Forensic Court Report: ONPS216 - Bias and Ethical Considerations

This report, prepared for the legal team defending Mr. McGee, analyzes the '123 Fake Street' investigation, focusing on potential biases within the prosecution's forensic team. It identifies three critical stages—crime scene investigation, forensic investigation, and final outcome—where bias could have been introduced, affecting the partiality of examiners, forensic professionals, and laboratory experts. The report details how actions, procedures, and lines of questioning at each stage could have been influenced, and how these biases might impact the case. It also explores the necessity of maintaining impartiality throughout the investigation, offering suggestions on how the prosecution could have avoided being partial. The report emphasizes the importance of ethical considerations and unbiased practices in forensic science, ensuring fair and just outcomes in the courtroom.

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LEGAL LAW
Module Number

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Table of Contents
Introduction: 1
Discussion: 1
Crime Scene Investigation: 1
Forensic Investigation: 2
Final Outcome: 3
Conclusion: 4
References: 5

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Introduction:
The report consist the stages for assessment of a criminal case which involves the forensic
investigation as a significant part of overall investigation of case. In this report the perspective
and views of a member of forensic science team has been mentioned which was approached by
the defendant team to get the information about the chances of biasness which could be done
from the side of prosecution. The report has the discussion about the stages of assessment which
shall be done by the investigators while conducting a forensic investigation in context of any
criminal case. Generally the forensic report consist the outcome from the analysis of DNA,
fingerprints, bloodstains and other forensic factors which can be examined with the help of
forensic science. Also the circumstances and chances of having biasness at different assessment
stages of forensic investigation have also been discussed in the further part of report.
Discussion:
The evidences and facts related to the crime have been collected by the investigators from the
location of crime which is known as crime scene investigation. Similarly for the further part of
investigation the forensic analysis has been conducted by the forensic experts. For the purpose to
resolve the entire criminal incident several stages of investigation has been taken under the report
such as crime scene investigation, forensic investigation and final investigation. All these stages
are considered under the report due to their significance in a criminal case assessment.
Crime Scene Investigation:
Specific action- This investigation is taken into consideration because for initiate the
investigation it is primarily required to collect the facts and evidences from the crime scene
location so that the relevancy of facts and motive of crime can be ascertained. (Lillis, Becker,
O'Sullivan, and Scanlon, 2016).
Bias introduction- In this stage of assessment the biasness can be performed by the officers who
collected the evidences from the crime scene. They can manipulate the evidences and facts
related to the case and crime scene. This investigation includes gathering of evidences,

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identification, evaluation and analysis of collected facts and evidences. Hence with the large
number of stages of investigation, the chances of biasness have also been increased.
Lines of questioning- After collecting all the facts and evidences from the crime scene, it is the
duty of investigator to analyze the evidences and to prepare the queries and questions of doubt
which can be asked from the parties. For the further evaluation of forensic facts and evidences,
the digital and physical elements are considered which includes the mobile, computer, hard
drives, bloodstains, fingerprints etc. Hence on the basis of all these elements the question in
context of the case can be raised on the parties (Riadi, 2017).
Delivery of the expert testimony- The final stage of every assessment is the statement made by
the investigator who conducted the investigation. The forensic investigators and other
professional evaluators who conducted the analysis of evidences are bound under some ethics to
deliver the justified and fair outcomes of evaluation to the Court to avoid the biasness and
injustice to the parties. On the belief that the experts and investigators work on the basis of
ethics, the Court usually found the expert testimony as fair as true.
Forensic Investigation:
Specific action – The evidences gathered from the crime scene shall be taken for the forensic
investigation through which the identification of suspect and other significant findings can be
occurred. The forensic investigation would be performed on the bloodstains, DNA, fingerprint,
mobile and other collected evidences which can be assesses by the forensic professionals (Al
Mutawa, Bryce, Franqueira, and Marrington, 2016).
Bias introduction-In the forensic investigation the examiners can perform bias attitude towards
one of the party due to any reason. However these examiners perform neutral and in the favor of
justice but these professionals are also human hence the cognitive biasness can be occurred. The
biasness can also be occurred due to the character of accused or nature of crime action as the
professionals can take the action of case humanly and can also conclude the situation of case
from the one side. Sometimes the biasness made by the forensic investigators cause the injustice
with the innocent party and can provide the benefits to the defendant.

