Forensic Science

Raman spectroscopy and laser desorption mass spectrometry for minimal destructive forensic analysis of black and color inkjet printed documents

by Tyler Zimmerman

L. Heudt, D. Debois., T. A. Zimmerman, L. Köhler, F. Bano, F. Partouchee, A.-S. Duwez, B. Gilbert, E. De Pauw. Forensic Sci. Int. Epub ahead of print.

In the Eye of the Beholder: Sex and Race Estimation using the Human Orbital Aperture

by David Samson

Published in JOURNAL OF FORENSIC SCIENCES
Co-authored with Polly Husmann

From the works of Broca and Krogman to modern-day Jantz and Buikstra, the orbit has been used for both quantitative... more From the works of Broca and Krogman to modern-day Jantz and Buikstra, the orbit has been used for both quantitative and qualitative sex and race estimation. This study evaluates the practical value of these estimations. Orbital height and breadth were measured to determine the orbital index and assess differences between men and women or black people and white people in the Hamann-Todd Collection. Replicability of these measures was also examined. Finally, a geometric morphometric study was performed to assess shape differences using the entire margin. Significant differences were found in both the index and the geomorphometric study; however, further investigation revealed that the differences were of little practical use. The measurement differences were found to be smaller than intra-observer error, while the geometric morphometric analysis demonstrated that minimal percentage of variation in shape was attributable to group differences. Thus, these techniques should not be used to estimate sex or race.

Konya İlinde Çalışan Hekimlerin Adli Olgulara ve Adli Raporlara Yaklaşımı-Anket Çalışması

by Kamil Hakan Dogan

Günaydın G, Demirci Ş, Doğan KH, Aynacı Y, Deniz İ. Konya İlinde Çalışan Hekimlerin Adli Olgulara ve Adli Raporlara Yaklaşımı-Anket Çalışması. Selçuk Tıp Dergisi 2008;24(2);83-89.

Amaç: Bu çalışma, acil servis çalışanı hekimlerin adli olgulara ve adli rapor düzenlenmesine yaklaşımını ve bu... more Amaç: Bu çalışma, acil servis çalışanı hekimlerin adli olgulara ve adli rapor düzenlenmesine yaklaşımını ve bu konularla ilgili yaşadığı sorunları tespit etmek ve çözüm önerileri sunmak amacıyla yapılmıştır. Gereç ve Yöntem: Konya ve çevresinde Sağlık Bakanlığı’na bağlı hastanelerin acil servislerinde ve 112 Hızır Acil servislerinde çalışan ve "Acil Hekimliği Sertifika Programı Temel Modülü Eğitimi"ne katılan pratisyen hekimlere, eğitim öncesi, anket formları uygulanmıştır. Bulgular: Çalışmaya katılan hekimlerin %85.2’si mezuniyet öncesi adli tıp eğitiminin yeterli olmadığını belirtmişlerdir. Mezuniyet sonrasında adli tıp ve rapor konusunda eğitim alanların oranının ise %20.1 olduğu görülmektedir. Hekimlerin %42.4’ü adli raporun "tanıyı ilk koyan hekim tarafından" verilmesinin gerektiğini, %84.3’ü hastasının adli olgu olması nedeniyle fazladan bir tedirginlik yaşadığını, %66.8’i çalıştıkları birimlerde sadece adli olgulara bakan bir birim oluşturulması gerektiğini ancak bu gruba katılmak istemediklerini belirtmişlerdir. Hekimlerden, Türk Ceza Kanunu’nda yara ağırlığının belirlenmesi ile ilgili "yaşamsal tehlike", "basit tıbbi müdahale" ve "kemik kırığının yaşam fonksiyonlarına etkisi" konusunda yanlış değerlendirme yapanların oranının yüksek olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Sonuç: Acil servis çalışanı pratisyen hekimlerin adli olgu ile karşılaşma oranı yüksek olmasına rağmen, adli rapor yazımı hususunda eğitim ve bilgi yetersizliği nedeniyle tedirginlik yaşadıkları anlaşılmaktadır. Yaşanan tedirginliği gidermek ve objektif kriterlere uygun adli rapor düzenlenmesi için özellikle acil servis çalışanı pratisyen hekimlere adli rapor düzenleme, yara ağırlık kriteri olarak kullanılan kavramlar ve adli olguya yaklaşım konuları nda uygulamalı eğitim verilmesi gerektiğini düşünmekteyiz.

