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Hospital Versus Medicolegal (Forensic) Autopsies

January 8, 2019July 5, 2017 by admin

I. Overview

A. One of the most important facts that must be recognized by pathologists is that hospital autopsies and medicolegal autopsies differ in many important respects.
B. Competency in hospital autopsy performance does not necessarily equate to competency in medicolegal autopsy performance.
C. Understanding the important differences between hospital and medicolegal autopsies is essential in being able to recognize cases that should be handled as medicolegal cases. In certain instances, hospital pathologists might wish to refer the case to someone with more forensic expertise.
D. It is also important to recognize that, depending on the jurisdiction and the type of medicolegal death investigation system, a local, hospital-based, nonforensic pathologist might be considered by all persons involved (including police) as the person with the most expertise in forensic pathology. As such, all pathologists should be aware of the basic requirements and expectations when performing medicolegal autopsies.
E. Following a brief synopsis of some more general differences between hospital and medicolegal autopsies and a discussion of when a hospital autopsy is recognized as a medicolegal autopsy, the remainder...

Analysis of Suspected Trace Human Remains from an Indoor Concrete Surface

January 8, 2019July 5, 2017 by admin

ABSTRACT:

This paper describes the sequence of analyses used to determine the nature of a stain located on the floor of room in the former Athens Mental Health and Retardation Hospital in Athens, OH. The location of the stain was reported to be the position in which a decomposing body was discovered on January 11, 1979. The current stain is found to contain strong evidence for both natural decomposition products and deliberate adulteration. Microscopic analyses, solubility tests, FTIR, ICP-OES, pyrolysis-MS, and derivatization GC-MS were consistent in determining the removable parts of the stain to be composed mostly of calcium and sodium salts of free fatty acids, such as palmitic acid, consistent with previous descriptions of adipocere. The free fatty acids could have been formed via known bacterial degradation pathways or via saponification through the basic environment caused through contact with the concrete. To our knowledge, adipocere formation on an exposed indoor environment has not been described before. The stain and concrete also show signs of being chemically...

Shattered: Analysis Of Forensic Glass

January 22, 2019July 5, 2017 by admin

By: Vincenzo D. Crawford Bs. Forensic Science Vincenzo D. Crawford Bs. Forensic Science University of Technology (U-Tech), Jamaica
GLASS ANALYSIS
TYPES OF GLASS, HOW TO DETERMINE THE DENSITY OF GLASS, AND ANALYSIS OF GLASS FRACTURE PATTERNS
Glass can be considered as hard liquid. It is a hard material but brittle in its formation; defined by the online Oxford English dictionary as an inorganic product of fusion which has been cooled to a rigid condition to become a non-crystalline solid and which makes glass amorphous in nature. Its melting point is not definite and glass is quite complicated in its molecular composition. This laboratory experiment was executed in light of a scenario that conveyed a car accident which occurred, resulting in the breaking of the head lamp of a car owner, who was suspected to be in the wrong. Pieces of glass from the crime sceneand edges of the suspect’s headlamp were collected for analysis.

Additional Resource: Ch 5 Forensic Analysis Of Glass (3940 downloads )

Curbing Diversion of Prescription Opioids

January 8, 2019July 5, 2017 by admin

He didn’t know it at the time, but Dr Andrew Kolodny had begun to witness the beginnings of a major drug addiction crisis in the United States of America (USA). A public health expert on drug dependency at New York City’s health department in the early 2000s, Kolodny worked in poor neighbourhoods from South Bronx to central Brooklyn blighted by crack cocaine and heroin. “It was while we were working on the illicit drugs problem that we noticed drug overdose deaths were increasing in middle-class communities in the New York City area,” he says. Before 1995, the prescription of opioid painkillers in the USA was limited to people with pain from advanced cancer, severe injuries or after major surgery. That restraint was founded on the fear that patients might become addicted and the bitter experience of two opioid epidemics: in the early 1900s when heroin was sold legally for various ailments and an epidemic of illegal heroin dependency in the 1960s during the Vietnam War....

Additional Resource: Curbing Prescription Opioid Dependency (3571 downloads )

Asphyxia

January 8, 2019July 5, 2017 by admin

SUFFOCATION

SMOTHERING
Smothering and suffocation are often used interchangeably, but the term “smothering” is best used for that form of asphyxia in which the nose and mouth are obstructed e.g. by a hand, paper, clothes, pillow, plastic bag etc. Gagging people to keep them quiet may lead to smothering. Signs of asphyxia are commonly absent or are only slight, and because marks of injury may be few if any at all homicidal smothering may be difficult to diagnose. Overlaying is the accidental death by smothering of young children by adults sleeping with them. In the U.K. it is a criminal offence...

