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Your Evidence, Our Court Case: How One General Counsel’s Office Streamlines Evidence in the Labs with Active Criminal Justice Cases
Kristin Murrock & Kodiak Hill-Davis
Washington DC Department of Forensic Sciences Forensic Science Laboratory | Public Health Laboratory | Crime Scene Sciences
Who Are We?
- NOT SCIENTISTS
- Law Clerks at the D.C. Department of Forensic Sciences, Office of the General Counsel
Washington DC Department of Forensic Sciences Forensic Science Laboratory | Public Health Laboratory | Crime Scene Sciences
What is the Project?
- Previous Method of Case Tracking
- There was a disconnect between the science performed in the labs and the evidence used in Court
- This project sought to address this efficiency issue
Why Should You Care?
- Reallocation of Resources NOT SAVINGS
- By improving the efficiency of what the labs are testing, we sought to improve the overall benefit provided to the stakeholders, the residents of D.C., and by the Agency.
The Project Overview
- Three Spreadsheets- Tracking Various Data Points
- Establishing Communication Between Multiple Parties
- Reporting to Unit Managers
What Did We Track?- Evidence in each of the Labs
- Active Court Cases- All Pending Court Dates
- Closed Court Cases- Resolved- Dismissed
Established Communication
- Attorneys- Court Dates- Testing of
Evidence Necessary
- Unit Managers- Future Court
Dates- Testing of
Evidence Necessary
- Multiple Defendants
What Did We Report?
- Unit Managers- Future Court Dates
- Aids long-term planning and assignment of cases
- Dismissed or Resolved Cases- Alerts that case may be removed from
testing queue
Methodology
Methodology Outcome
- Determination of Available Efficiency Reallocation- Two Criteria:
- Resolved Cases & Dismissed Cases - Formula:
- Date of Result per D.C. Court Case System v. Whether Case Started
Resolved Cases
- FBU: 61 Cases
- LFU: 61 Cases
- FEU: 88 Cases
Dismissed Cases
- FBU: 22 Cases
- LFU: 8 Cases
- FEU: 30 Cases
Total Cases Removed
- The resources necessary to process these 270 cases were able to be reallocated within the respective labs
Quantifying Costs Per Case
- FBU Cases: $3,183.45
- LFU Cases: $573.26
- FEU Cases: $263.01
Quantifying Cost: Resolved Cases
- FBU Cases: $194,190.45
- LFU Cases: $34,968.86
- FEU Cases: $23,144.88
Quantifying Cost: Dismissed Cases
- FBU Cases: $70,035.90
- LFU Cases: $4,586.08
- FEU Cases: $7,890.30
Available Efficiency Reallocation
- $334,816.47 from 270 Cases
Reallocation or Misallocation?
- Without this system, the lab would have worked 300 cases that did not need to be worked
- Where did that money go?
BENEFIT: Efficiency Reallocation
- Since the purpose of testing this evidence is for use in the court system, this reallocation means that DFS scientists were able to process the most relevant evidence.
Where Are We Now?
- Improved efficiency of testing queues
- Transitioning to a Software Database Management Tool
- Exploring capturing new data points
Washington DC Department of Forensic Sciences Forensic Science Laboratory | Public Health Laboratory | Crime Scene Sciences
