Forensic and justice practitioners explain how the work gets done.
Just Science interviews crime lab staff, investigators, researchers and victim advocates about how forensic and justice work actually gets done. Its topics include gait analysis, bloodstain patterns, sexual assault kit workflows and why witnesses to community violence stay silent.
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Just Science is an interview show about how forensic science and the criminal justice system work day to day. Its guests are practitioners. Crime lab staff, investigators, researchers, attorneys and victim advocates explain what they do and why they do it that way, and the conversations stay close to method. Take sexual assault kit testing. In 'Just Improving Sexual Assault Kit Testing Workflows,' Jody West of the North Carolina State Crime Laboratory and Dr. Patricia Melton of RTI International discuss making kit testing more efficient. Part of that conversation describes a lab dropping serology screening up front in favor of DNA, the more sensitive technology. At first the lab also left out a Y-screening step, preferring a one-way flow of evidence through the lab to circling back to the original item. Another episode, 'Just Sexual Assault Response For Cases Without DNA Evidence,' brings together Aaron House, a special assistant attorney general in Michigan, with Richard Johnson and Lindsey King of Kalamazoo SACI to discuss a team-based approach to cold cases that lack DNA. Their multidisciplinary model is built around keeping survivors supported and heard. Individual cases get the same close reading. In 'Just Resolving A Capital Murder Case In Denton Texas,' Ashley Berg of the Denton County Sheriff's Office recounts a homicide inside a moving vehicle that was involved in two car crashes. Her bloodstain pattern analysis was requested the following year as the case headed to trial, and she describes working with the district attorney to shape a workable investigative question. Surveillance footage and real-time tracking data also helped resolve the case. Dr. Michael Nirenberg, president of the American Society of Forensic Podiatry, covers forensic podiatry. The episode acknowledges that gait is less individualizing than fingerprints or DNA, and his example is simple: a suspect whose knees never fully straighten walks differently from someone whose knees hyperextend with every step. Death investigation appears too. Chuck Keurig of the National Institute of Justice and Dr. Jennifer Snippen discuss updates to NIJ's Guide for the Death Scene Investigator, including a supply list meant as a starting point for a new coroner setting up an office. Not every episode stays in the lab. In 'Just the Cost of Speaking Up: Why Victims and Witnesses Stay Silent,' Jesse Bray and Harrod Emanuel Clay Jr. discuss findings from RTI's Victim and Witness Participation Research Project on why people exposed to severe community violence hesitate to report it. They talk about interviewing victims without re-traumatizing them, and about relocating victims who have been shot before they are called to testify. Episodes are organized into themed seasons, among them a case study season and a Sexual Assault Awareness Month season, plus special releases. The host changes, too: Stacey Sechrist hosts one conversation, and Jason Schutt of the Forensic Technology Center of Excellence hosts another. What a listener takes away is method: how a lab, an investigator or an advocate actually made a call.
Made for: Suits a listener who works in or around crime labs, investigations, prosecution or victim services. It also suits anyone who wants the reasoning behind forensic decisions rather than a dramatized case story.
What sets it apart: True-crime shows retell cases, but Just Science brings on the practitioners who worked them and asks about method: a lab's screening workflow, the limits of gait evidence, how an investigative question for bloodstain analysis gets written. Themed seasons, such as a case study run and a Sexual Assault Awareness Month set, give each stretch a clear frame.
Just Science is a podcast for justice professionals and anyone interested in learning more about forensic science, innovative technology, current research, and actionable strategies to improve the criminal justice system. This podcast deals with a range of issues, including human trafficking, firearms, policing, leadership in the crime lab, new technologies, sexual assault response, and broader challenges for science and public security. We cover various types of topics across RTI's Justice Practice Area. Some seasons of Just Science were developed by RTI International's Justice Practice Area through various funding sources. Please visit the individual episode to learn more about its funding…
A bloodstain analyst offers you snapshots, not the neat movie your crime drama promised.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A steady look at how fear, social pressure, and weak communication keep victims and witnesses from participating.
The cost of speaking up after severe community violence extends well beyond fear. Jesse Bray, a criminal justice researcher and PhD student at Temple University, and Harrod Emanuel Clay Jr., a pastor and community-based advocate, discuss RTI's Victim and Witness Participation…
A practical review of how laboratories balance serology, direct-to-DNA testing, automation, and case triage.
Sexual assault kit testing is treated as a design problem in this Just Science episode, with serology screening set beside a direct-to-DNA workflow.
A grounded review of how NIJ's 2024 death scene investigation guide updates practical fieldwork for changing tools and uneven resources.
This single-episode review frames NIJ's 2024 death scene investigation guide update as more than a routine refresh. Through Chuck Keurig of the National Institute of Justice and Dr.
A vehicle examination becomes a clear lesson in how forensic snapshots gain meaning from the wider case.
Just Science takes up a fatal shooting inside a moving vehicle, followed by two crashes, and treats it as a forensic problem without an easy timeline.
A clear, measured look at how gait and footprint evidence can aid investigations while keeping its limits in view.
A routine walk becomes a question of evidence when investigators have video of a perpetrator and a person of interest to compare. Dr. Michael Nirenberg, a clinical and forensic podiatrist and president of the American Society of Forensic Podiatry, explains how gait and footprint…
Plainspoken sermons for conviction and renewal.
Shop talk on police leadership, training and forensic work.
Three friends, plenty of tangents, and cases still needing answers.
This episode discusses the ASCLAD Forensic Research Committee's role in connecting forensic practitioners with academic researchers to improve forensic science research.
This episode discusses human factors affecting forensic DNA interpretation and how leaders can foster a positive error culture.
Just Science's "Just the Cost of Speaking Up" centers on why victims and witnesses of severe community violence often avoid police, prosecutors, and court.
Jody West says the North Carolina State Crime Laboratory moved to direct-to-DNA sexual assault kit testing in 2018, then added a Y screening process in 2022.
Chuck Urich says the guide now starts with "notification and determination of response," not just the scene arrival.
Just Science’s “Just Resolving A Capital Murder Case In Denton Texas” follows Ashley Burke, Senior Forensic Investigator for the Denton County Sheriff’s Office, through a capital murder case that began as a crash report on Interstate 35.
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A discussion with experts on using non-DNA evidence and a team-based approach to investigate sexual assault cold cases.
This episode discusses technological advancements to prevent contraband from entering correctional facilities.
This episode discusses the development and use cases of contactless fingerprint capture technology in law enforcement.
This episode discusses how facial recognition technology was used in two landmark cases to identify individuals in photographs.
This episode discusses the history and current state of forensic voice identification with expert witness Josh Yonovitz.
A forensic case review of a triple homicide investigation involving the longest-lasting Amber Alert in Alberta, Canada, covering various forensic techniques used to solve the case.