Bone Tissue for Toxicology
There are many different methods used to determine what types of drugs are in a dead body. One new technique that is in the works is examining bone tissue to find what is present. Since the adult body has 206 bones in it, it is likely that “bones could potentially represent a significant ‘sink’ for drugs and their metabolites.” This article identifies two questions, “Is there variation in drug concentration within the same skeleton?” and “Does burial affect drug detection in skeletal tissues?” These questions are followed by research in an attempt to find answers each question. All in all, it is found that this technique is still in its infancy, and needs more time and experimenting in order to perfect it.
Source: forensicmag.com
Citation:
Gautam, L. (2013, July 3). Drugs from Unusual Matrices: Using Bone Tissue as a Forensic Toxicology
Specimen. Forensic Magazine.
Click here to Link to full article
Computer Software Advances Facial Composite Use as an Investigative Tool
More and more law enforcement agencies are adopting the use of facial composite software programs as a replacement for facial composite sketches drawn by artists. The reason for this implementation? Agencies do not possess the funding to employ a full-time sketch artist, nor can they afford to risk credibility by contracting a civilian sketch artist. In order to combat these problems, agencies are researching and discovering that a computer software designed to create facial composite sketches is more cost-effective and, arguably, more multifaceted than traditional hand-drawn facial composites. Tech geniuses already exist within criminal justice departments, so training them in the use of another type of software is no daunting task. “Converting from pencils to pixels is easy.” Although this appears to be the best route for law enforcement agencies looking to retain the use of facial composites, there are a few considerations to keep in mind: the quality of the image the computer produces, the time that it takes to thoroughly interview the eyewitness, training to keep up-to-date with the program, and the cost of the software itself.
To learn more, check out the full article here
Source: forensicmag.com
Citation: Streed, M. W. Forensic Magazine. From Click to Capture: Making the Case for Digital Composite Images. Retrieved September 11, 2013, from http://www.forensicmag.com/articles/2013/07/click-capture-making-case-digital-composite-images#.Ui_SdWTBK7M
Free webinars by Bode Technology
Bode Technology provides online webinars which include overviews and demonstrations designed to help all individuals in the justice system better understand the technology of identification using DNA testing. All offered webinars are FREE and each is followed by a Q & A session. The webinars cover a variety of topics ranging from cold case investigations to expert witness testimony to advanced DNA techniques for attorneys.
For more information and how to register click here.
Source: forensicmag.com and Bode Technology
Forensic Magazine’s June/July 2013 Issue
Forensic Magazine’s newest issue just arrived, bringing an array of information in their featured articles. With articles reporting on topics from “Collecting Terrorist Attack Evidence” to “The Value of Bloodstain Pattern Recognition at Crime Scenes,” Forensic Magazine has it covered. You can even subscribe to the digital edition of the magazine and have it delivered straight to your email inbox.
Check out the latest issue here.
To subscribe to the magazine click here.
Source: Forensicmag.com
Rape Kit Dye that Works on All Skin Colors
After a rape, forensic nurses fully document sexual assault victims’ injuries by using a dye that causes lacerations and tears on the skin to “light up.” But the dye — a dark blue — doesn’t show on people of color, and that often means the perpetrators go free. However, University of Virginia researcher and associate professor in the School of Nursing, Kathryn Laughon, has posited the use of a fluorescent dye as the answer to help illuminate tissue lacerations and abrasions for all skin types and colors. Laughon, who is also an active forensic nurse examiner, explains that when women are examined after a suspected sexual assault, the nurse typically applies the dye, wipes the extra off, and the areas of injury “light up.” Nurses like Laughon see two to three times as many injuries with the dye as without, so it’s a critical step in assessing and documenting what had occurred during the assault.
Source: Forensicmag.com
Citation:
Kueter, C. Forensic Magazine. Rape Kit Dye that Works on All Skin Colors. Retrieved June 26, 2013, from http://www.forensicmag.com/news/2013/06/rape-kit-dye-works-all-skin-colors?et_cid=3324453&et_rid=515363537&location=top#.Ucs9qPnCaSo
Bite marks derided as poor forensic science
Previously long accepted as criminal evidence, bite marks are now facing more doubts regarding reliability. Later this month, a New York judge’s ruling could end the practice indefinitely. Since 2000, at least two dozen men convicted or charged with murder or rape based on bite marks on a victim’s flesh have been exonerated thanks to DNA testing. According to the director of strategic litigation at the New York-based Innocence Project,Chris Fabricant argues that bite-mark evidence is “the poster child of unreliable forensic science.” However, supporters of the method argue that the problems have arisen not because of a flawed method, but because of the flawed qualifications of those testifying.
