Publications for Medical Personnel

Publications containing information on DNA technology and its applications in criminal justice systems.

Medical Examiners and Coroners' Offices, 2004 
Bureau of Justice Statistics, June 2007
Presents key findings from the 2004 Census of Medical Examiners and Coroners' (ME/C) Offices. This special report describes the medicolegal investigation of death in the United States. It provides an overview of the personnel, budgets, and workload of these offices by type of office and size of jurisdiction. It also includes information on the number of unidentified human decedents handled by ME/C offices. The report examines record keeping practices and use of national databases for unidentified remains. Detailed data tables on topics covered in this report are available on the BJS website.

National Training Standards for Sexual Assault Medical Forensic Examiners (Adobe PDF)
Office on Violence Against Women, 2006 
Offers a framework for the specialized education of health care providers who wish to practice as sexual assault forensic examiners (SAFEs). The standards provide guidelines to prepare SAFE candidates to work in coordination with other responders to meet the health care, forensic, and information needs of adult and adolescent sexual assault patients who present for the medical forensic examination. They are intended to guide those who develop, revise, coordinate, and/or conduct SAFE training regarding the minimum levels of instruction necessary to prepare candidates for their role. This standard is a companion to A National Protocol for Sexual Assault Medical Forensic Examinations.

See also the Sexual Assault Forensic Examiner Technical Assistance Web site: a Violence Against Women-funded project of the International Association of Forensic Nurses, provides online technical assistance with implementing the SAFE Protocol.

Identifying Victims Using DNA: A Guide for Families
National Institute of Justice, NIJ 2005
This 8-page booklet gives an overview of the DNA analysis process so that surviving family and friends will understand what DNA analysis can and cannot do, describes the sources of DNA that forensic scientists might use, and explains the differences between nuclear and mitochondrial DNA.

A National Protocol for Sexual Assault Medical Forensic Examinations
Office on Violence Against Women, 2004
Offering assistance to victims in the immediate aftermath of a sexual assault is essential. The Office on Violence Against Women developed this protocol to help health care providers, law enforcement officers, advocates, and others address the health needs of and minimize the trauma suffered by victims of sexual assault. Additionally, health providers need to know how to conduct a proper medical forensic exam to ensure that DNA and other evidence collected from the victim will be valid in court.

Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology
The White House, 2003
An overview of the President's Initiative to improve the use of DNA in the criminal justice system by providing funding, training, and assistance. The President has proposed $1 billion in funding over 5 years to fulfill the goals of the initiative: reduce the DNA testing backlog, build crime lab capacity, stimulate research and development, support training, protect the innocent, and identify missing persons.

Report to the Attorney General on Delays in Forensic DNA Analysis
National Institute of Justice, 2003
Although crime laboratories have made enormous progress in reducing the number of unanalyzed convicted offender samples from DNA databases, they continue to be deluged with analysis requests. This report presents the results of a task force, convened by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) at the request of Attorney General John Ashcroft, to assess existing DNA analysis delays and develop recommendations for eliminating those delays. The report details six recommendations that will serve as the foundation of a comprehensive, national DNA backlog reduction strategy.