An Autopsy Report Case of Rape Victim by the Application of PSA Test Kit as a New Innovation for Sexual Assault Investigation in Thailand

January 8, 2019July 5, 2017 by admin

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 an 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,...

Stages Of Shock

January 8, 2019July 5, 2017 by admin

Shock involves ineffective tissue perfusion and acute circulatory failure. The shock syndrome is a pathway involving a variety of pathologic processes that may be categorized as four stages: initial, compensatory, progressive, and refractory (Urden, Stacy, & Lough, 2014).

• Initial stage - cardiac output (CO) is decreased, and tissue perfusion is threatened.

• Compensatory - Almost immediately, the compensatory stage begins as the body’s homeostatic mechanisms attempt to maintain CO, blood pressure, and tissue perfusion.

• Progressive - The compensatory mechanisms begin failing to meet tissue metabolic needs, and the shock cycle is perpetuated.

• Refractory - Shock becomes unresponsive to therapy and is considered irreversible.

According to Urden, Stacy, & Lough (2014), as the individual organ systems die, MODS occurs. Death occurs from ineffective tissue perfusion because of the failure of the circulation to meet the oxygen needs of the cell.

Evaluating Multi-Agency Anti-Crime Partnerships Theory Design And Measurement Issues

January 8, 2019July 5, 2017 by admin

Abstract: Inter-organizational partnerships are widely praised as a vehicle for planning and implementing complex, comprehensive community interventions. This article explores conceptual, design, and measurement issues relevant to the evaluation of coalitions, with particular reference to anti-crime initiatives. A general theory of partnerships is outlined that goes beyond organizational models to focus on the complexity of intervention strategies: domains of influence, causal mechanisms, intervention targets, and partnership services. To fill a large gap in our knowledge of coalition effectiveness, impact evaluations should include a mixture of strong research designs with counterfactuals, a theory (or multiple theories) of change, a blend of quantitative and qualitative methods, measurement and analysis at multiple levels, and multiple case studies for understanding the dynamics and external relationships of each partnership. The primary substantive issue for public safety partnerships is the failure to be inclusive, thus undermining their greatest strength. Finding the proper role for "the community" has been a continuous challenge as law enforcement agencies and strategies tend to be over represented...

Structural Factors And Black Interracial Homicide: A New Examination Of The Causal Process

November 21, 2018July 5, 2017 by admin

Abstract

This study evaluates the assumption that deprivation among African Americans and racial inequality lead to black interracial homicide due to racial conflict and antagonism. Using refined race-adjusted Supplemental Homicide Report data, Uniform Crime Report data and census data, we test an alternative hypothesis that draws on the macrostructural opportunity theory to assess and more accurately specify the relationship between structural characteristics and black interracial homicide. We find that first, the relationship between economic factors and black interracial homicide can be explained in large part by high rates of financially motivated crime such as robbery, and second, that economic factors are associated with financially motivated but not expressive black interracial killings. Analyses of black intraracial killings are performed for comparison purposes. Collectively, the findings suggest that conflict-based explanations rooted in racial antagonism and frustration aggression may be premature....

Automated Information Systems for Homicide Investigation:

January 8, 2019July 4, 2017 by admin

I. Introduction

With the growing number of automated investigative support systems in police departments, a tempting assumption would be that those with automated systems are better equipped to face the investigative challenge that certain types of homicides present. Preliminary survey data, however, suggest otherwise. This paper provides a preliminary review of the correlations between departments with and without automated systems and their respective UCR (Uniform Crime Reports) clearance rates. It also summarizes the prominent homicide investigation technology issues throughout the country, with particular emphasis on the role and effectiveness of automated information systems in improving UCR homicide clearance rates. In an earlier survey, respondents indicated that homicide clearance rates either decreased or remained constant while overall homicides decreased (PERF, 1994). Why some departments’ clearance rates decreased and others’ remained consistent, even though homicides actually decreased, deserves further exploration. The two main factors this paper examines are the homicide types and the analytical tools used to solve them. By analyzing...

