Crime Lab Funding and Operations: Comparing US and UK Systems

Application and Critical Thinking Most crime labs In the U. S. Are funded & operated by the gobo and provide services free to police and prosecutors. Great Britain uses private labs that charge a fee for services and keeps any profits they make. What are some potential strengths and weaknesses of each system? One potential strength for the U. S. For being funded and operated by the gobo and providing free services for the police and prosecutors Is that they do not have to worry about funds.

The police and/or prosecutors can approach the crime labs they deed and ask for which ever tests they need to be performed and get them done, how ever many times. A potential weakness of this system could be that the information could be skewed being that it is run by one particular agency, another weakness is that the gobo isn't making any money like the agencies in Great Britain. In Great Britain, they are getting paid to do a Job, they would want to do the Job well and In a timely manner.

In the U. S. , they not getting paid, so why would they rush to get It done? They can tea their time solving things or getting the tests completed. On the aside, the police and prosecutors have access to, free of charge, all of the services the U. S. Crime labs provide: FBI, DEAD, TAFT, US Postal lab, to name a few. A strength for Great Britain using private labs is that it's not being interfered with by the government, It was paid to do a job, it will get the Job done.

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On the down side, this type of system expects to be paid, so if a small area can not pay for the types of help they are In need of, the crime lab will not be able to provide help with the crime investigation. 2. Police investigating an apparent suicide collect the following items at the scene: a tote purportedly written by the victim, a revolver bearing very faint finger prints and traces of skin and blood under the victim's fingernails. What units of the crime laboratory will examine each piece of evidence?

The unit that would examine the note would be the Document Examination Unit. This unit studies the authenticity of handwriting and typewriting on the documents in question. The revolver will be examined by the Firearms Unit as they are able to detect residue from firearms, discharged bullets, shotgun shells, cartridge cases, and other types of ammunitions. They examine all firearms and are able to approximate he distance the weapon was fired from the target. The revolver will also also be examined by the Latent Fingerprint Unit because it has a very faint fingerprint on it.

The Biology unit will examine the traces of blood and skin found under the victim's fingernails. This unit is staffed with many biochemists and biologists that are trained to perform DNA profiling on body fluids, dried bloodstains as well as skin. Crime scene instead of a patrol officer or detective. One of the advantages of having an evidence collection unit process a crime scene over a patrol officer or a detective is that the evidence collection unit have properly rained staff technicians on the ready 24 hours a day to arrive at a crime scene to collect evidence.

Another advantage is that these technicians are trained recognize and to collect/gather important physical evidence at the crime scene where as a detective or a patrol office may not have such a keen eye for such things. A third advantage for having evidence collection units process a crime scene is that the technicians are trained to work with all the special lab equipment in order to help process the evidence. This helps them to become experts in their field as they are exposed to the equipment 24 hours a day, having all the supplies and tools for proper evidence collection and packaging which allows for future examination. . What legal issue was raised on appeal by the defense in Carl Spooling's Florida murder trial? What court ruling is most relevant to the decision to reject the appeal? Explain. The legal issue that was raised while on appeal was that could the defendant be convicted of murder based on a series of tests designed specifically for this one case because the tests had not yet "gained general acceptance" across the toxicology profession. The court believed that these tests, though they are new, are important to the case and are admissible and doesn't make the crime of murder any less of a crime.

Rule 702 is most relevant, in this case, to the decision to reject the appeal because Rule 702 deals with the "admissibility of expert testimony. " The testimony from qualified experts (the witness); by skills, training, knowledge, experience, or education, is based on gathered data and/or sufficient facts. The testimony must be produced from methods and principles of reliability, and finally, the witness must use and apply the methods and principles reliably to facts of said case.

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