Crime Site Research Articles

‘The Rhino Horn on Display Has Been Replaced by a Replica’: Museum Security in Finland and England

Museums are an integral part of the cultural life of societies. As well as having intangible value, many collections may also have considerable financial value and present a temptation to thieves. Furthermore, threats exist from accidents, natural disasters, and vandalism, among many other risks that have to be taken into account when building up museums security measures. In recent years, high-profile art thefts from museums and even, regrettably, acts of terror have drawn attention to the vulnerability of museum institutions as sites of crime and catastrophe. In particular, balancing visitor enjoyment and accessibility of the exhibits with security can be difficult for many. Despite awareness of these concerns, museums security remains to date under-represented in museological discourses, perhaps in part because of its perceived pragmatic nature. Another reason may be the difficulty of discussing in a meaningful way information that is often confidential and sensitive. In this paper, based on research carried out in Finland and England, we aim to analyse some of the key issues for museums security, which, whilst observed in northern European settings, also have relevance for museums globally. We set this discussion against the backdrop of ethical considerations and present our methodology for gathering the data and for discussing our results in a way which is both sensitive to confidentiality issues and still of use to the wider security, museums, and cultural heritage sectors.

Time-related morphometric studies of neurofilaments in brain contusions.

In forensic pathology age determination of injuries is of key importance. The purpose of the study was to analyze morphometrically changes in neurofilaments following the brain contusion and relate them to the length of the time of survival. To do this, the authors analyzed specimens of brains collected during medicolegal autopsies. According to the available literature, no such study involving material from deceased humans was conducted. The researched material was divided into nine subgroups (10 cases each) according to the time of death of persons: immediately at the crime site, 12 hours, 24 hours, 2 days, 3 days, 4 days, 5 days, 6 days and 7 days after head trauma. Neurofilaments were immunohistochemically stained and evaluated quantitatively using the Met-Ilo computer application. The initial results were then analyzed statistically with the one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the least significant difference (LSD) tests. It was calculated that there are significant differences in numbers and area fractions of neurofilaments within 7 days after head trauma. It must be concluded that morphometric analysis of neurofilaments is a promising method but further studies are required.

Multidisciplinary forensic investigation into a partially burnt dismembered body found by a road side

Introduction: Forensic investigation into dismembered remains needs involvement of a multidisciplinary forensic team. In such situations, actions taken at the crime scene investigation play an important role. Often these crime scenes involve multiple locations. We report the forensic investigation of a partially burnt dismembered body found on a roadside to highlight the need of a multidisciplinary approach. Case report Decapitated, partially burnt human remains disremembered into seven parts were recovered from a road side in a residential area. The primary challenge was identification of the deceased. A systematic multidisciplinary scene visit conducted by crime scene officers, forensic pathologists and arson specialist revealed the primary scene of crime was different from the burnt site. Partly burnt “Friendship wrist bands” found in the right upper limb linked the body to a missing young man. Personal information of the missing person’s general identity was compatible with autopsy findings. Further investigations of the missing person’s last movements led to the original crime scene in a room in the 4th floor of a building. Although the primary site had been “washed away”, remnants of the blood stains were sufficient to reconstruct the events. DNA investigations confirmed the identification of the ‘missing person’. Conclusion: Dismemberment and burning are linked with multiple “crime sites” and concealing of identity and the cause of death. Establishment of the identity most of the time helps to reconstruct the event through other corroborative evidence. Medico-Legal Journal of Sri Lanka 2014; 2(2) : 45-49

Kongo: Power and Majesty

Kongo: Power and Majesty

Imagining the International

This article highlights and interrogates the significance of dominant representations of international crime and international criminal justice. It positions international criminal justice as a discursive, as well as practical, global project and is concerned, in particular, with the relational and ethical implications of the way in which international crime and justice are thought about, spoken about and portrayed. I argue that dominant representations of international crime and international criminal justice serve to map the international as a site of crime, justice and community. A key contribution of this article is to explicate the uniquely ‘crimino-legal’ nature of this site or sphere, by illustrating its criminological, legal and spatial characteristics. I then reflect on the ethical and relational limits of this arena of sociolegal engagement, as well as emphasising the importance of continued academic attention to the representation and imagination, as well as practice, of international criminal justice.

Staging masculinity for the lens: performing “les jeunes de banlieues” in Mohamed Bourouissa’s directorial photography

While the fraught history of civil unrest in France’s disadvantaged suburbs casts them as sites of inherent violence and crime, recent cultural texts featuring the banlieues propose alternative discourses that contest cliches of disorder and delinquency. This article presents and analyzes visual performances of masculinity in Algerian-born photographer Mohamed Bourouissa’s series of photographic tableaux entitled Peripherique (2005–2009). I argue that the staged images reconfigure visual signifiers from media discourse on the banlieues to “decline” (Rosello 1998) stereotypes about les jeunes de banlieues. Presenting internal contradictions to binary gender categories, the photographs destabilize the idea of an innate, aggressive masculinity that drives social violence in the banlieues. Rather, they present heteronormative masculinity as a succession of performances that require peer adjudication to preserve the illusion of pre-discursivity. Peripherique thus reframes masculine performativity in the banlie...