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Lines of questioning- The questions related to facts and law are raised out from the forensic
investigation such as the questions regarding the fingerprints and bloodstains found on the knife
used for the murder and mobile history found in the mobile etc. The report made by the forensic
expert covers the outcomes of evidence analysis and concerned queries which can assist the
proceeding of case. The opinions of forensic expert on the relevant evidences have valuable
contribution in the overall assessment of a criminal case law (Daryabar, Dehghantanha, and Choo,
2017).
Delivery of the expert testimony-The report made by the forensic expert is called as forensic
science report which contains the statement or final opinion of the forensic expert. However the
Court considers several facts and conditions in the proceeding of the case but the opinion of
forensic expert has its own access value in the final judgment making. The Court has belief that
the expert testimony has been given under the proper and adequate ethics. Also it is considered
as fair and in the favor of justice.
Final Outcome:
Specific action- As per the given case the forensic evidences gathered from the crime scene has
been sent for the forensic investigation and the report of which reveals the identification of
suspect and other relevant facts for the case. The report will reveal that the bloodstains and
fingerprints are referred to which person and how these factors were occurred at the crime scene.
The report also involves the outcomes derived from the matching of fingerprints on the weapon
used for murder, DNA testing and matching of blood with the blood samples of accused (Du, Le-
Khac, and Scanlon, 2017).
Bias introduction- Even after the forensic investigation there are chances of biasness that are
probable from the investigator’s side. The probability of biasness persists from the part of
forensic team as during the preparation of report they may give a due consideration to the
relationship between accused and the deceased. The report may impart the fact that the accused
and the deceased had a relationship where dispute might persist and the dispute between Mr.
McGee and Miss E. Shermer, exerted Mr. McGee to commit the crime.

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Lines of questioning- The expert’s opinion is given a due consideration that could result in
effective decision of the case. Thereby opinion given by the expert has been generated after
consideration of all the factors associated with the crime incident. Hence all the queries and
questions of doubt have been derived on the basis of final opinion or testimony given by the
expert (Gupta, Kalaimannan, and Yoo, 2016).
Delivery of expert testimony: The final or last testimony of expert is generally given before the
Court so that the every chance of biasness can be mitigated. In most of the cases, the testimony
of expert shall be considered by the written statement made by the expert in his report. In
addition to that the Court can call the expert in the Court for the oral testimony if it is required by
the situation (Hahn, Mourges, and Simpson, 2018).
Conclusion:
It could be depicted in the conclusion of such report that every criminal proceeding goes through
several stages of investigations which include crime scene investigation, forensic investigation
and final investigation. However the proceeding of Court begins on the basis of outcomes of
overall investigations but if required the Court can order for the reinvestigation to the officers
concerned with the case. Usually it is done by the Court when the Court found any biasness in
the investigation or any of the party applies to the Court for the reinvestigation for the case.

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References:
Al Mutawa, N., Bryce, J., Franqueira, V. N., and Marrington, A. (2016). Forensic investigation of
cyberstalking cases using Behavioural Evidence Analysis. Digital investigation, 16, S96-S103.
Daryabar, F., Dehghantanha, A., and Choo, K. K. R. (2017). Cloud storage forensics: MEGA as a case
study. Australian Journal of Forensic Sciences, 49(3), 344-357.
Du, X., Le-Khac, N. A., and Scanlon, M. (2017). Evaluation of digital forensic process models with respect
to digital forensics as a service. arXiv preprint arXiv:1708.01730.
Gupta, J. N., Kalaimannan, E., and Yoo, S. M. (2016). A heuristic for maximizing investigation
effectiveness of digital forensic cases involving multiple investigators. Computers and Operations
Research, 69, 1-9.
Hahn, S., Mourges, M., and Simpson, A. (2018). Forensic Sciences and Forensic Identification.
In Forensic Odontology (pp. 1-17). Academic Press.
Lillis, D., Becker, B., O'Sullivan, T., and Scanlon, M. (2016). Current challenges and future research areas
for digital forensic investigation. arXiv preprint arXiv:1604.03850.
Riadi, I. (2017). Forensic Investigation Technique on Android's Blackberry Messenger using NIST
Framework. International Journal of Cyber-Security and Digital Forensics, 6(4), 198-206.