This organization is comprised primarily of linguists whose work involves the law. This means linguistic evidence in court such as authorship attribution, disputed confessions, interpreting and translating in court, the readability/comprehensibility of legal documents, and interviews with children in the legal system. The Association’s Web site includes a useful, searchable bibliography of notable references about forensic linguistics.
The American Board of Forensic Odontology was organized in 1976 under the auspices of the National Institute of Justice, with the mission to establish, enhance, and revise as necessary, standards of qualifications for those who practice forensic odontology and to certify as qualified specialists those voluntary applicants who comply with the requirements of the Board. Detailed ABFO guidelines on human identification, bitemarks, development of a dental ID team, and missing person and unidentified body cases are available in the ID & Bitemark Guidelines (
http://www.abfo.org/guide.htm) section.
The Bureau of Legal Dentistry provides current bibliographies on "Human, Animal Bites," "DNA Methods," "Mass Fatalities," "Human Identification," "Domestic Violence," and "Dental Jurisprudence" in the Research area.
A web site by the International Organisation for Forensic Odontostomotology (IOFOS) devoted to forensic dentistry. The site includes information on identifications, bitemarks, and journals and books on this fascinating subject. The links on the right side of the page are particularly useful; many lead to full text articles. The IOFOS publishes the Journal of Forensic Odonto-Stomatology.
Created by Mike Bowers, a forensic odontologist, this site provides a comprehensive overview, accessible through a hyperlinked table of contents, of bite marks in forensic sciences.
Created by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, this informative guide walks through the steps and techniques in crime scene photography, using illustrations to explain some of the concepts. Topics include sharpness, light, exposure, use of the flash, ideas to consider, and a pre-shooting checklist.
This directory of Web sites on crime scene photography has some great links to articles and Web sites related to forensic photography and photography in general. It is hosted on the crime-scene-investigator.net website.
The ASQDE was formally established in 1942. The Society’s goals are to foster education, establish standards, exchange experience, sponsor scientific research, provide instruction in the field of questioned document examination, and promote justice in matters that involve questions about documents. The site has a current database of court decisions relating to expert testimony about handwriting and document comparisons. ASQDE publishes the Journal of the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners.
Established in 1977, this organization provides a program of certification in forensic document examination, with the dual purpose of serving the public interest and promoting the advancement of forensic science. Current employment opportunities are listed in the Jobs section, and the Links section has some interesting links to cases involving questioned documents and legal issues.
Created by Emily J. Will, a certified document examiner, this is a useful place to start for an overview of questioned document examination.
“Identifont uses a proprietary expert system to identify a typeface based on information about specific characteristics of the typeface" (Human-Computer Interface 2004). Identifont was designed and developed by Human-Computer Interface, a documentation and information design company specializing in high-tech products. Scan the text, upload the image, and this site will attempt to identify the font.
The Virtual Typewriter Museum was conceived, designed and produced by mmworks, a Dutch-based Web design company, and is edited by Paul Robert. This virtual museum is based on private collections from around the world.
Information on typewriters is becoming harder to find, so this site is a welcome addition to the Internet. Maintained by Richard Polt, a professor of philosophy at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, the "Typewriter Facts" section is useful to questioned document examiners, whereas the remainder of the links are more for typewriter enthusiasts.
This Web site provides a guide to over 200 different alphabets, syllabaries, and other writing systems, including a few you will find nowhere else. It also contains details of many of the languages written with those writing systems and links to a wide range of language-related resources, such as fonts, online dictionaries and online language courses. The A-Z Index of all the writing systems and languages featured on this site is comprehensive and extensive, detailing the alphabets of each language. Simon Ager, a Web developer from England with a keen interest in languages, created the site.
A Web site dedicated to typography and its history. Although there is not much information on the authority of the site, the content is trustworthy and well designed. Particularly of use to someone new to questioned document examination is the Anatomy section.
This site allows for online viewing of samples of all fonts in the monotype catalogue. The Search By Sight feature enables you to identify a font from a sample by answering a series of simple questions. It is ideal if you want to match an existing typeface, or identify a typeface you have seen in a publication. You can also search by keyword, classification or designer, in addition to browsing alphabetically by font family. Fonts.com is owned and operated by Agfa Monotype Corporation, a worldwide marketer of over 8,000 high-quality fonts.
Tom Davis is a handwriting expert and English professor at Birmingham University in England. This site contains two interesting articles on handwriting found in the United Kingdom, as well as a link to a fully analyzed and fully keyworded hypertext bibliography of over 1,500 references to books and articles in English on forensic handwriting analysis and related topics.
Maintained by Peter Nordberg, a Philadelphia lawyer, this comprehensive site on the Daubert decision includes links to the decision itself, Supreme Court decisions elaborating on Daubert, an overview of Daubert, guides to resolving Daubert challenges, federal appellate decisions related to Daubert, Daubert decisions by field of expertise, related links, a blog, and a user forum on Daubert.
An information center in forensic science, law, and public policy for lawyers, forensic scientists, educators, and public officials, maintained by Andre A. Moenssens, a Douglas Stripp Missouri Professor of Law Emeritus.
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