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Cold Case Models for Evaluating Unresolved Homicides

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Abstract

During the period 1980-2008 the United States has accumulated nearly 185,000 unresolved murders. Based on the number of homicides and clearance rates for murders 2009-2012 this figure is either closer to, or well over 200,000. As of 2004 the United States also had approximately 14,000 unidentified sets of human remains, many of which could be homicides, further increasing our total number of unresolved cases.The efforts to resolve some of these cases by law enforcement and others have been unrelenting. And while historically we can easily identify the early 1980s with Dade County Sherriff’s Office as the beginnings of the “cold case concept” , a standard protocol for evaluating cold cases has not yet been identified and implemented, as noted by the Rand Corporation study for the National Institute of Justice (NIJ).4 The intent of this article is to provide the readers with two cold case models that can assist in streamlining the evaluation process and possibly significantly contribute to the resolution of cold cases.

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Travel-To-Crime: Homing In On The Victim

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ABSTRACT

Environmental criminology focuses on the intersection in time and place of the offender and victim. Patterns of crime are generally explained in terms of the routine activities of the offender. His or her travel to crime distances are short and crimes are committed within the offender's 'awareness space'. It has generally been theorised that victims also have short journeys to crime, associated with their routine behaviour. This review, however, suggests that occupancy of 'unawareness space', where people are away from familiar surroundings, may confer heightened risk. This is supported in research in the special case of crime and tourism, though other travelling victim patterns have been largely ignored. This paper postulates that crime risk increases at the intersection of offender awareness and victim unawareness spaces. The 2002–3 British Crime Survey provides some suggestive evidence on this. Its analysis reveals that 26.9% of self-reported victimisation occurs more than 15 minutes away from the victim's home. For personal

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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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Risk of Suicide Following Deliberate Self Poisoning

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Deliberate self-poisoning is themost commonmethod of at- tempted suicide, accounting for 85% to 95% of suicide-related hospital admissions. Although the intent of lethality varies widely, self poisoning accounts for roughly 1 in 300 visits to North American emergency departments and generates substantial costs to the health care system.10 Surviving patients are at risk for repeated suicide attempts usingmore violentmeans, which are frequently fatal. However, themagnitude and temporal course of this risk have not been well characterized. Limited understanding of the risk factors andmotivation fo rself-harm makes suicide prevention one of the most challenging areas in clinical practice, leading some experts to suggest that suicide prevention is an elusive public health goal. Screening instruments for suicide often fail to predict completed suicide,16 andoptimal follow-up recommendations for at risk patients have not been established. Yet health care professionals, psychiatrists in particular, are often called on to predict and, by extension,prevent suicide,particularly inpatients who have previously harmed themselves. Evidence regarding risk factors for suicide after a self-harm episode is sparse. ...

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Homicidal Penetrating Incised Wounds of the Thorax

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Abstract

During March-June and August-September 1981, 245 medicolegal autopsies were conducted by the author at the Johannesburg and Diepkloof government mortuaries. In 52 cases (21.2%) penetrating incised wounds of the thorax were found to be the cause of death. These involved diverse and often multiple thoracic structures - ventricles, atria, interventricular septum, lungs, and, in particular, blood vessels. In most of these cases death was ascribed to either exsanguination and the attendant hypovolaemic shock or, in those wounds involving the pericardium and myocardium, cardiac tamponade. Several findings emerged from this study: (i) an abysmally low number of the victims (5.8%) reached a medical facility alive; (ii) no females were seen, and the 21-30 year age group predominated (46.2%); (iii) 80.8% had arrived at the casualty department

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Ammonia Refrigeration

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Overview

Ammonia is considered a high health hazard because it is corrosive to the skin, eyes, and lungs. Exposure to 300 parts per million (ppm) is immediately dangerous to life and health. Ammonia is also flammable at concentrations of approximately 15% to 28% by volume in air. When mixed with lubricating oils, its flammable concentration range is increased. It can explode if released in an enclosed space with a source of ignition present, or if a vessel containing anhydrous ammonia is exposed to fire. ortunately, ammonia has a low odor threshold (20 ppm), so most people will seek relief at much lower concentrations..

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How Mafia Works: An Analysis of the Extortion Racket System

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ABSTRACT

In this document, we will present an analysis of quali-quantitative data on Extortion Rackets in Sicily. The second section provides an introduction to the interpretative framework on Extortion Racket Systems (ERSs). Therefore, the third section takes into account the methodological issues in the collection and analysis of data on extortions. The fourth and five sections offer an analysis on the types of extortion and the correspondent behaviour of the victims, followed by a focus on the process of extortion. An overview of the case-studies analysis on mafia-type organizations ends the document.