How Likely is Simpson's Paradox?

by Marios Pavlides

The American Statistician. August 1, 2009, 63(3): 226-233. doi:10.1198/tast.2009.09007.

What proportion of all 2×2×2 contingency tables exhibit Simpson’s Paradox? An exact answer is obtained for large... more What proportion of all 2×2×2 contingency tables exhibit Simpson’s Paradox? An exact answer is obtained for large sample sizes and extended to 2×2×ℓ tables by Monte Carlo approximation. Conditional probabilities of the occurrence of Simpson’s Paradox are also derived. If the observed cell proportions satisfy a Simpson reversal, the posterior probability that the population parameters satisfy the same reversal is obtained. This Bayesian analysis is applied to the well-known Simpson reversal of the 1995–1997 batting averages of Derek Jeter and David Justice.

Zygomaticomaxillary suture shape analyzed with digital morphometrics: Reassessing patterns of variation in American Indian and European populations

by sebastian wärmländer

Van individuele verdenking naar verdachte families en populaties: het wegen van nieuwe forensische DNA-technieken [From individual suspicion to suspect families and population: assessing new forensic DNA technologies]

by Victor Toom

Victor Toom and Amade M’charek (2011), ‘Van individuele verdenking naar verdachte families en populaties: het wegen van nieuwe forensische DNA-technieken [From individual suspicion to suspect families and population: assessing new forensic DNA technologies]’, Nederlands Juristenblad, 86(3): 142-148.

External visible characteristics and familial searching are becoming prominent investigative forensic technologies for... more External visible characteristics and familial searching are becoming prominent investigative forensic technologies for policing purposes. As such, these genetic technologies promise to contribute to judicial truth and hence to justice. At the same time, both technologies produce new kinds of ‘suspect’ or ‘interesting’ persons. The question being asked in this contribution what vocabulary we need in attempting to balance the use of these technologies against infringements of civil rights and legal principles of these newly produced categories.
PDF can also be downloaded here: http://dare.uva.nl/record/382724

language, asylum and the national order (Current Anthropology 2009)

by Jan Blommaert

Toom, Victor. 2012. "Bodies of science and law: forensic DNA profiling, biological bodies and biopower." Journal of Law and Society 39(1):150-66.

by NUCFS - Centre for Forensic Science

The paper is part of the Special Issue 'Material Worlds: Intersections of Law, Science, Technology, and Society', edited by Chris Lawless and Alex Faulkner.

How is jurisdiction transferred from an individual’s biological body to agents of power such as the police, public... more How is jurisdiction transferred from an individual’s biological body to agents of power such as the police, public prosecutor and judiciary, and what happens to these biological bodies when transformed from private into public objects? These questions are examined by analyzing bodies situated at the intersection of science and law. More specifically, the transformation of ‘private bodies’ into ‘public bodies’ shall be analyzed by going into the details of forensic DNA profiling in the Dutch jurisdiction. It will be argued that various ‘forensic genetic practices’ enact different ‘forensic genetic bodies’. These enacted forensic genetic bodies are connected with various infringements of civil rights, which become articulated in exploring these forensic genetic bodies’ ‘normative registers’.

Understanding the Role of Forensic DNA: A Primer for Criminologists

by Carole McCartney

The Future of Forensic Bioinformation

by Carole McCartney

Introduction: Material Worlds: Intersections of Law, Science, Technology and Society

by Christopher Lawless

Co-authored with Alex Faulkner and Bettina Lange

Archaeological Approaches to Forensic Casework In New Zealand: Review and Future Directions