Another story can be found here.
Source: Arizona Daily Star and Forensicmagazine.com
Citations:
Behrman, A. StarNet – Arizona Daily Star . Bite marks derided as poor forensic science. Retrieved June 17, 2013, from http://azstarnet.com/news/national/bite-marks-derided-as-poor-forensic-science/article_dc64cfc8-2231-5f24-949d-e76dbed2a629.html
Myers, A. Forensic Magazine . Bites Derided as Unreliable in Court. Retrieved June 17, 2013, from http://www.forensicmag.com/news/2013/06/bites-derided-unreliable-court?et_cid=3317377&et_rid=515363537&location=top#.Ub8_-fnCaSo
Biometrics Firm Merges Fingerprinting and Smartphones
Facial recognition technology moving toward identifying almost anyone
In a real-time experiment, conducted by Carnegie Mellon University’s CyLab Biometrics Center, scientists used digital mapping to turn and enhance the face of “Suspect 2” from the Boston Bombings in order to match it with faces from a database. The researchers did not know how well they had done until authorities identified the suspect as Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the younger, surviving brother and a student at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, and they were able to compare the enhanced facial image with Dzhokhar’s face. The technology is still in it’s early stages of development, but cyber experts believe it is only a matter of years — and research dollars — until computers are able to identify almost anyone instantly. Computers could then use electronic data to immediately construct a complete dossier about the person, pulling much of the compiled information from online profiles that many people publish themselves.
Check out the full article here.
Source: forensicmag.com
Citation:
Conte, A. Tribune-Review. Facial recognition technology moving toward identifying almost anyone. Retrieved May 28, 2013, from http://www.triblive.com/news/allegheny/3904286-74/technology-face-center#axzz2TpeVbN9R
Using Vegetation to Date Clandestine Graves
Mushrooms, aging roots, damaged wood, and other plants: all of these can be used to determine the critical component of postmortem interval (PMI) in clandestine grave investigations. If investigators are able to find the grave within 24 hours of death, pathologists can estimate the time of death. When dealing with shallow graves, forensic entomologists may be able to use insect succession and development to estimate PMI. For graves discovered beyond 24 hours of death, forensic anthropologists are called in to assist with estimating the PMI based on rate of decay and condition of the remains. Investigators must also be familiar with using biological matter, such as pollen, as a tool to estimate the season when a clandestine grave was created.
Source: forensicmag.com
Citation:
Ward, J.S. Forensic Magazine. Using Vegetation to Date Clandestine Graves. Retrieved May 29, 2013, from http://www.forensicmag.com/article/using-vegetation-date-clandestine-graves?et_cid=3281901&et_rid=515363537&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.forensicmag.com%2farticle%2fusing-vegetation-date-clandestine-graves&location=top
Free Crime Scene Webinar: Death Scene Checklist
For most death investigations, you start with a plain notebook and start writing. Wouldn’t it be easier to just fill in the blanks beginning with time assigned to the release of the crime scene? The Death Scene Checklist is designed to help investigators of crime scenes where a death has occurred. It covers bodies found in structures, water, vehicles and open areas, and it will put your investigation into a format where the information can be easily found. This information will also work as a reminder of what needs to be done, to get you thinking and to be more observant, and aid in the prosecution of the case. Class participants will be given a code to access the Death Scene Check List free of charge.
Join Forensicmagazine.com in their free webinar on Death Scene Checklists on Thursday, July 11th at 1 PM ET.
Source: Forensicmag.com
The Science and Art of the Facial Reconstruction Process
Science and Art of Facial Reconstruction video
Museum Specialist Gay Malin provides a step-by-step description of how artists go about rebuilding the features of a long-dead person, based only on the shape of their skull. This video focuses on the reconstruction of facial features from a skull of a woman who died 300 years ago in Albany. Her remains were excavated from the cemetery associated with the Albany Almshouse (1826-1926). The video also provides interesting details on how the artist decides to mold unknowable features like ear shape and body fat measures.