1. Executive summary

In the document a summary of quali-quantitative data and analysis on Extortion Rackets in Sicily is presented. Firstly, an introduction to the interpretative framework on Extortion Racket Systems (ERSs) is provided. Connections between ERS and mafia-type organizations, as well as normative questions related to the crime of extortion into the criminal justice system are

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The Medium is the Message: Firearm Caliber as a Determinant of Death from Assault

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Tims is the second report of a research project on violent assault in Chicago. The first, a study of fatal and nonfatal assaults with knives and guns, produced evidence to support three conclusions:

(1) Most homicide is not the result of a single-minded intention to kill at any cost.

(2) Many nonfatal attacks with knives and guns are apparently indistinguishable in motive, intent and dangerousness from many fatal attacks. Indeed, the overlap between fatal and nonfatal assaults with knives and guns is much more impressive than any differences that were noted.

(3) Weapon dangerousness, independent of any other factors, has a substantial impact on the death rate from attack.' This paper first reports on an attempt to carry the earlier research one step further by comparing low-caliber with high-caliber firearms attacks, and then suggests some ways in which the data developed in the two studies of fatal and nonfatal attacks might interest criminologists and criminal law scholars.

I. THE STUDY
A. Plan and Basic Data

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A Study of Mental Health Problems in Criminals in Terms of Depression, Anxiety and Stress

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Abstract

Offenders resides in prison faces many problems. Isolation from the families, overcrowding in prison, guilt, and stigmatization are main causes of deterioration in mental health of prisoners. Present study intends to assess mental health problem in two groups of convicted criminals: murderers and rapists in terms of depression anxiety and stress. Based on purposive sampling technique, 72 convicted criminals were selected from Birsa Munda Central Jail Hotwar, Ranchi, India. Both the groups of criminals were matched on various socio-demographic parameters such as: gender, age, education, religion, marital status, residence and occupation. All participants were assessed on Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS). Obtained responses were scored by using standard scoring procedures and subsequently statistically analyzed by using Chi-square test. In present study rapists group have shown significant difference on scale of depression in comparison to murderer’s group. Whereas there were no significant differences found between both the groups on level of anxiety and stress. Mental health problems were found...

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Coercive Control in Long Term Sex Trafficking Relationships: Using Exhaustion to Control Victims

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Abstract

The importance of coercive control tactics in maintaining women in commercial sex has been well-documented. Less known is how these tactics manifest in long-term relationships and how victims cope or react to establish patterns of control. The current study measured the temporal patterning of coercive control in long term sex trafficking relationships via wiretapped phone conversations between pimps and sex trafficked workers. In addition, victim responses of compliance versus resistance to coercive control tactics were measured. 68 phone calls over four months were transcribed and coded between two pimps and four women working in commercial sex. The findings indicate that coercion was pervasive and extended to all domains of the women’s lives. As predicted, tactics of microregulation and surveillance dominated, with occasional instances of intimidation and aggression. As further predicted, higher levels of intimidation by the trafficker were correlated with higher instances of resistance and higher levels of surveillance and microregulation were correlated with higher levels of compliance. While women occasionally resisted, the power imbalance did not shift over time, with the pimps continuing to maintain control in all aspects of the women’s lives. The implications of the research are far-reaching as they confirm in real-time the temporal patterns of coercive control as marked by long periods of compliance, or “exhaustion phases,” interspersed with rarer instances of aggressive, coercive tactics that elicit resistance in victims.

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Runaway Youth: A Research Brief

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How Running Away is Defined

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, a child who leaves home without permission or does not return home when expected and stays away overnight is considered a runaway. Another group of young people the Department of Justice is concerned about are children who are forced to leave or prevented from returning home by an adult. Although these young people leave home under different circumstances, their experiences while away from home are often similar to those of runaways. In fact, research suggests that the distinction between these two groups maybe artificial, as many young people who have run away from home also report having been thrown out by caregivers at other points in time.

Why this Issue Matters

The actual number of youth who run away from home, as well as those who are thrown out of their homes, each year is unknown. However, the most recent estimate, based on findings from the Second National Incidence Study of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children

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Assessment On The Impact Of Family Dynamics On The Runaway Problem Among Teenagers

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EKICI, SIDDIK, An Assessment on the Impact of Family Dynamics on Runaway Problem Among Teenagers.

Master of Science (Criminal Justice), August 2005, 108 pp. references, 67 titles.