Profiling Killers: A Revised Classification Model For Understanding Sexual Murder

February 12, 2019July 4, 2017 by admin

Abstract

Generally, murder classifications have failed to be useful for investigators in identifying perpetrators of murders. Based on the experience of the authors, this article extends the definitions of four previously recognized rape-offender typologies (power-assertive, power- reassurance, anger-retaliatory, and anger-excitation) into classifications for sexually oriented killers. These types of murderers and their crime scenes are described through the dynamics of their behaviors, homicidal patterns, and suspect profiles. Each typology is followed by an actual case example that fits that particular type of killer. By identifying crime scene and behavioral factors of these killers, the homicide investigator will be more equipped to process murder scenes, prioritize leads, and apprehend killers. Unlike earlier efforts at crime scene classification, the present work addresses the behaviors, motivational continuum, and the effects of experiential learning by the perpetrators. The relative frequency of the four types within a population of murderers at the Michigan State Penitentiary is revealed....

COPS | Street Level Prostitution

January 8, 2019July 4, 2017 by admin

Street Prostitutes' Clients

Prostitution clients, typically referred to as "johns" or "tricks," are attracted to the illicit nature of the encounter, desire varieties of sex that regular partners do not provide, view sex as merely a commodity, and/or lack interest in or access to conventional relationships. Clients' decision to solicit a prostitute is influenced by the availability of prostitutes, knowledge of where to find them, access to money, perceived risk of getting caught or contracting disease, and ease of securing services. Clients gather such information in a variety of ways: from trial and error; from personal recommendations from others (including friends, bartenders, taxi drivers, and hotel workers); and, increasingly, from information posted on Internet websites. Somewhere around 10 to 20 percent of men admit they have paid for sex, but only about 1 percent pay for sex regularly. While this is still a large number of potential clients, it is considerably lower than some earlier estimates based on flawed research methods.

The Psychopath As Pimp

November 10, 2018July 4, 2017 by admin

ABSTRACT

Although the study of psychopathy has become a signiﬁcant area for research in recent years, relatively little attention has been paid to examining the role of psychopa-thy in offenders who live off the avails of prostitution (i.e., “pimps”). It may be argued that this dearth in the literature is surprising given that psychopathy is deﬁned by a unique set of interpersonal and affective characteristics that theoretically should facilitate the business of pimping. As such, the present investigation attempted to proﬁle characteristics of perpetrators who engage in pimping. As expected, psychopathy was an important feature of these perpetrators: over one-third of the 22 perpetrators examined met the diagnostic cut-off of 30 on the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised. To expand our understanding of pimps and their actions, other important perpetrator characteristics were also examined. The implications of these ﬁndings are discussed in relation to criminal justice factors

Sexual Identities And Sex Work – Interrogating The Interface A Study On Constructed Identities Among Female Sex Workers In Kampala

January 8, 2019July 4, 2017 by admin

Introduction

We have arrived in the sexual tower of Babel where a world of past silences has to be breached. (Plummer 1996) This quote from the work of Plummer is very telling and gives scholars the energy to ask new questions about sexuality and what it means in the current discourse on gender and work. We recognize that sexuality as a subject of study in the social sciences has gained currency by moving the domain of knowledge production away from the psychologists and psychiatrists to the social sciences. For long, our knowledge on sexuality was anchored within the totalizing discourse of the “pure sciences” that suggests that sexuality was one thing to everyone in the world and was an aspect of our biology with an inherent energy that can be used to explain all behaviors of people. The heterosexual married couple was the right mode of living and any differences were deviations that had to be explained scientifically. ...

Pimp-Controlled Prostitution

January 18, 2019July 4, 2017 by admin

A pimp is one who controls the actions and lives off the proceeds of one or more women who work the streets. Pimps call themselves “players” and call their profession “the game.” The context in which this subculture existsis called “the life” (Milner & Milner, 1972). Social scientists of the 1960s and 1970s devoted a significant amount of research energies toward exposing and understanding pimp-controlled prostitution within street-level prostitution (Goines, 1972; Heard, 1968; Milner & Milner, 1972; Slim, 1967, 1969). Street-level prostitution entails sexual acts for money or for barter that occur on and off the streets and include sexual activities in cars and motels, as dancers in gentlemen’s clubs, massage parlor work, truck stops, and crack house work (Williamson, 2000). It represents that segment of the prostitution industry where there is the most violence. Current prostitution-related research on women focuses heavily on the independent woman’s involvement in prostitution (Alexander, 1987; McKeganey & Barnard, 1996; Miller, 1995; Scambler & Scambler, 1997). Parallel to this undertaking isa body of works devoted more specifically to the prostitute’s present involvement with crack cocaine...