UNIL - Challenging Forensic Science: How Science Should Speak to Court 

Course Introduction: Meet your Lausanne Team

Presentation and visit of The School of Criminal Justice

Course learning objectives

Week 1 Introduction: What is the ?DNA? of a Good Forensic Report?

Forensic Science and Evaluative Reporting

Uncertainty in the Criminal Trial

Principles of forensic reporting (Part A): 1st Principle

Principles of forensic reporting (Part B): 2nd and 3rd Principles

ENFSI Guideline for Evaluative Reporting

Conclusion of week 1: What is the ?DNA? of a Good Forensic Report?

Interview with Prof. Colin Aitken

Interview with Dr. Sc. Sheila Willis

Instructors

Development Team

Guests interviewed

Syllabus and Grading policies

Discussion forum guidelines

Getting started: Break the ice !

Additional literature Week 1

Week 1

Week 2 Introduction - Elementary: Source is not Activity! !

Part A - DNA recovered on a suspect (1): Hierarchy of Propositions

Part A - DNA recovered on a suspect (2): the Weller Case

Part B - Gunshot residues recovered on a suspect: The George case

Part C - DNA recovered on a victim (1): the Butler and Nealon cases

Part C - DNA recovered on a victim (2): Checklist for auditing statements

Week 2 Conclusion - Elementary: Source is not Activity !

Interview with Dr. Sc. CBE Ian Evett and Prof. Graham Jackson

Additional literature Week 2

Week 2

Week 3 Introduction: DNA is not the Magic Bullet

DNA in the lab (1): From Detection to Quantification

DNA in the lab (2): From Amplification to DNA Profile

Part A - The Knox and Sollecito case (1) Summary of the circumstances

Part A - The Knox and Sollecito case (2) Low Template DNA

Part A - The Knox and Sollecito case (3) Discussion and Conclusion

Part B - Transfer and pollution (1) the Jama case

Part B - Transfer and pollution: The Probability of Error/Pollution

Part C - Transfer and pollution: the Anderson and Scott cases

Week 3 Conclusion: DNA is not the Magic Bullet

Interview with Prof. Peter Gill

Interview with Prof. Pierre Margot

Additional literature Week 3

Week 3

Week 4 Introduction: Trials by Numbers or Numbers on Trial ?

Part A - Statistics in Court (1): the Clark and Collins Cases

Part A - Statistics in Court (2): the Clark and Collins Cases

Part B - The Transposed Conditional (1): Prosecutor's Fallacy

Part B - The transposed conditional (2): The Adams and the Dreyfus Cases

Week 4 Conclusion: Trials by Numbers or Numbers on Trial ?

Interview with Prof. David Kaye

Interview with Prof. William Thompson

Additional literature Week 4

Week 4

Week 5 Introduction: the Wonderland of Certainty

Detection of fingermarks in the laboratory

Part A - Identification with Earmarks (1): The Dallagher Case

Part A - Identification with Earmarks (2): The Dallagher Case

Part B - Identification with Fingermarks (1): The McKie Case

Part B - Identification with Fingermarks (2): The McKie Case

Part C - Identification with Fingermarks: The Mayfield Case

Analysis and comparison of the fingermark in Mayfield Case

Week 5 Conclusion: The Wonderland of Certainty

Interview with Mr Iain McKie

Interview with Dr Brandon Mayfield and Prof. Sharia Mayfield

Course Conclusions

Additional literature Week 5

Week 5