Although Turkey is a country with strong social cohesion, figures of runaway children in Turkey are increasing dramatically. This research focused on the factors that cause children to run away and on interaction programs to intervene and/or prevent this problem. Until recently, Turkish family life was able to avoid such problems, but with the effect of westernization and social mobility in Turkey, the basic family structure has become more like the family structure in the western countries.

Studies reveal that runaway episodes happen in all families regardless of such factors as economic, race, or geographic situations. Teenagers run away for several reasons; however, early intervention is highly suggested by studies to mitigate the problem. Although, parent-child conflict plays a significant role as a reason for youth leaving home, on the other hand family interaction still remains the best alternative to the problem.

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Homicides of Children and Youth

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Murders of children and youth, the ultimate form of juvenile victimization, have received a great deal of deserved publicity in recent years.1 Yet, while images of Polly Klaas and student victims at Columbine High School are vivid in the public’s mind, statistics on juvenile murder victims are not. Substantial misunderstandings exist about the magnitude of and trends in juvenile homicide and the types of children at risk of becoming victims of different types of homicide.

This Bulletin gives a brief statistical portrait of various facets of child and youth homicide victimization in the United States. It draws heavily on homicide data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI’s) Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHRs), which are part of the Bureau’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program; however, it also relies on a variety of other studies and statistical sources. Highlights of the findings presented in this Bulletin include the following:

◆ In 1999, about 1,800 juveniles (a rate of 2.6 per 100,000) were victims of homicide in the United States.

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Runaway Juvenile Crime?: The Context of Juvenile Arrests in America

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Introduction and Analysis

On a Saturday night back in 1984, Kathy Robbins, a 15-year-old girl from Glenn County, California, was arrested for being in her town after curfew. She was taken in hand-cuffs to a 54-year-old cell in Glenn County’s adult jail. Four days after she was arrested, at a juvenile court hearing, a judge refused to release her to a juvenile detention facility. On that day, still isolated and alone in an adult jail cell, Kathy Robbins twisted a bed sheet around her neck, and hanged herself from the rail of the top bunk bed.

Robbins was one of six teenagers who took their lives in California jails between 1979 and 1984. The controversy surrounding her suicide culminated in the passage of a California law in 1987 which forbade the detention of teenagers in the same jails as adults. Juvenile advocates at the time regarded the California legislation as “the most progressive law in the U.S. on this issue.”3 With the help of this California law and the 1973

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High-Power Compact Microwave Source for Vehicle Immobilization, Final Report

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Abstract

Eureka Aerospace has developed a compact single frequency high-power electromagnetic system (HPEMS) for remotely immobilizing vehicles using microwave energy to disable/damage vehicle’s electronic control module/microprocessor which controls engine’s vital functions. The HPEMS consist of rapid charging power supply, capable of delivering of up to 100 pulses per second to the 16-stage Marx generator having erected voltage of 640 kV, whose output consist of 100 Joule, 50 ns long DC pulses. The Marx generator “feeds” the microwave oscillator, consisting of two-transmission line flat-plate Blumlein architecture converting DC pulses into RF-modulated waveform at 350 MHz, using a multiple spark-gap switch configuration. The extension of Blumlein and ground plates into flare horn geometry offers a unique oscillator-high-gain antenna configuration yielding focusing of microwave energy along the focal axis of the antenna. The measured electric field strength at the 30 ft range is approximately 60 kV/m, which corresponds to the power density of 477 W/cm . The limited laboratory test successfully demonstrated the system’s capability of “killing” of the...

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA : v, INGMAR GUANDIQUE :

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SUPERIOR COURT FOR THE, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA :

v,

GUANDIQUE :

NOTICE OF EXPERT TESTIMONY

Ingmar Guandique, through counsel, hereby provides additional notification pursuant to Rule 16(b)(1)(C) of the Superior Court Rules of Criminal Procedure that he intends to call Dr. Jennifer Dysart to testify as an expert at trial. In addition to the Notice previously supplied, including the Notice included in prior filings and during oral arguments, Mr. Guandique makes the following disclosures with respect to Dr. Dysart’s testimony and related research in the field. !

THE ACCURACY OF EYEWITNESS IDENTIFICATIONS

Archival Studies Show that Mistaken Identification is the Primary Cause of Erroneous Convictions. Several legal scholars, beginning with Borchard (1932), have studied the causes of mistaken identification in over 1,000 criminal cases (see also Brandon & Davies, 1973; Frank & Frank, 1957; Huff, 1987; Huff. Rattner & Sagarin, 1986). Huff (1987) readily concludes, on the basis of studying the 500 cases of erroneous conviction that he identified,...

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