Hard Times in the Marvelous City: From Dictatorship to Democracy in the Favelas of Rio de Janeiro. By Bryan McCann (Durham, Duke University Press, 2013) 256 pp. $24.95

<i>Hard Times in the Marvelous City: From Dictatorship to Democracy in the Favelas of Rio de Janeiro</i>. By Bryan McCann (Durham, Duke University Press, 2013) 256 pp. $24.95

Research of Crime Prediction Technology Based on Mathematical Model

The main tasks of this study are to ascertain the geographic profile of the criminal to find out the anchor point based on the time and locations of previous crimes and to predict the potential locations of the next crime. Firstly, this pa- per utilizes probability and statistics method to calculate the possibility of every point becoming the criminal's anchor point, from which this paper develops two schemes—Distance Function Method and Distribution Function Method to generate the geographic profile. Then with the result of the Distance Function Method as a reference point, the criminal's anchor point could be pinpointed from the result of the Distribution Function Method. Secondly, by Multivariate Analysis Method, this paper defines the Euclidean and Manhattan Distances between the anchor point and the locations of the pre- vious crime sites, and then, according to distribution features of these distances, selects the corresponding distribution function to get the concrete expression. Thirdly, this paper adopts Fuzzy Mathematical Method to get quantified and nor- malized index factors and use Analytic Hierarchy Process to compute different weights of social index factors of different areas in the region. Thus, the weight scores of every area are gotten. Finally, considering the natural factors and social fac- tors simultaneously, this paper determines the final probability distribution of the locations of the next crime, by which this paper could predict the most likely location of the next crime.

Crime Site Selection and Implications for Prevention Planning in Nigeria

This article provides some suggestive evidence that crime risk increases at the intersection of offender awareness and victim unawareness spaces using data from a crime survey. This is evident as 31.7% of self-reported victimization occurs more than 10 min away from the victim's home. About 78.2% of personal theft and 0.20% of burglary (both including attempts) occurred outside the victim's immediate locality. These figures reveal a stronger link between victim movement and certain types of crime. Furthermore, they presumably give evidence that while personal theft occurs frequently, burglary only occurs in rather rare and specific circumstances at some distance from the victim's home. The study therefore concludes that it is the intersection of the offender's and the victim's movements at a time and in a given place that presents the opportunity for crime to occur. The study suggests that where both victim and offender have traveled short distances and/or are locals, community-related approaches may plausibly have roles to play in preventing crime. On the contrary, cautions to strangers, warnings to travelers, and external importation of guardianship as well as situational prevention measures are more appropriate crime prevention strategies when the victim is not local.

Spurious pity--lethal consequences: how helpers turn into offenders

This study gives a general view of 40 cases of killing series by members of staff in health care professions in hospitals and homes. The main issue of the analyses are the nine killing series in the German language area. For the investigation legal documents concerning specific characteristics of victims, site of crime and offenders were evaluated. The respective fields of work were investigated concerning the working climate, the position of the offenders in their working group, conflicts in the work place and the handling of the first intern hints to suspective behaviour. It is derives from the case-by-case analyses if there are any preliminary warnings and if there are any commonalities with regard to the victims, the offenders and the respective fields of activity. Personal sensitivities, working conditions and permanent confrontation with human sufferings can be interlaced with each other in that way that the superficial motivation to help is abysmally reversed. In this repect a term of compassion, which confounds real sympathy and self-pity, is essential.

Sistemi informatici per la mappatura del crimine e per il profilo geografico

The crime mapping is the geo referencing of the crime site locations by type of crime typically, typically conducted in an urban context. The geographical profiling is the technique by which it predicts the area of residence of a serial criminal. The most known software packages to implement the aforementioned techniques are illustrated and a two applications of crime mapping and geographical profiling in Italy are showed. Further developments and innovative applications of crime mapping are discussed.