by Edward Ashby

The current status and potential scope of archaeological approaches to forensic casework
in New Zealand is... more The current status and potential scope of archaeological approaches to forensic casework
in New Zealand is critically reviewed. The development and current practice of forensic
archaeology is outlined demonstrating that the discipline has been successfully
incorporated into crime and disaster scene work in other countries as well as the
international humanitarian arena. The rapid growth of the discipline has led to a level of
professionalism which has established international best practice and demands
commitment from its practitioners including qualifications, experience, and increasing
calls for accreditation. Despite this, and the application of ostensibly archaeological
techniques to clandestine graves by Police and ESR forensic scientists1, currently forensic
archaeology is absent in New Zealand. Factors including low homicide rates, the absence
of suitably qualified forensic archaeologists, a lack of education around what forensic
archaeology is, and economic constraints are considered as possible explanations.
International evidence shows that any case which requires physical spadework for the
recovery of evidence is a case where archaeology can contribute positively, and the low
frequency of such situations need not undermine the importance of maximising evidential
recovery and interpretation and employing best practice. It is argued that the framework
already exists for archaeological approaches to forensic casework in New Zealand, but
has only to be integrated with greater training and education.

Evison, M., Graham, E., Haimes, E., Leach Scully, J., Ludwig, A., Maguire, C., et al. (2012). A comment on the Hill–Turney exchange: from normative antagonism to interdisciplinary collaboration. New Genetics and Society, 1-6.

by NUCFS - Centre for Forensic Science

A recent issue of NG&S included an exchange between forensic odontologist Anthony Hill (2011) and social scientist... more A recent issue of NG&S included an exchange between forensic odontologist Anthony Hill (2011) and social scientist Lyn Turney (2011) discussing an earlier paper on the use of DNA identification in the Australian bush fires disaster of 2009 (Turney, 2010). An editor’s introduction to the exchange solicited further observations on the issues raised by the two participants (Glasner, 2011). What follows is a response to that solicitation. It has been written jointly by individuals from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds (including forensic genetics, forensic anthropology, sociology, bioethics, and science & technology studies) located within two research centres (the Northumbria University Centre for Forensic Science (NCUFS); the Policy, Ethics and Life Sciences Research Centre at Newcastle University (PEALS)). We currently collaborate on a range of research topics including the uses of the life sciences for Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) . Some of us have worked as scientists commissioned by the UK Government and other agencies in response to particular disasters; others of us have an interest in the formation of policy and in the uses of science and technology as they affect a range of social goods including health, justice and security.

An investigation into the dynamics of lip-prints as a means of identification

by NUCFS - Centre for Forensic Science

Ludwig, A. & Page, H. Australian Journal of Forensic Sciences, 44(1)

Individualisation and identification by analysing the lines and furrows contained within lip patterns has been broadly... more Individualisation and identification by analysing the lines and furrows contained within lip patterns has been broadly discussed in the literature; however, due to a lack of research the reliability of this technique as evidence is questioned. Research was undertaken to test the classification system of lip print patterns and features that had previously been established, and it aimed to determine a method for cataloguing lip prints to include lip pattern typing and the comparison of pattern imperfections. Two sets of lip prints (eight impressions in total) were collected from 36 volunteers (25 females, 11 males). Volunteers were recruited at Teesside University and the University of Edinburgh. The ages of volunteers ranged from 21–60 years. The research found that lip patterns could be divided into five types, each type increasing in furrow complexity. Characteristic details from the lip prints were annotated based on the classification terminology used in fingerprint analysis (e.g. bifurcation) as well as classification systems used by other researchers previously. Lip print impressions were compared with known and unknown individuals as well as photographs, and the results demonstrated that it was possible to establish whether an impression could be linked to the source

How reliable is DNA in identifying suspects?

by Jason Felch

Het forensisch instituut kan aan marktwerking kapot gaan [The free-market can cause the downfall of the forensic institute

by Victor Toom

Toom, V. 2011. "Het forensisch instituut kan aan marktwerking kapot gaan [The free-market can cause the downfall of the forensic institute] (Opinion: 8 February)." NRC Handelsblad, Rotterdam.

