
 Forensics in the CJ Process: pre-crime
• We think about forensics in the CJ process using two logics:
(1) policing
(2) security

(1) Policing/Pre-crime
• “Pre-crime”: crime is understood in terms of risk or
potential loss (Zedner 2007). Discourses of safety are often
prominent.
• Investigation as a means to detect, identify, and intervene
before crimes occur.

• Close link between forensics and intelligence

analysis, data-retention, etc.

Source: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/minority_report/
http://computerrepairs.oziti.com.au/blog/security/meta-data-internet-security-data-retention-vpn/
 Forensics in the CJ Process: post-crime
(2) Follows the logic of security.
• “Post-crime”: crime has already
occurred and is in need of investigation
post hoc.
• Forensics used as a means to
retroactively identify and investigate a
criminal event.
• e.g. Traditional crime scene
investigation, or cyber forensics.

Consider influence of
discretion and
accountability
 A Brief History of Forensics
• Forensics has long been premised on ‘expert
evidence’.

• Anthropological criminology as a sort of

forensics

• e.g. Lombroso, Bertillion, etc. – “born

criminals” and inferior physical traits (late
19th and early-20th century)

• The creation of the ‘mug shot’

• An interesting starting point, but

overwhelmingly disproven…
Then…

• Think about the potential for labelling,

stigmatisation, discrimination and
…and now!
‘othering’!
 Types of Forensic Sciences:
DNA Forensics
• Both pre- and post-crime functions

• DNA profiling (blood, saliva, hair, etc.)

• It has been noted that DNA samples recovered from Consider influence of
crime scenes: discretion and
accountability

“…can be derived from many different materials and areas. It is possible to

obtain samples of DNA from fabrics, cigarettes, tools and utensils as well
as from minute amounts of biological material, even where this material
has been deposited many years earlier, has been degraded or is not even
visible to the naked eye” (DRP 2010, p.10-11).

• First Australian case involving DNA – 1989: Desmond Applebee

Fingerprinting (‘Dactyloscopy’)
• Types
 Plastic
 Visible
 Latent
• Primary investigative practice (approx.
70%)
• Pre-crime vs post-crime
• Pre-crime?
o Limited due to privacy and rights
concerns (legitimate surveillance?)
o Displacement – changes in
offender behaviour
• Post-crime – tool in investigations,
used in trials

• Specialised, but fallible, field

 Handwriting
• Often used to convey legitimacy/power to investigations

• Examples of uses: in fraud, suicide, ransom/extortion cases, to determine

identity, action, etc.

• Less precise than DNA and fingerprinting and affected by numerous factors (e.g.
injury, emotional state)

• Pre-crime vs post-crime

• Specialised skill – dependent on

human ability/biases and/or
integrity of databases

• Also think about – how many

letters (or similar) you have written
lately…?
 ‘Trace’ Forensics &
Biological Trace Forensics
• Used to identify who was there and what happened!
• Role of context – was trace left as a result of criminal act, or simply everyday
behaviour (e.g. hair-brush).
• Pre-crime vs post-crime
o Similar constraints in terms of existing knowledge and/or databases, as well as quality
and integrity of testing facilities/techniques
o Useful tool following criminal activity, but limited preventative capacity
 Firearms and Ballistics
• A common area of investigation, due to serious nature of gun crimes (e.g.
serious injury and/or fatality).
• Is this pre-crime vs post-crime? Can offenders be identified and prevented
from committing gun-related crimes?
• Less precise and affected by numerous factors (e.g. fragmentation, different
materials, missing weapons).
• Think too, about jurisdictional variances (e.g. gun laws), cultural
associations with guns, ease of alteration, etc.

Image Sources: https://www.google.com.au/search?biw=1280&bih=584&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=2cqJW4LDDtrN-

Qaz2Jq4Aw&q=CSI+firearm+investigation&oq=CSI+firearm+investigation&gs_l=img.3...94884.102162.0.102749.31.26.1.0.0.0.33
7.3863.0j7j7j3.17.0....0...1c.1.64.img..13.5.1153...0j0i8i30k1j0i24k1.0.I4z5h5VPHPo#imgrc=DBasVJSXNIcBUM:
 Computer/Cyber Forensics
• A product of our digital world
• Pre-crime or post-crime?
• Challenges of a virtual, ‘spaceless’
environment and ‘fleeting evidence’
• Expands the way we think about and
respond to crime and victimisation to a
more global context
• Used in fraud, embezzlement, hacking,
terrorism, bullying, etc.
• Again, requires specialists and expert
knowledge.
Biometric Surveillance
• Enables new forms of monitoring/surveillance and information-
gathering

• Can be used as a form of social and/or physical control (e.g.

access to areas, exclusion of ‘non-citizens’, passports, etc.)

• Some limitations – dependent on databases; often reinforces

gender/race/class biases, quality of technology

• Who has control of individuals’ data and what is used for?

