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Reasons to challenge digital evidence and electronic photography
By Michael Cherry
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Informal Opinion columns.
If digital evidence can be
incorrectly altered or enhanced1 by newly trained personnel, and
digital cameras2 and printers3 are not equal to
their film counterparts in quality and color, what does that say about the
quality of today’s forensic evidence which is transitioning to digital?
Examples of digital weaknesses
include:
- Digital cameras do not accurately
represent color. This can be important at a crime scene.
- Dye-sublimate digital printers can even confuse imaging experts. They cannot
produce the highly accurate photographic images that film does, but their
images appear to be photographs. They produce color and negative prints on
photographic style paper that mimics the look and feel of photographs.
- In many instances, the digital printer used is not as accurate as the digital
camera used, and therefore crime scene details and fingerprint minutiae is
lost.
- Even unsophisticated image enhancements can render some crime scene details
and fingerprint minutiae unprinta
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