Source: forensicmag.com
“Deleted” SnapChat Photos Saved in Phone Data, Can Be Examined as Evidence
Snapchat is a new and very popular smartphone app with millions of downloads. The photos people take with the app are being used to assist law enforcement, lawyers, and parents. The app advertises that once the sender sends a photo, the receiver has approximately ten seconds to view the photo before it is deleted and will never be seen again. Decipher Forensics, a firm based out of Orem, Utah, has been extracting photos from the app, stating that the photos are never fully deleted. Decipher Forensics has stated that they have perfected the steps for extracting these photos from Android devices and are currently working on iPhone smartphones. Digital forensics examiner, Richard Hickman, reveals that the app actually saves the photos to the phone and then can be extracted using digital forensics and issued to law enforcement or necessary recipients.
Source: KSL.com Utah News
Read the full article and view the news clip here.
Citation: Adams, A. (2013, May 8). KSL.com Utah. ‘Deleted’ snapchat photos saved in phone data, can be examined as evidence. Retrieved May 9, 2013, from http://www.ksl.com/?sid=25106057&nid=148
[Abstract by ForensIQ intern, Andrea Williams]
Estimating Time of Death by Circadian Rhythm
Researchers have recently found that they could estimate a healthy person’s time of death, with accuracy to within a few hours, by analyzing the activity levels of a set of genes within certain regions of the deceased brain. In normal and healthy brains, this gene activity “clock” changes in response to the different times of day, and can show which genes were most recently active before the individual passed away. However, people with severe depression have a disrupted “biological clock” that makes it seem as if they are living in a different time zone to the rest of the healthy population, throwing off this established correlation. University of Michigan’s Dr. Jun Li describes that the daily cycles of depressed individuals “are not only shifted, but also disrupted,” which further throws off the accuracy of the time of death estimation.
Source: forensicmag.com
[Abstract by ForensIQ Intern – Mark Lombard]
Citation:
Connor, S. The Independent. New forensic technique for estimating time of death by checking internal clock of the human brain. Retrieved May 15, 2013, from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/new-forensic-technique-for-estimating-time-of-death-by-checking-internal-clock-of-the-human-brain-8614624.html
The Scene Will Dictate What You Need From the Suspect
The primary objective of a crime scene investigator is to relate a suspect to the crime scene. In order to establish this connection, investigators must collect as much evidence as possible from both the scene and the suspect. The key point is that the scene will dictate what you need to obtain from the suspect. For example, if a pair of latex gloves is found at the scene, the inside of the gloves should be processed for prints, and then the suspect’s hands should be swabbed for traces of powder from those gloves (Warrington, 2009). In another situation where the victim was shot, the suspect’s hands should be tested for gunshot residue. However, this evidence is very fragile and can quickly degrade a few hours after the commission of the crime.
Full article here.
Source: forensicmag.com
Citation:
Warrington, D. (2013, 22). Forensic Magazine. The Scene Will Dictate What You Need From the Suspect. Retrieved from http://www.forensicmag.com/tip/scene-will-dictate-what-you-need-suspect?et_cid=3260547&et_rid=515363537&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.forensicmag.com%2ftip%2fscene-will-dictate-what-you-need-suspect&location=top
Forensics utilized in animal abuse crackdown
Different parts of our nation are flooded with different types of animal abuse issues. Florida has cockfighting, the Carolinas have puppy mills, and Madison County has a cat “sanctuary,” which contains some 700 cats. While law enforcement in general may be more willing to pursue investigations of animal abuse, they may lack the experience and ability to develop a solid case. That’s where Adam Leath, the Gainesville-based southeast regional director of investigations and response for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), comes in. Leath’s expertise can help agencies determine if an investigation is worth pursuing and aid officers in collecting evidence that may otherwise be overlooked.
Find the full article here.
Source: forensicmag.com
Citation:
Swirko, C. (2013, 22). Gainesville.com. Forensics utilized in animal abuse crackdown. Retrieved from http://www.gainesville.com/article/20130519/ARTICLES/130519583?p=2&tc=pg
