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Evidence

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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Solicitation: Evidence-Based Model Programs for Cold Case Units

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Specific Information—Evidence-Based Model Programs for Cold Case Units

In the publication Cold Case Squads: Leaving No Stone Unturned, the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) states that cold cases are among the most difficult and frustrating cases detectives face. These are cases that the initial investigators, for whatever reason, could not solve. To tackle this problem, many U.S. police agencies have established cold case squads. Cold case squads can be especially useful in locating and working with past and potential witnesses and reviewing physical evidence to identify suspects. Cold case squads also perform an outreach and networking role and can assist other jurisdictions with cold case investigations, as appropriate. In a special report entitled Using DNA to Solve Cold Cases, NIJ discussed the role that advances in DNA technology can play in investigating and solving cold cases. Although DNA is not the only forensic tool of value to unsolved case...

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Fundamentals of Probability and Statistical Evidence in Criminal Proceedings

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Introduction to Communicating and Interpreting Statistical Evidence in the Administration of Criminal Justice

0.1 Context, Motivation and Objectives

Statistical evidence and probabilistic reasoning today play an important and expanding role in criminal investigations, prosecutions and trials, not least in relation to forensic scientific evidence (including DNA) produced by expert witnesses. It is vital that everybody involved in criminal adjudication is able to comprehend and deal with probability and statistics appropriately. There is a long history and ample recent experience of misunderstandings relating to statistical information and probabilities which have contributed towards serious miscarriages of justice.

0.2 English and Scottish criminal adjudication is strongly wedded to the principle of lay factfinding by juries and magistrates employing their ordinary common sense reasoning. Notwithstanding the unquestionable merits of lay involvement in criminal trials, it cannot be assumed that jurors or lay magistrates will have been equipped by their general education to cope with the forensic demands of statistics or probabilistic reasoning.

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The Impact Of Gruesome Evidence On Mock Juror Decision Making: The Role Of Evidence Characteristics And Emotional Response

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Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of gruesome evidence on mock jurors’ decisions in a simulated capital trial. The first experiment was designed as a replication and extension of Douglas, Lyon, and Ogloff (1997), who found that mock jurors who were presented with gruesome photographic evidence were nearly twice as likely to convict the defendant than participants who did not see the gruesome evidence. In Experiment 1, gruesome evidence was manipulated in two ways: photographic evidence (low gruesome, highly gruesome, or control photographs) and verbal testimony (low gruesome vs. highly gruesome). Neither photographic evidence nor testimony had an effect on mock jurors verdicts or sentence decisions. However, the manipulation check failed to indicate that participants perceived the evidence differently in terms of gruesomeness. Experiment 2 was designed to address whether inducing specific emotions in participants would produce similar biasing effects on their decisions as gruesome evidence. Previous research has eluded to emotional arousal as a potential mediator of

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When Turnabout Is Fair Play: Character Evidence and Self Defense in Homicide and Assault Cases

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INTRODUCTION

Debbie, a call girl, agrees to meet a new customer, Victor, at the Shady Acres Motel for dancing and a massage.

They retire to a motel room, but once there, Victor demands an entirely different act from Debbie, one in which she does not want to participate. Debbie gathers her belongings and tries to leave, but Victor escalates his demands by becoming aggressive.

He blocks the doorway, grabs Debbie’s blouse, and attempts to pull her towards him. She slaps him and scratches his cheek, causing him to break his grip on her blouse. He threatens to break her neck. She screams and retreats from him. He grabs a chair and swings it at her, barely missing her head. Debbie retreats again, this time to a corner of the room, across the bed from Victor. In a panic, she rummages through her purse and finds the switchblade sh

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Shoe | Foot | Tire Impression Evidence

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Latent and/or patent impressions of feet, shoes, or tires have to exist at every crime until perpetrators master levitation into and out of the scenes. This type of evidence, like most represented in this bibliography is affected by topics addressed in other sections. Probably most affected by good crime scene search planning is the preservation of shoe and tire impressions. One of the first protocols learned by crime scene technicians is the establishment of a single path of access/egress for the crime scene. The purpose of the path is to avoid destroying questioned impressions or adding to those in other parts of the scene. Impression may be made of a variety of matrices addressed in sections on Blood and Body Fluids and Geoarchaeology and Soil Science. Assessment of the crime scene prior to the search for and discovery of impression evidence may benefit from research addressed in Criminal and Cultural Behavior...

