Scientific and Legal Principles of Forensic Evidence

VME 6054

CREDITS: 3

Students completing this course will gain a better understanding of the fundamental concepts of evidence, burden and standard of proof, judge and jury, types of evidence, witnesses, degrees of certainty, and other relevant aspects of the principles of evidence in a legal investigation.

  • Course Introduction
  • Fundamental Concepts: Relevance, Admissibility, Weight of Evidence, The Holy Trinity (of cases)
  • Fundamental Concepts: Relevance, Admissibility, Weight of Evidence, The Holy Trinity (of cases) (continued)
  • What is Evidence? Types of evidence: eyewitness, expert, physical, direct, circumstantial, demonstrative
  • Evidence Identification, Collection and Preservation; Crime Scene to Courtroom; physical forensic evidence
  • Evidence Identification, Collection and Preservation; Crime Scene to Courtroom; biological forensic evidence
  • Unreliable evidence, confessions, eyewitness identifications, latent print evidence, accomplice testimony
  • Witnesses (fact, character, expert): competence and compellability (subpoena), due process, confrontation clause/ Documentation, Report Writing, degrees of scientific certainty, chain of custody
  • Locating, Evaluating and Selecting Experts; qualifying the expert, battle of the experts, discrediting experts, lawsuits against experts, who is an expert, role of the expert
  • Preā€trial proceedings and other types of sworn testimony: admissibility hearings, depositions, affidavits, meeting with opposing counsel, discovery, Brady
  • The course of evidence: burden and standard of proof, ultimate issue, trial chronology
  • Testimony: direct and cross-examination of a witness (hostile witness), hearsay (common law and statutory exceptions), impeachment (prior inconsistent statements), juror comprehension, testimony tips
  • Post Trial proceedings: appeals, mistrials, retrials, bifurcated trials (penalty phase) post-conviction litigation, ethics