need a five page paper on a criminal case done with digital evidence by Thursday 12/20

CRJ 115

Fall 2018

Reflection / Analysis Paper

Prof. Lane

Reflection / Analysis Paper

Objective: In this assignment the student will be tasked to research and reflect on a student chosen court case in

which digital evidence was used and held high value in the overall decision of the case. From the

assignment the student should become familiarized with the following concepts:

• Examples of how digital evidence plays a role in today’s legal system

• Complexity involved with acquisition, analysis, and reporting of digital evidence

• Understanding of how much value is placed on digital evidence in today’s society and legal

system

• Understanding of technical knowledge behind digital systems, components, and forensic

analysis

Assignment: Each student will be tasked with submitting a 5-7-page (not including the works cited page) MLA or APA

formatted reflection paper. The submission should use at least 4 credible sources**.

**Sources should be evaluated by their credibility. Sources such as PC World, Tec radar, Wikipedia, etc. are not

considered credible sources. These are opinion-based sites and should be used sparingly.

The student will be responsible for researching, in considerable depth, a specific court case where digital

evidence held a significant level of value to the overall decision of the case.

Each student’s paper should comprehensively discuss main points relating to material seen in class

lectures /textbook readings in its relation to the case. SOME topics that must be discussed include (NOT

LIMITED TO):

• Summary of the case

• Discussion of warrants

• Process and laws relating to the seizure of evidence

• Who/what was used to investigate the digital evidence

• Technical specifics of computer investigation **

o Very important part! Should discuss computer science topics and what we learned in

class.

(ie:: binary, hex readers, file formats [audio, character, image, numeric,…] cloning,

write-blockers, volatile/non-volatile, hard drive formats, etc…) This should be a huge

portion of the paper

• Analysis of how much value digital evidence had on the overall decision of the case

• Opinions/conclusions on the way the investigation was conducted / what could have been

differently.

o Overall impressions of crime and its relationship to digital evidence

o Locard’s principle and whether the student believes it to contradict or support digital

evidence.

• Any other topics of interest to the reflection and analysis of the chosen case.

Picking a Case:

As discussed in class, there are a few great ways of choosing a case. Google Scholar (case law),

Farmingdale Library, or any other method that leads to the selection of a credible case that uses Digital

Evidence as a main factor in the overall decision of the case.

The student has a lot of freedom in researching a case that he/she feels passionate or interested in.

Using one of the above ways, students should use keywords from class to help find a relevant case that

sparks interest and passion with the student while having strong roots in digital evidence.

Grading:

Lateness Policy:

There will be a letter grade deduction for every day late that the paper is submitted.

Submission:

The paper is to be submitted via blackboard as a Microsoft Word (.docx) file. The paper should follow all

specifications of MLA formatting. It should contain a works cited page as well as in- paragraph citations

(parenthetical citations).

Plagiarism:

All submitted papers will be checked on a number of different plagiarism checkers to ensure the

originality of the student’s work. Adhering the University’s rules, any student caught plagiarizing will

receive a grade of “F” as their final grade in the course as well as any additional penalties enforced by

the University.

Final Notes:

Most Importantly “Have fun!” Topics are these are special because they allow the student to gain valuable insight into the relation of topics covered in class to what happens in the “Real World”. The

more effort a student puts into assignments like these will not only help in class grades, but the ability to

have GREAT insight into the workings of our “Real World”!