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Interrogation and Evidence Fabrication

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Abstract

I explore the rather common legally permissible practice of police lying to suspects and/or fabricating evidence by analyzing a simple model in which police can fabricate/lie and then the accused chooses whether to confess. When police are not permitted to fabricate/lie, the police presenting evidence, which in this case can be viewed as hard evidence, to the accused conveys information about the accused’s chances at trial. However, when police are permitted to fabricate/lie, the evidence does not convey information to the accused. I find that allowing police to lie is helpful in cases where it either leads to a guilty accused confessing when he would otherwise go to trial, or an innocent accused not confessing when he otherwise would confess if police were not allowed to lie. However, allowing police to lie is harmful in cases where it either leads to a guilty accused not confessing when he would confess if the police were not allowed to lie, or an

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Secondary And Subsequent Dna Transfer During Criminal Investigation.

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Abstract

With the introduction of new multiplex PCR kits and instrumentation such as the Applied Biosystems 3500xl, there has recently been a rapid change in technology that has greatly increased sensitivity of detection so that a DNA profile can routinely be obtained from only a few cells. Research to evaluate the risks of passive transfer has not kept pace with this development; hence the risk of innocent DNA transfer at the crime-scene is currently not properly understood. The purpose of this study was to investigate the possibility of investigator-mediated transfer of DNA traces with disposable nitrile-gloves used during crime-scene examinations. We investigated the primary transfer of freshly deposited DNA from touched plastic, wood or metal substrates and secondary and tertiary transfer by a person wearing disposable nitrile-gloves and onto a third object. We show that with use of the new highly sensitive technologies available in forensic...

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How to Use Orange Peel

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The oil in orange peel is made of 95-percent limonene, a substance that, according to Greenlivingtips.com, is used in industrial plastics manufacturing, as well as being added to many household cleaners to give them a citrusy odor. The website notes that Florida's orange juice industry produces 5 million tons of peel waste every year, which is usually fed to cattle. There are many other uses for orange peel as well, so before you throw it away, consider some ways to incorporate it around your house and yard.

Step 1

Keep mosquitoes and flies at bay. These insects don't like limonene, according to Gomestic.com, so grate some orange peel (or use a zester) and place piles of the grated peel, or zest, around the patio or anywhere where flying insects may be a problem.

Step 2

Get rid of ants. Ants, too, dislike limonene. To get rid of an ant infestation, place a,,,

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Manufacturing Evidence For Trial: The Prejudicial Implications Of Videotaped Crime Scene Reenactments.

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INTRODUCTION

When the Mitchell brothers partied, they partied hard. The brothers, Artie and Jim, were renowned for their pornographic film and theater empire.(1) Although the Mitchells were notorious for their carousing together, Jim had become increasingly distraught over his brother's drug and alcohol habit, worried that it was threatening their extensive business dealings.(2) Thus, when porn-king Artic Mitchell's bullet-ridden body was found in the bedroom of his California home, it came as little surprise to those who knew them that Artie's older brother Jim was arrested near Artie's home while trying to draw a concealed rifle on the responding officer.(3)

The events that actually transpired inside the Mitchell house that night remain a mystery. Jim claimed that the killing was accidental(4) and that he could not recall any of the events surrounding the shooting.(5) Armed with circumstantial evidence, ballistics reports, and the opinions of the Mitchells' friends, prosecutors set out to...

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Spoliation of Evidence

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The spoliation of evidence is the intentional, reckless, or negligent withholding, hiding, altering, fabricating, or destroying of evidence relevant to a legal proceeding.[1] Spoliation has three possible consequences: in jurisdictions where the (intentional) act is criminal by statute, it may result in fines and incarceration (if convicted in a separate criminal proceeding) for the parties who engaged in the spoliation; in jurisdictions where relevant case law precedent has been established, proceedings possibly altered by spoliation may be interpreted under a spoliation inference, or by other corrective measures, depending on the jurisdiction; in some jurisdictions the act of spoliation can itself be an actionable tort.[2]

The spoliation inference is a negative evidentiary inference that a finder of fact can draw from a party's destruction of a document or thing that is relevant to an ongoing or reasonably foreseeable civil or criminal proceeding: the finder of fact can review all evidence uncovered in as strong a light...

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The Influence Of Forensic Evidence On The Case Outcomes Of Homicide Incidents

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Abstract

Objective In spite of the growth of forensic science services little published research exists related to the impact of forensic evidence on criminal case outcomes. The present study focused on the influence of forensic evidence on the case processing of homicide incidents.

Materials and Methods The study utilized a prospective analysis of official record data that followed homicide cases in five jurisdictions from the time of police incident report to final criminal disposition.

Results The results showed that most homicides went unsolved (34.5% conviction rate). Only 55.5% of the 400 homicide incidents resulted in arrest of which 77% were referred to the district attorney. On the other hand, 94% of cases referred to the district attorney were charged. Cases were more likely to have arrests, referrals, and charges when witnesses provided information to the police. Suspects who knew their victims were more likely to be arrested and referred to the district attorney...

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