ST. PAUL
The National Institute of Justice gave more than $1 million to the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to study handwriting characteristics and bloodstain patterns, the BCA said Monday.
These two types of forensic evidence are fairly subjective forms of evidence, according to a National Academy of Sciences report in 2009.
The grant allots $400,000 to evaluate handwriting characteristics and about $600,000 for bloodstain pattern research.
The bloodstain pattern analysis will be developing baseline data and reliability for current methods.
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"The National Institute of Justice sent out a solicitation asking for research to improve understanding and reliability of forensics," said Jim Dougherty, a lab director in Bemidji who has worked with similar grants in the past.
"This research grant was a reaction to the (National Academy of Sciences) report put out a year and a half ago," Dougherty said. "They recommended that more research should be done."
The report on the current state of forensics, titled "Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward," was compiled by the Committee on Identifying the Needs of the Forensic Science Community and other agencies.
Bloodstain pattern analysis and handwriting characteristics, also known as questioned document examination, are analyzed in one chapter.
"The scientific basis for handwriting comparisons needs to be strengthened," the report states.
The same is true for bloodstain patterns. The report says that bloodstain pattern analyses are more subjective than scientific and that "many bloodstain pattern analysis cases are prosecution-driven or defense-driven, with targeted requests that can lead to context bias."
To study these two types of forensic evidence, the BCA is bringing in more than two dozen bloodstain-pattern experts and a retired scientist.
"Most of this work will be done in St. Paul labs," Dougherty said.
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The call for more forensics research comes from sources other than the academy as well.
"Congress had said they wanted more testing done in the area of forensics," said Jill Oliveira, a BCA public information officer.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
