Reference no: EM132198731

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.