Research Resources in Technology, Science and the Law (Keeping Current)

Abstract

Law and science have their own patterns of information creation, storage, indexing, and dissemination. Although the scientific method has little in common with legal analysis, for a long time the former has been struggling to make peace with the latter in the courtroom. As a result, it is within the purview of Frye, Daubert, and Kumho that forensic evidence is weighed and judged. As these standards have changed and evolved, so too the publication cycles of research in forensic science have adapted to new information and communication environments.

This chapter will focus mainly on the Internet- based segment of the publication cycle for technological and scientific information as they relate to the practice of law and the administration of justice. It should be noted that the web portion of the Internet is being cabined and displaced by the “closed gardens” of application software and services. It is within the walls of these gardens that much of the print and online sources concerning forensics and scientific evidence will be moving. Westlaw and Lexis are two examples of databases with menus of forensic, medical, and scientific treatises and journals. But for the purposes of this chapter, the principal sources collected are available on the open Web.

The resources appearing here are only a snapshot of a portion of the Internet landscape. New sites will emerge, and some excellent ones will retire, but they will likely fall into one of the segments of the information cycle described in the categories below. And the patterns of publication will rest heavily on the institutions and organizations whose function it is to provide outlets for this type of information. Therefore, most of the sites have been selected because they are both informative and instructive from a current awareness standpoint.

Although most sites are freely accessible, some might require registration or subscription, or limit access by membership or the researcher’s purpose — however, many sources with hard-to-find materials might be available through libraries with subscriptions to periodical databases or e-book collections. The ultimate aim of this chapter is to provide the reader with a sense or feel for where forensic science and technology research can be found. The Internet based resources described here are meant to be illustrative and to offer some guidance for penetrating this evolving area of knowledge. Please note that many of the websites and publications are annotated with their “own descriptions,” which appear in quotation marks.