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 science" ...
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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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The Mysterious Death of Janie Ward
This hour-long report is a result of a five-year investigation into the death of a 16-year-old girl 20 years ago in a small town in the Ozarks. It's about two daughters -- one wealthy and popular (a cheerleader and beauty queen); the other poor and self-conscious. It's about two fathers -- one a powerful judge who allegedly shielded his daughter from the law he's sworn to uphold; the other a bail bondsman who is trying to avenge his daughter's death. And it's about one family's fight for justice against what they believe is a corrupt judicial system that closed ranks around the powerful judge to cover-up a murder. When 16-year-old Jamie Ward fell off a 9-inch porch in the woods near Marshall, Ark., on September 9, 1989, her parents refused to blieve that the fall had killed their healthy teenager. Instead, they began to suspect to suspect she was murdered by the judge's daughter. After years of demanding an investigation into her death, an independent medical examiner associated with Parents for Murdered Children exhumed Janie's body a second time for an extremely rare third autopsy. Because the case was 20 years old, most of the files were not digital; rather, the investigation focused on old-fashioned reporting: finding and interviewing eyewitnesses (all of whom had not been reinterviewed since the original investigation); analyzing inconsistencies in the witness statements, double-checking the forensics with independent experts.
Tags: autopsy; unsolved death; forensic science; criminal justice system; reopened cases; Arkansas
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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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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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Reasonable Doubt
This documentary exposes a lack of oversight and integrity at forensic crime labs across the country. It uncovers negligent work, nonexistent standards and even crooked lab employees. The story casts doubt on the reliability of forensic science techniques ranging from fingerprinting to hair analysis to DNA testing.
Tags: crime labs; forensics; science; DNA; law enforcement; crime
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Rattlesnake Romeo
This book tells the true story of a Texas shoot-out. The crime involved two young lovers, who tried to take the blame for each other. The author writes not only about their crime, but also about the waves of publicity and public backlash that followed the trial.
Tags: crime; murder; courts; trial; forensic sciences
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Shadow of Doubt/ Error in Evidence
Two series on investigating the Washington State Crime Lab. Forensic scientists produced results that led to jail time for many. But when their lab methods were questioned and their results discredited, prisoners who had been jailed as a result of tainted evidence or procedures stayed in jail. Teichroeb made these facts public, and soon cases were overturned and scientists were fired.
Tags: forensic science; scientist; crime; lab; audit; evidence; DNA; drug; FBI; wrongful conviction
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Forensics Under the Microscope
This extensive series by reporters at the Chicago Tribune looks at the erroneous forensic evidence used to convict innocent people of vicious crimes. The investigation looks at the unreliability of some areas of forensic science, including DNA testing, fingerprinting, arson theories, and dental comparisons. As a result of the groundbreaking series, two inmates will be released because of faulty forensic analyses and several pending criminal appeals are using the report as evidence.
Tags: fingerprinting; DNA testing; arson; forensic science; wrongful imprisonment