National Forensic Science College Seminar

Catalog description

The National Forensic Science College Research Seminar will cover cutting-edge, emerging, and potentially transformational forensic science issues that are percolating in the criminal justice system. The College is a joint program offered for the last seven years by Cardozo, the Federal Defender Service, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NADCL). This seminar will focus on big data by looking at two areas where the government is deploying big data techniques Genetic Genealogy and Facial Recognition/Big Data Analytics and an area where the defense/civil rights community is deploying big data techniques law enforcement accountability databases. Throughout the course, we will touch on the twin themes of racial justice and resource allocation. We will address the constitutional (4th Amendment privacy caselaw and Brady), statutory (legislative bans or regulations and regulatory/administrative oversight commissions), and evidentiary (Frye/Daubert challenges) implications of each of these forensic science issues. Inevitably, we will cover issues concerning digital evidence, artificial intelligence, the forensic application of statistics, access to algorithms and source codes, and other forms of forensic DNA testing. The students will participate in lively in-class discussion, engage with guest speakers. Research papers approved by the faculty will be required or approved research projects, subject to confidentiality restrictions, in support of ongoing work of faculty or participants in the National Forensic Science College. The size of the seminar is limited and faculty will approve candidates. Knowledge of criminal procedure is a prerequisite for the course and a background in intellectual property, data science, and statistics would be very helpful.