searchfortruth.info > Blog > 2017 > July > Page 7

Month: July 2017

Children as Victims of Homicide

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Since 1989 the Australian Institute of Criminology has been examining the characteristics of all homicide incidents reported to or coming to the attention of police, and of the victims and offenders involved in these incidents. An important objective of this ongoing study, known as the Homicide Monitoring Program, is to provide data which will, over time, permit the detection of patterns and trends in Australian homicide. Such information not only provides for better public understanding about homicide risk, but can also serve as the foundation for the rational formulation of public policy in such areas as family law, firearms and, importantly, child protection. Australia’s overall homicide rate is around 2 per 100 000, and this figure has remained fairly stable over the past twenty years. However, aggregate figures mask large differential risks between identifiable groups. For example, information relating to the age of homicide victims in Australia reveals a phenomenon found in a great many countries, namely the enhanced risk for children under the...

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Work Related Homicides: The Facts

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Occupational Injury and Illness Classification Manual
The Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System (OIICS) Manual provides the classification system used to code the case characteristics of injuries, illnesses, and fatal injuries in the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) and the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI). This manual contains the rules of selection, code descriptions, code titles, and indices, for the following code structures: Nature of Injury or Illness, Part of Body Affected, Source of Injury or Illness, Event or Exposure, and Secondary Source of Injury or Illness.

The OIICS was originally developed and released in 1992. Clarifications and corrections were incorporated into the manual in 2007. These were used to code data for years up to and including 2010 (PDF 956K). Because of the minor changes involved in the 2007 revision, that version of the OIICS Manual may be used as a reference source for SOII and CFOI data for 1992-2010.

Additional Resource: Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities | Workplace Homicides

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A Comparison of Homicide Trends in Local Weed andSeed Sites Relative to Their Host Jurisdictions, 1996 to 2001

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Operation Weed and Seed is a cooperative strategy involving local community social organizations and local law enforcement, the United States Attorneys' Offices around the country and the Executive Office for Weed and Seed (EOWS) of the United States Department of Justice, in addition to a multitude of public and private stakeholders. The goal of Weed and Seed is to systematically reduce crime in targeted high crime communities through the coordinated efforts of enforcement, prevention, and neighborhood restoration. Unlike other crime suppression or prevention programs, however, the efforts of Weed and Seed are aimed at meeting this end through the strategic coordination of pre-existing efforts and the marshaling of established community resources that go beyond the traditional activities of justice-related agencies

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Sex Related Homicides And Offenders – A Medico-Legalists View

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ABSTRACT

The advances in criminalistics and forensic psychiatry in these present times and the combined studies of workers of the specialties of Forensic Medicine and Psychiatry has led to renewed interest in investigating and documenting sex crimes. The term offender is used for a person who actively takes part in an offence or goes blatantly against the law. The term can be simultaneously / interchangeably used for a criminal.

Sex related homicides include rape murders, serial murders, killings involving both of anal and oral sodomy and other acts of sexual perversions terminating in homicide.

In this paper a brief summarization of sex related crimes, their psychodynamics and offender profile is detailed with comparative comments vis-à-vis the Indian and Western scenarios.

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Rorschach Oral Dependency in Psychopaths Sexual Homicide Perpetrators and Nonviolent Pedophiles

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The Rorschach Oral Dependency Scale (ROD; Masling et al., 1967) assesses elements of interpersonal dependency. For example, Shilkret and Masling (1981)found that ROD scores predict help-seeking behavior of participants in a research project. ROD scores are also positively and significantly correlated with cooperationand compliance with authority figures (Bornstein & Masling, 1985; Masling,O’Neill, & Jayne, 1981), self-reported levels of insecure attachment (Duberstein& Talbot, 1993), eating disorders (Bornstein & Greenberg, 1991), and behavioral difficulties in terminating inpatient psychiatric treatment (...

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Sexual Homicide of Elderly Females

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Both Bureau of Justice Statistic studies and the National Crime Survey reflect that crimes against the elderly tend to be more serious in nature than those against younger persons (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1994). Older victims of violent crimes are more likely to be attacked by total strangers (Ken-nedy & Silverman, 1990; Muram, Miller, & Cutler, 1992) and are most likely to be victimized in their own homes. They are less likely to try to protect themselves during a crime and are more likely to sustain injuries. These findings are confirmed by numerous studies that discuss the general problem of victimization of the elderly and by specific research addressing violent offenses (Antunes, Cook, Cook, & Skogan, 1977; Faggiani & Owens, 1999;Fox & Levin, 1991; Lent & Harpold, 1988; Nelson & Huff-Corzine, 1998).These studies also demonstrate that in particular ways elderly women are inherently more vulnerable to crime than younger women. First,...