Chemometric Study on the Forensic Discrimination of Soil Types Using Their Infrared Spectral Characteristics

by Jose Gonzalez-Rodriguez

The Skull and Bones of Jean-Jacques Rousseau

by Pierre-François Puech

co-authored by Pierre-Francois PUECH and Bernard PUECH

Jean-Jacques Rousseau has made of "What is a man?" the major question in philosophy. Now man is made of... more Jean-Jacques Rousseau has made of "What is a man?" the major question in philosophy. Now man is made of contradictions, so Rousseau's life, though continuously described by him, was of the kind called subterranean. So people trying to follow, i.e. understand Rousseau, can discover that the reality we know is a reality imposed to us by nature. The natural order affects all aspects of human existence.
The following co-authored paper, by Pierre-Francois and Bernard Puech, concerns the will of J.J. Rousseau to relate a man's life. The life of all of us, even if everyone is not autopsied and bequeath his skull to the curiosity.
This, because as it is related in the Encyclopaedia Britannica http://www.trip.net/~bobwb/rousseau.html, Jean-Jacques Rousseau died in a manner which has been much discussed. After an inquiry into the death resulting in a certificate that he died of apoplexy, the story that he shot himself circulated. In December 1897 Rousseau's coffin in the Pantheon was opened, and M. Berthelot, who examined the skull, found no trace of injury by a bullet. What should we think today of the Autopsy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau?

The Skull of Sampiero (1498-1567), and the Battles of the Hero of Corsica.

by Pierre-François Puech

co-authored with Bernard PUECH,Romain BLIGNE,and Jean-Claude MORATI

In 1925 an event occurred to recall the memory of Sampiero Corso, hero of Corsica. When installing, on the facade of... more In 1925 an event occurred to recall the memory of Sampiero Corso, hero of Corsica. When installing, on the facade of Santa Barbara church, the plaque of the dead of World War 14-18, the marble-mason fell with the hook in a cavity. Padre Ottaviani, present at the scene, asked him to continue because he remembered that after having been murdered, in 1567, Sampiero Corso was beheaded and his head exposed on the walls of Ajaccio. The senate of Genoa, at the request of the Bishop of Sagone, had ordered the governor of Ajaccio, Fornari, to remove the bloody head "of where it is and to deposit it to the church…" The people of Cauro would have walled up the head in the parish church.

This was enough to announce at least the discovery of the hero's skull. Immediately, the village bells began to ring for hours. This discovery caused a great stir in Corsica and on the outside.
The story of the skull continues today to draw much attention. Was it really the head of Sampiero? Sampiero was a real knight without fear, he fought on behalf of the kings of France in all theaters of war in the Middle Ages, from Italy to France. Last, he was murdered by a vile betrayal in the pay of Genoa, in Pieve Cauro where he was born.
Corsica bears the mark of the heroic figure of Sampiero Corso Colonel, commanding the Corsicans at the service of King Francis I. The legend has it that Shakespeare was inspired by the history of Sampiero to create the character of Othello. The skull now assigned to Sampiero is marked by its warlike past such as the September 18, 1554, the day Corsicans Sampiero buttered to pieces at Tende the men of Andrea Doria. Brands of many traumas on the outer table of the skull can be observed and the occipital bone bears a lesion attributed to the sword beating on the iron helmet that protected Sampiero in combat.
This Case study was presented at a meeting of the French Language Group of Paleopathology. A symposium held in 2007 at Toulon (Var) 2007. It is a piece of evidence in the files of History and it happens that there is myth in history in the case for Sampiero Corso that formed an opera.

Chris Lawless & Robin Williams 2010 ‘Helping with Inquiries or Helping with Profits? TheTrials and Tribulations of a Technology of Forensic Reasoning. Social Studies of Science (40)5: 731-755.

by NUCFS - Centre for Forensic Science

The commercialization of forensic scientific provision in the UK over the last two decades has had a major role in... more The commercialization of forensic scientific provision in the UK over the last two decades has had a major role in shaping a changing epistemic identity for forensic scientists working within this jurisdiction. Efforts to match the presumed epistemological standards of the ‘pure’ sciences have been brought together with concerns about value for money in a new approach to the interpretation of evidence, an activity that lies at the heart of criminal investigative practice. A study of the Case Assessment and Interpretation method developed by members of the UK Forensic Science Service is used to show how a technical innovation in the delivery of forensic science services to the police has instantiated these two recent social processes.