• Are affected communities engaged in consultation regarding
development and use of these tools?

Yatala Maximum Security Prison, SA

URLs embedded!
 Forensics in the Courtroom
• Forensics used in criminal trials to determine legal guilt or innocence of a defendant, see http://
www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/JlLawInfoSci/2010/2.html

• Factual guilt is whether or not someone actually committed a crime and legal guilt is whether
or not they can provide enough evidence to prove that they actually committed the crime (i.e.
in criminal trials the onus of proof is beyond reasonable doubt).
• Provides corroborating evidence and can assist judge/jury in decision-making.
• Forensics a dialogical process: admissibility, credibility and reliability.
• Admissibility depends on:
1. Reliability;
2. Manner in which the evidence was obtained;
3. The interest of fairness to the accused; and
4. In relation to public interest.

• Potential for reform of court, police and scientific practices.

 Legal Standards for Reliability?
Traditional legal standards for determining reliability of forensic evidence

Frye standard (1923)

• Courts determined that evidence that had “gained acceptance in the particular field in which it
belongs” would be admitted to trial – onus on experts to verify.

Daubert standard (1993)

1. Evidence must be peer-reviewed and generally accepted by scientific community;
2. was of sound methodology; and
3. had a known error rate.

• All Australian jurisdictions have rules that govern who can present expert evidence.
• For example: the Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) and Evidence Act 2008 (Vic) enable
judges to include or exclude evidence on the basis of it being relevant to the facts of the
issue. The Acts also provides strict guidelines to determine the basis for admissibility
and provides lawyers with avenues to challenge DNA evidence.
 The Expert
Must be:
• Qualified to present evidence.
• Demonstrate formal qualifications and show evidence they have direct experience and knowledge about
the type of evidence they are presenting on.

• Independent of the prosecution or defence.

• Evidence shows experts consistently present evidence that is biased towards the prosecution
• Capable of presenting complex evidence to the layperson.
• Wary of presenting “opinion”.
• Forensics as the “scientific hero”?
• What about technology as “silver-bullet”?

Consider influence of
discretion and
accountability
 Is Forensic Evidence Reliable?
• The US Innocence Project indicates that…
“...many forensic testing methods have been applied with little or no scientific validation and with
inadequate assessments of their robustness or reliability. Furthermore, they lacked scientifically acceptable
standards for quality assurance and quality control before their implementation in cases”

• Briody (2004) found that in QLD, juries were 23 times more likely to find a defendant guilty
of homicide, and 33 times more likely to find a defendant guilty of sexual assault when the
prosecution admitted DNA evidence.

• Goodman-Delahunty and Tait’s (2006, p.104) work indicated

that “the introduction of DNA evidence may result in more
convictions than are warranted.”
VIDEO: CSI Effect questions forensics evidence
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZkSNVneVWQ
 Key Theme: The CSI Effect
• CSI Effect describes: “district attorneys increasing worry that the shows [CSI: Crime Scene
Investigation] taint the jury pool with impossibly high expectations of how easily and
conclusively criminal cases can be solved using DNA analysis and other forensic science”
(Franzen, 2002).

Academics have since refined this definition to encompass:

• Increased expectations of crime victims and juries about what forensics can do
• The need for more quality forensic evidence
• Increased standards regarding the quality of forensic evidence

Solutions:
• Juries should be briefed before the trial on complex information that may help them to understand
DNA evidence
• Ability of juries to take notes/ask questions during trials has had little success
• Jurors given clear information they were able to give appropriate weight to the DNA evidence
 Current Issue: Mandatory DNA Collection?
• 2013 US Supreme Court ruling (Maryland v. King) found unobtrusive search for DNA (cotton-swab in
mouth) does not constitute intrusion into someone’s body. No warrant needed for DNA collection.

What about Australia? When is DNA collected and stored?

• Vic/NSW: upon conviction or when needed for investigation after arrest.
If no charge, DNA is removed from database after a year.
• NT/QLD: in arrest for serious crimes. DNA stays on file in NT, even if person
is cleared of the charge.
• WA: once you are charged with an offence.
• SA: anyone who is suspected of a crime punishable by imprisonment can
have their DNA taken and held on database indefinitely, even if they
were instantly cleared of the crime.

Concerns
• Over-policing (and under-policing)
• Function-creep: evidence will be used for purposes other than
its original collection
• Changing police practices: Incentive to arrest on tenuous
grounds for purpose of collecting DNA and cross-check
against DNA held, sometimes indefinitely, in database

URL embedded!
 READ
Next Week: Prescribed chapter from the
textbook and study guide
Failures of Justice material prior to the
lecture/seminar.

Assessment
Keep going with your preparation for the Take-home Exam (AT4).

Note: there are weekly revision quizzes available on the Cloudsite, which only
some students have accessed.