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The Missing Missing: Toward a Quantification of Serial Murder Victimization in the United States

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Although early attempts to estimate the number of serial murder victims in the United States varied greatly and were exaggerated, current estimates may actually underestimate the number of serial murder victims. This study provides extrapolation from existing databases including missing persons, unidentified dead, and misidentified dead to estimate uncounted serial murder victims. In addition to providing lower and upper estimates of possible victims from these sources, this article also provides a methodology for counting “the missing missing”—missing persons who were never reported as missing and some of whom may be serial murder victims. By counting various sources of possible hidden serial murder victims, the addition of a lower estimate of 182 and an upper estimate of 1,832 additional annual serial murder victims in the United States is suggested.

Early attempts to estimate the annual number of serial murder victims in the United States greatly varied (Fox & Levin, 1985; Holmes & DeBurger, 1988; Kiger, 1990). Kiger (1990) noted that the most extreme estimates...

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Homicide in Seattle’s Chinatown, 1900-1940: Evaluating the Influence of Social Organizations

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Brian Paciotti, a human ecologist, obtained his PhD from the Graduate Group in Ecology (Human Ecology Area of Emphasis), at the University of California, Davis. He is currently a lecturer with the department of Sociology at UC Davis, and a post-doctoral fellow with the National Consortium on Violence Research (NCOVR). Much of the data used in this paper come from Rosemary Gartner’s and Bill McCarthy’s longitudinal homicide dataset that includes homicide cases in Seattle, Vancouver, Buffalo, and Toronto from the years 1900-2000. Paciotti is grateful to them for the use of these data, as well as generous assistance in writing and revising this paper. In addition, Steve Messner, and other NCOVR members provided valuable insights about interpreting and analyzing the data. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. SBR-9513040 to the National Consortium on Violence Research. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or...

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Serial Murderers’ Spatial Decisions: Factors that Influence Crime Location Choice

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Abstract

The outcome of German serial murderer spatial decision making was measured as the straight-line distance (km) between murderer home locations and each crime location (i.e. body recovery location). Geographic and series development data, as well as information on age, intelligence, motive, marital status, employment status, and mode of transportation of 53 German serial murderers was collected from police and prosecution service files and judicial verdict records. Potential effects of the aforementioned factors on spatial decisions were assessed. Results showed that 63% of the murderers lived within 10 km of their crime locations. Home-to-crime distance was negatively correlated with murderer age and positively correlated with murderer IQ score. Results also showed that the mode of transportation used by murderers had an effect on their spatial decisions. Results are discussed in terms of understanding serial murderer spatial decision-making and implications for police investigations.

INTRODUCTION

A limited amount of information is available regarding serial murderers’ spatial decisions. Existing research on this topic has been based primarily on American serial murderers,...

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Addressing Problems with Traditional Crime Linking Methods Using Receiver Operating Characteristic Analysis

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Purpose. Through an examination of serial rape data, the current article presents arguments supporting the use of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis over traditional methods in addressing challenges that arise when attempting to link serial crimes. Primarily, these arguments centre on the fact that traditional linking methods do not take into account how linking accuracy will vary as a function of the threshold usedfor determining when two crimes are similar enough to be considered linked.
Methods. Considered for analysis were 27 crime scene behaviours exhibited in 126 rapes, which were committed by 42 perpetrators. Similarity scores were derived for every possible crime pair in the sample. These measures of similarity were then subjected to ROC analysis in order to (1) determine threshold-independent measures of linking accuracy and (2) set appropriate decision thresholds for linking purposes.
Results. By providing a measure of linking accuracy that is not biased by threshold placement, the analysis confirmed that it is possible to link crimes at a level that

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An Autopsy Report Case of Rape Victim by the Application

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Sexual assault is usually an un-witnessed crime. Therefore, forensic investigation and identification of the spermatozoa and semen on the specimen collected from the vagina of female victims plays an extremely important role in the court testimony to confirm the recent episode of sexual intercourse. In fact, microscopic visualization of the spermatozoa is a gold standard method to prove that the female victims had recently been violated. However, if the male offender is a vasectomized or azoospermic individual, it is impossible to prove the recent sexual event by identification of the spermatozoa and this may let the offender go free. In the US, the reported frequency of azoospermia is 1% to 9% in seminalstains or swabs-examined sexual assault cases and the frequency of contraceptive vasectomy has been estimated to be 750,000 to 1,000,000 per year(1,2)In recent years, the acid phosphatase test was generally used as a routine test for identification of the semen in stains or swabs. However, according to scientific results, acid phosphatase test is only...

