BRAIN FINGERPRINTING LABORATORIES, INC. BRAIN FINGERPRINTING: Headband sensors read a prisoner's response to a series of pictures

Taking a Byte Out Of Crime
	Technology is driving rapid advances in crime-fighting tools and techniques—many of which are sure to spark controversy. A sample of what's in the works:
	By Jeffrey Kluger

Posted Sunday, Oct. 13, 2002; 10:31 a.m. EST

THE LONG ARM OF THE DNA DATABASE

It's always nice to have a little DNA on hand if you're trying to catch a crook. Investigators are learning that the same evidence can also help them solve future crimes—or even clear up old ones. That's the idea behind the FBI's Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). Formally established in 1994, CODIS is a national database into which law-enforcement officials around the country can upload DNA information about criminals. States participating in the program (almost all have joined) can draw from the common DNA basket when investigating unsolved crimes. So far, more than 1.2 million profiles have been registered. Some critics are worried that CODIS will trample civil liberties, but DNA evidence can cut both ways. Already the Innocence Project has cleared 114 people in the U.S. through postconviction testing of DNA.

FOCUSING IN ON SURVEILLANCE VIDEOS

It's a good thing satellite static crackles at the same frequency as human speech. That coincidence allowed the Aerospace Corp. in El Segundo, Calif., which usually works for the U.S. military, to make a surprising contribution to the field of forensics. Accustomed to separating out the low-frequency waves that affect communications of a satellite orbiting Earth, Aerospace scientists are applying the same technology to assist police agencies that need to separate background noise from speech on audio-surveillance tapes. Thanks to a Department of Justice grant, Aerospace has cleaned up tapes in nearly 400 cases and now offers similar cleanup services for video surveillance. Earlier this year, the laboratory restored an ATM video that had captured a muddy image of a van in which, allegedly, a rape victim had been abducted. Once the image was cleaned up, six of the seven license-plate numbers became visible, and police nabbed the driver.

TAPPING INTO A SUSPECT'S BRAIN WAVES

Can your brain waves reveal whether you're telling the truth? Terry Harrington, 43, hopes so. Convicted of a 1978 murder in Iowa, Harrington claims he was at a concert the night of the crime and believes brain fingerprinting will help clear him. Developed by Larry Farwell, 53, a Ph.D. in biological psychology, brain fingerprinting doesn't create a print at all. Instead, it looks for electrical responses, common to all of us, that the brain emits when we see a familiar image. Show a suspect a photo of a crime scene, and the absence of an electrical response suggests that he is not familiar with the place and thus did not commit the crime. The presence of a telltale brain wave would suggest the opposite—but not with any certainty. A reaction to a picture of a gas station may indicate that the suspect stuck the place up the night before—or simply that he gassed his car there earlier in the day. Harrington is seeking a new trial, but in March 2001 a district judge rejected his petition, ruling that brain fingerprinting, while admissible, had not been through scientific peer review and would not have changed the outcome. Harrington is appealing the ruling to the Iowa Supreme Court.

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