Evidence, Questionnaire Example

1. The principal legal challenge of forensic testing is the admissibility of the evidence in question. The legal rules that determine whether forensic evidence can be admitted by a court do not adopt proper working perspectives that support the use of forensic evidence (Shelton, 2010). Some equipment used in the collection of forensic evidence includes microscopes, digital cameras, spot test chemicals, DNA and trace collection kits, blood and urine collection kits and swaps.
2. Some new and novel forms of forensic evidence are DNA evidence, digital evidence, body fluids, and computer evidence. An example of a case that applies to new and novel forms of forensic evidence is the Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc 113 S.Ct. 2786 (1993) where the outcome required the judge to act as a gatekeeper prior to admitting evidence and determining that this evidence is relevant to the current case and scientifically valid (Lu 2002).
3. Before evidence is admitted during a trial, it is essential that the evidence is first identified, introduced into the court, and authenticated. It is only after the authentication that the evidence can be admitted. However, any evidence that is introduced during a trial must be relevant to the case at hand (Chang-Tsun & Anthony, 2011, p.120). Relevance is linked to admissibility and only relevant evidence can be admitted and as such a fatal flaw of evidence is its irrelevance to the case.
4. Common pretrial motions to object the introduction of evidence can be based on the manner the evidence was obtained and affects evidence obtained through illegal procedures. Confessions can be objected where the defendants Miranda rights are not read to the defendant and where the evidence or the witness giving the evidence is incompetent.

Reference list

Chang-Tsun Li & Anthony T. (2011). New Technologies for Digital Crime and Forensics: Devices, Applications, and Software. Idea Group Inc (IGI).

Lu S. (2002). Case Studies in Forensic Epidemiology. Springer.

Shelton, D. (2010). Forensic Science in Court: Challenges in the Twenty First Century. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.