Ballistic Imaging

345 Pages·2008·12.29 MB·English

by  National Research Council

Ballistic Imaging
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12162.html
Ballistic
Imaging
Committee to Assess the Feasibility, Accuracy, and Technical Capability of a
National Ballistic Database
Daniel L. Cork, John E. Rolph, Eugene S. Meieran, and
Carol V. Petrie, Editors
Committee on Law and Justice
Committee on National Statistics
Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education
National Materials Advisory Board
Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, D.C.
www.nap.edu
Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Ballistic Imaging
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12162.html
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fifth Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20001
NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing 
Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of 
the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute 
of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their 
special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
The project that is the subject of this report was supported by contract 2003-IJ-CX-1013 
between the National Academy of Sciences and the National Institute of Justice. The work of 
the Committee on National Statistics is provided by a consortium of federal agencies through 
a grant from the National Science Foundation (Number SBR-0112521). Any opinions, find-
ings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) 
and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support 
for the project.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
National Research Council (U.S.). Committee to Assess the Feasibility, Accuracy, and 
Technical Capability of a National Ballistics Database.
  Ballistic imaging / Committee to Assess the Feasibility, Accuracy, and Technical Capability 
of a National Ballistic Database ; Daniel L. Cork ... [et al.].
       p. cm.
  Includes bibliographical references and index.
  ISBN 978-0-309-11724-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-309-11725-8  
(pdf : alk. paper) 1.  Forensic ballistics—Atlases—Data processing—Government policy—
United States. 2. Bullets—Identification—Databases. 3. Images, Photographic—Databases. 
4. Electronic records—United States—Management—Data processing.  I. Cork, Daniel L. II. 
Title. 
  HV8077.N38 2008
  363.25'62—dc22
                                                            2008015181
Additional copies of this report are available from the National Academies Press, 500 Fifth 
Street, N.W., Lockbox 285, Washington, DC 20055; [phone] or [phone] (in the 
Washington metropolitan area); Internet, http://www.nap.edu.
Copyright 2008 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
Cover illustration and design by Van Nguyen.
Cover images: Gun and bullets images provided by C. Sherburne/PhotoLink ©1999 PhotoDisc, 
Inc. All rights reserved.
Suggested citation: National Research Council. (2008). Ballistic Imaging. Committee to Assess 
the Feasibility, Accuracy, and Technical Capability of a National Ballistic Database. Daniel L. 
Cork, John E. Rolph, Eugene S. Meieran, and Carol V. Petrie, eds. Committee on Law and 
Justice and Committee on National Statistics, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and 
Education; National Materials Advisory Board, Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences. 
Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Ballistic Imaging
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12162.html
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dent of the National Academy of Engineering.
The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of 
Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in 
the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Insti-
tute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its 
congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own 
initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. 
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The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sci-
ences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the 
Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. 
Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the 
Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy 
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Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. 
Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. Charles M. Vest are chair and vice chair, respectively, 
of the National Research Council.
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Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Ballistic Imaging
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12162.html
Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Ballistic Imaging
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12162.html
COMMITTEE TO ASSESS THE FEASIbILITy,
ACCuRACy, AND TECHNICAL CAPAbILITy OF A
NATIONAL bALLISTIC DATAbASE
John E. Rolph (Chair), Marshall School of Business, University of 
Southern California
Eugene S. Meieran (Vice Chair), Fellow, Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, 
California
Alfred Blumstein, H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and 
Management, Carnegie Mellon University
Alicia Carriquiry, Department of Statistics, Iowa State University
Scott Chumbley, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, 
Iowa State University
Philip J. Cook, Sanford Institute of Public Policy, Duke University
Marc De Graef, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, 
Carnegie Mellon University
David L. Donoho, Department of Statistics, Stanford University
William F. Eddy, Department of Statistics, Carnegie Mellon University
George (Rusty) Gray, Materials Science Division, Los Alamos National 
Laboratories
Eric Grimson, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer 
Science and Department of Medical Engineering, Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology
Daniel Huttenlocher, Department of Computing, Information Science, 
and Business, Cornell University
Michael M. Meyer, Google, Inc., Seattle, Washington
Vijay Nair, Department of Statistics and Department of Industrial and 
Operations Engineering, University of Michigan
Angelo Ninivaggi, Plexus Corp., Neenah, Wisconsin
David W. Pisenti, Consultant, Fredericksburg, Virginia
Daryl Pregibon, Google, Inc., New York, New York
Herman M. Reininga, Rockwell Collins, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
James K. (Chips) Stewart, CNA Corporation, Alexandria, Virginia
Michael Stonebraker, Department of Computer Science, 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Harry Wechsler,* Department of Computer Science, George Mason 
University
Julia Weertman, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, 
Northwestern University (emeritus)

Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Ballistic Imaging
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12162.html
Carol V. Petrie, Study Director 
Daniel L. Cork, Senior Program Officer
Gary Fischman,** Director, National Materials Adisory Board
Michael Siri, Senior Program Assistant
Anthony A. Braga, Consultant
Lawden Yates, Consultant
  *Served until May 2004.
**Served as liaison member to the committee from the National Materials Advisory Board 
until becoming that board’s staff director in March 2005.
i
Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Ballistic Imaging
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12162.html
COMMITTEE ON LAW AND JuSTICE
2007
James Q. Wilson (Chair), School of Public Policy, Pepperdine University, 
and Anderson School of Management, University of California, Los 
Angeles (emeritus)
Philip J. Cook (Vice Chair), Sanford Institute of Public Policy, Duke 
University
David H. Bayley, School of Criminal Justice, University at Albany, State 
University of New York
Richard Bonnie, Institute of Law, Psychiatry, and Public Policy, 
University of Virginia Law School
Martha Crenshaw, Department of Political Science, Wesleyan University
Robert Crutchfield, Department of Sociology, University of Washington
John DiIulio, Jr., Department of Political Science, University of 
Pennsylvania
Steven Durlauf, Department of Economics, University of Wisconsin, 
Madison
John Ferejohn, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
Arthur Goldberger, Department of Economics, University of 
Wisconsin, Madison (emeritus)
Bruce Hoffman, RAND Corporation, Washington, DC
Robert L. Johnson, Office of the Dean, New Jersey Medical School
John H. Laub, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 
University of Maryland
Tracey Meares, School of Law, University of Chicago
Terrie Moffitt, Institute of Psychiatry, University of London
Mark Moore, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Ruth Peterson, Department of Sociology, Ohio State University
Richard Rosenfeld, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 
University of Missouri, St. Louis
Robert J. Sampson, Department of Sociology, Harvard University
Jeremy Travis, Office of the President, John Jay College of Criminal 
Justice
Christy Visher, Justice Policy Center, Urban Institute
Carol V. Petrie, Director
ii
Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Ballistic Imaging
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12162.html
COMMITTEE ON NATIONAL STATISTICS
2008
William F. Eddy (Chair), Department of Statistics, Carnegie Mellon 
University
Katharine Abraham, Department of Economics and Joint Program in 
Survey Methodology, University of Maryland
William DuMouchel, Lincoln Technologies, Inc., Waltham, 
Massachusetts
John Haltiwanger, Department of Economics, University of Maryland
V. Joseph Hotz, Department of Economics, University of California, Los 
Angeles
Karen Kafadar, Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of 
Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center
Douglas Massey, Department of Sociology, Princeton University
Sally Morton, Statistics and Epidemiology, RTI International, Research 
Triangle Park, North Carolina
Vijay Nair, Department of Statistics and Department of Industrial and 
Operations Engineering, University of Michigan
Joseph Newhouse, Division of Health Policy Research and Education, 
Harvard University
Samuel H. Preston, Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania
Kenneth Prewitt, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia 
University
Louise Ryan, Department of Biostatistics, Harvard University
Roger Tourangeau, Survey Research Center, University of Michigan, 
and Joint Program in Survey Methodology, University of Maryland
Alan Zaslavsky, Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical 
School
Constance F. Citro, Director
iii
Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Ballistic Imaging
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12162.html
NATIONAL MATERIALS ADvISORy bOARD
2007
Katharine G. Frase (Chair), IBM Corporate Technology and Intellectual 
Property, Somers, New York
Lyle H. Schwartz (Vice Chair), Consultant, Chevy Chase, Maryland
John Allison, Ford Research Laboratories, Dearborn, Michigan
Paul Becher, Metals and Ceramic Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Cheryl R. Blanchard, Zimmer, Inc., Warsaw, Indiana
Everett E. Bloom, Metal and Ceramics Division, Oak Ridge National 
Laboratory
Barbara D. Boyan, Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical 
Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
L. Catherine Brinson, Departments of Mechanical Engineering and 
Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University
John W. Cahn, University of Washington
Dianne Chong, Materials and Process Technology and Structural Technology, 
Prototyping and Quality, The Boeing Company, St. Louis, Missouri
Paul Citron, Medtronic, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota (retired)
Fiona Doyle, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, 
University of California, Berkeley
Sossina M. Haile, Associate Professor of Materials Science and of 
Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology
Carol A. Handwerker, Department of Materials Engineering, Purdue 
University
Elizabeth Holm, Sandia National Laboratories, Hoboken, New Jersey
Andrew T. Hunt, nGimat Company, Atlanta, Georgia
David W. Johnson, Jr., Senior Advisor, Stevens Institute of Technology
Robert H. Latiff, SAIC, Alexandria, Virginia
Terry Lowe, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Kenneth H. Sandhage, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, 
Georgia Institute of Technology
Linda Schadler, Materials Science and Engineering, Rensselaer 
Polytechnic Institute
Robert E. Schafrik, Materials and Process Engineering Department, GE 
Aircraft Engines, Cincinnati, Ohio
James C. Seferis, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of 
Washington
Sharon L. Smith, Advanced Technologies, Lockheed Martin Corporation, 
Bethesda, Maryland
Gary Fischman, Director
ix
Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.