The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "forensic evidence" ...
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What Killed Arafat?
This 50-minute film was the result of a nine month long cold case investigation into the suspicious death of Yasser Arafat, Palestine's iconic, revolutionary leader. After obtaining Arafat's entire original medical files, Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit, led by producer and reporter Clayton Swisher, crossed continents to track down and interview the French, Jordanian, Egyptian, and Palestinian doctors who had worked to save Arafat's life. Part I of "What Killed Arafat?" was able to easily shatter popular myths about what caused Arafat's precipitous decline from the onset of his illness on October 12, 2004 until his death on November 11th. Testimony from Arafat's doctors conclusively ruled out liver cirrhosis, cancer, even rumors of HIV. The scientific, evidence-based discoveries made in the Part II result from the work performed by a team of forensic pathologists, toxicologists, and radiation physicists from the University Center for Legal Medicine and Institute for Radiation Physics in Lausanne, Switzerland. Working without payment, they agreed to run a battery of sophisticated tests on a large gym bag containing Arafat’s last personal effects. The scientists discovered significant levels of reactor-made Polonium 210 contaminating areas of Arafat's personal effects that came into contact with his biological fluids. When the final results came back in late June, Al Jazeera hosted Mrs. Arafat in Doha to watch the Swiss explain the results on set. Upon witnessing their testimony, Ms. Arafat made a resolute, unanticipated surprise announcement, calling on the Palestinian Authority to exhume her husband's body for testing. Yasser Arafat’s body was exhumed on November 27, 2012 so that the final samples could be retrieved. Whether the causes of Arafat's death are determined to be natural, inconclusive—or even murder—suffice it to say that Al Jazeera’s "What Killed Arafat?" and the resulting investigations and exhumation will have inched the world closer to understanding what did not, and possibly for the first time, what did claim the life of this historic and controversial personality.
Tags: Science; death; biology; investigation; exhumation; testing
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Cause of Death: Negotiable
This investigation focused on the practice of a death investigator in Bosnia. Despite questions of his practice, he continued to work and was documented soliciting money in exchange for favorable cause of death findings.
Tags: forensics; death investigation; bribery; evidence tampering; Zeljko Karan;
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Finger prints
For almost a century, fingerprint evidence has been a revered cornerstone of the American criminal justice system. But that may soon change. Last fall, in a Baltimore murder case, a judge ruled that fingerprint analysis is not reliable, which shocked lawyers across the country and could possibly put thousands of criminal investigations in jeopardy. CBS News spent months researching the use of fingerprints in murder trials as well as assessing the future of fingerprint evidence.
Tags: fingerprint evidence; Brandon Mayfield; court cases; criminal investigations; attorney; forensic evidence; death penalty
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Rules of Engagement
The investigation examined the incident that came to be know as the Haditha Massacre, in which a number of Iraqi civilians were killed by U.S. Marines after an IED attack that killed a man in their convoy. The initial reports incorporated accounts of execution-style killings of 24 unarmed men, women and children in a rampage that media often compared to the My Lai massacre. However, the investigation found that the convoy had come under fire from the direction of the four houses, one of the houses contained weapons and forensic and ballistic evidence provided support for the Marines' accounts of what happened that day.
Tags: rules of engagement; Marine; Iraq; Haditha Massacre; civilian casualties; suicide bomber; Iraq War
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Silent Injustice
Through analyzing "thousands of pages of documents" and interviewing "dozens of people," 60 Minutes and the Washington Post found that "there were hundreds of defendants imprisoned, who were convicted with the help of now-discredited forensic tool... The FBI never notified them, their lawyers or the courts that their cases may have been affected by faulty testimony."
Tags: bullet lead analysis; forensic science; evidence; FBI; courts; chemical signatures; bullets; ammunition;
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Miscarriages of Justice
Freelance journalist Eamonn O'Neill tells stories of wrongful murder convictions. Robert Brown, who spent nearly 26 years in prison due to forged evidence; Stuart Gair, whose more than 15 years behind bars for a murder he didn't commit; and Raymond Gilbert, imprisoned for 26 years while continuing to maintain his innocence. While O'Neill tells of the compensation Brown and Gair were offered by the government for their hardship, he also tells of the lack of forensic evidence and bogus confessions in the Gilbert case.
Tags: wrongful convictions; murder convictions; overturned convictions; forensic science; forensic evidence
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Evidence of Injustice
Through analyzing "thousands of pages of documents" and interviewing "dozens of people," 60 Minutes and the Washington Post found that "there were hundreds of defendants imprisoned, who were convicted with the help of now-discredited forensic tool... The FBI never notified them, their lawyers or the courts that their cases may have been affected by faulty testimony."
Tags: bullet lead analysis; forensic science; evidence; FBI; courts; chemical signatures; bullets; ammunition; FOIA
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"Innocent" and "The Duke Case"
In two separate reports, CBS airs the conclusions of their investigations into the Duke Rape Case, in which three white Duke University Lacrosse players were accused of raping a black exotic dancer. "The Duke Case," aired in January, includes an interview with the prosecutor's key DNA expert, who "admitted that crucial exculpatory evidence had been withheld." "Innocent," aired in April, includes an exclusive interview with the North Carolina Attorney General, who explained why he decided to exonerate the three players.
Tags: Duke Rape Case; rape; Duke University; police reports; forensic evidence;
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Crime and Science
The author tracked a high-profile murder case in North Carolina in which scientific evidence was a factor. The two part series looked at what can happen when errors, contamination or manipulation call the science into question.
Tags: D.N.A; forensic science; crime; murder; evidence; court system; Open Records Act
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A Deadly Game: The Untold Story of the Scott Peterson Investigation
This book is an in-depth analysis of Scott Peterson's complex motivation for murdering his pregnant wife. The authors used leaked documents to publicize previously confidential aspects of the investigation. Furthermore, the documents helped to create a psychological profile of Scott Peterson.
Tags: murder; police; courtroom drama; investigation; sociopaths; pregnancy; forensic evidence