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An Approach For Removal Of Brain, Brain Stem With Spinal Cord…

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Introduction :

The procedure adopted, so long, for removal of brain entails circumferencial cut across the skull, (beginning with removal of scalp enmasse and then a saw cut around the bare skull bones). The procedure not infrequently results in some of the nerve roots being severed with inevitable damage to the brain stem and more importantly a clear exposure of the posterior fossa is not possible an obvious limitation of the conventional procedure. In view of the above, a new approach albeit an alternative approach for removal of brain with or without spinal cord has been contemplated and this is being practised in this department with good results. Materials & Methods: Cadavers numbering twenty (20), only those with sound physical signs of good embalming were selected for this study. The cadavers were dissected in a span of two (2) years. The work started in North Bengal Medical College, Darjeeling, West Bengal and carried forward in R. G. Kar Medical College, Kolkata, West Beng...

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National Coroners Information System (Ncis) Database Search

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Data Sources – Coronial
The data contained in the NCIS is sourced from the coronial brief created as part of the investigation conducted by a Coroner into the death of an individual. The purpose of the investigation is to determine the identity of the deceased and the cause of death and where appropriate, to make recommendations to prevent similar deaths from occurring.

The NCIS database contains both coded and non-coded data as well as searchable legal, medical and scientific reports such as the coroners finding, post mortem report, toxicology report and police summary of death report.

Cases are coded by court appointed staff in each jurisdiction. Coded fields are completed once the coronial investigation is complete. The NCIS conducts a quality assurance review of closed cases to ensure coding is correct and to facilitate searching of the data.

Collection of data to populate the NCIS is a secondary purpose of the coronial investigation and data collection is the result of operational processes which differ between the nine jurisdictions.

Online Resource: National Coronial Information System

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Civil Liberties Defense Center

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I. OVERVIEW AND DISCLAIMER

I developed this treatise originally in aid of San Francisco Bay Area political activists, but it also has general application. Bear in mind, though, that local, state, and even federal law differ regionally, so please do not treat this primer as a substitute for individual and regionally specific research and legal advice. For example, Section 1983 of the Federal Civil Rights Act (42 U.S.C. § 1983), the principal federal statute under which you will sue to redress violations by officials of your constitutional rights, does not contain its own statute of limitations, i.e. the deadline by which you must file a lawsuit. Rather, Section 1983 borrows the states’ various statutes of limitations, and those (aptly named) “SOLs” differ state by state . II. A “CIVIL SUIT”

If you are a victim of police abuse, you might be considering whether to file a civil lawsuit (sometimes called a civil “action” or “complaint”). In a civil suit, you are the plaintiff, and the police officers

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Missing Person | Jodi Huisentruit

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Mason City police are looking into two vehicles that may be connected to the disappearance of an Iowa news anchor 23 years ago, according to a new report. Jodi Huisentruit was a 27-year-old anchor at KIMT-TV in Mason City on June 27, 1995, when she failed to show up for work to anchor the 6 a.m. broadcast. She hasn't been seen since. FindJodi.com, a site dedicated to Huisentruit's case and run by journalists and retired police officers, reported Friday that the Mason City Police Department executed a search warrant on March 20, 2017, for GPS data on two cars related to John Vansice. Vansice, now 72 and living in Arizona, was a friend of Huisentruit's who may have been the last person to see her before she vanished. Online court records show police were seeking GPS data from a 1999 Honda Civic and a 2013 GMC 1500. Vansice is listed as the interested party on...

Additional Resource: Report: Police serve search warrant connected to Jodi Huisentruit cold case

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Drug Toxicology for Prosecutors

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Drug impaired drivers kill and maim thousands of people each and every year in the United States. Unfortunately, prosecuting drug-impaired drivers is a daunting task. Jurors, who are very familiar with alcohol’s effects, signs and symptoms, often know little or nothing about other drugs. Tainted by crime shows like CSI: Miami, they may have unrealistic expectations about the nature and quantum of available proof. Unlike alcohol, most states do not have “per se” limits for drugged driving. To successfully explain the evidence and issues to jurors in Driving Under the Influence of Drugs (DUID) cases, prosecutors must understand the basics of drug toxicology.This publication is designed to provide prosecutors with a basic understanding of drug pharmacology and testing. The author, Dr. Sarah Kerrigan, is the former Toxicology Bureau Chief of the New Mexico Department of Health’s Scientific Laboratory Division. Priorto this, she worked as a Forensic Toxicologist for the...

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