Unravelling Crime Series Patterns amongst Serial Sex Offenders: Duration, Frequency, and Environmental Consistency

AbstractCrime linkage and the investigation of behavioural consistency amongst serial offenders has been a flourishing field of research over the past decade or so, especially with respect to serial sex offenders. The emerging research in this field has often portrayed serial sex offenders as a single, distinct, and homogeneous group. Such an assumption, however, has never been empirically examined. Using a criminal career approach and a sample of 72 serial sex offenders who have committed a total of 361 sexual assaults on stranger victims, the current study aims to examine and describe subgroups of crime series patterns amongst serial sex offenders in terms of duration and frequency of offending. The level of environmental consistency display (i.e. offender's choice of crime location and characteristics of the crime site selected) across subgroups of crime series patterns is also examined. Study findings suggest the presence and heterogeneity of crime series patterns amongst serial sex offenders, advocating for the consideration of subgroups of crime series patterns when studying serial sex offenders. Moreover, the offenders' level of environmental consistency varies across the different crime series patterns identified, allowing for the identification of subgroups of offenders showing a higher or lower level of environmental consistency. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Spatial Vulnerability and District Resilience for the Next Generation of CPTED

Concurrently with the advance of urbanization, many urban problems have increased in our everyday life. It is said that there has been a decrease in the number of crimes committed in Japan, but the number of urban crimes is, on the contrary, increasing. Accordingly, crime prevention has been one of the biggest issues in city planning. A number of arguments about CPTED (crime prevention through environmental design) or other crime preventive methods have been already carried out. While most papers show the relationship between macroscopic geographical aspects and the occurrence of a specific crime, the impact of more microscopic objects and/or spatial design in the crime site as the spatial vulnerability against a crime has not been clarified. Moreover, there is a clear need to find resilience, in other words the difficulty to commit a crime. Therefore, this paper’s purpose is to reveal the vulnerability and resilience against one specific crime, arson, in Fukuoka and more specifically in Haruyoshi district, through consecutive researches from urban planning and environmental psychological viewpoints. As a result, we found that there are temporal and spatial vulnerabilities against arson in Fukuoka and Haruyoshi which remain to be improved intensively. However, at the same time, Haruyoshi has some resilience against arson, and we conclude that the human traffic, observability and inanonymity are high in the district. Consequently, at the end of this paper, based on the knowledge about both vulnerability and resilience of the district, specific suggestions are proposed on the way to install CPTED in Haruyoshi against arson.

The math behind the scene of the crime

A mathematical model based on well-documented features of criminal behavior illuminates why crime hot spots form, and it can direct police to the most efficient use of their resources.

Consistency in crime site selection: An investigation of crime sites used by serial sex offenders across crime series

PurposeKnowing sites used by serial sex offenders to commit their crimes is highly beneficial for criminal investigations. However, environmental choices of serial sex offenders remain unclear to this date. Considering the challenges these offenders pose to law enforcement, the study aims to identify sites serial sex offenders use to encounter and release their victims and investigate their stability across crime series. MethodsThe study uses latent class analysis (LCA) to identify victim encounter and release sites used by 72 serial sex offenders having committed 361 sex offenses. Additional LCA are performed to investigate the stability of these offense environments across offenders' crimes series. ResultsDistinct profiles of crime sites that are recurrent across crime series are found, suggesting that serial sex offenders present a limited diversity of victim encounter and victim release sites. Encounter sites representative of longer crime series are also identified. Specifically, the use of sites known to "attract" potential victims decreases over series and offenders become more risk-taking in regard of sites used to encounter their victims. ConclusionsThe study identifies patterns of site- selection for the victim encounter and release in cases of serial crimes. Implications for crime linkage and police investigations strategies are discussed.

The Value of Crime Scene and Site Visitation by Forensic Psychologists and Psychiatrists

Site visits and crime scene visitation by forensic psychologists and psychiatrists may enhance the accuracy and credibility of their forensic work in criminal, civil, and other important contexts. This ethically sound technique of after-the-fact data collection and verification offers numerous potential benefits to the forensic mental health professional: clarifying the subject's actions, assessing the reliability of witness reports, identifying contextual determinants of behavior, and more fully illuminating subject motivation and decision-making. Limitations and suggested guidelines for conducting site visits are offered. Guidelines include preplanning, arranging for an informed guide to accompany and narrate the visit, and conducting the site visit prior to forensic examinations.

MULTIVARIATE TECHNIQUES AND GEOSTATISTICAL MODELS APPLIED TO THE HOMICIDES STUDY IN CALI, COLOMBIA

BackgroundIn a city with high rates of violence such as Cali is important to use tools to monitor this phenomenon to identify the sites of major crime and thereby prevent...

Measuring, Understanding, and Predicting Trial Complexity at the ICTY

This paper explores the extent and gravity of the criminal investigations carried out by the International Criminal Court (ICC) from its creation in 2002 until mid-2015. During that time period, the ICC began investigations in nine situations: the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Darfur, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Mali, Libya, Central African Republic (CAR) I, CAR II, and Uganda. It summarizes each investigation, particularly focusing on seven factors that were chosen to represent the gravity of the crimes and the resulting investigations. Those factors are: 1) the geographic scope of the crimes investigated, particularly the number of crime sites involved; 2) the amount of time over which the crimes occurred; 3) the structure and organization of the alleged perpetrators; 4) the identity of the victims, particularly whether the victims were civilians and whether women or children were targeted; 5) the number of the victims, including the number killed, raped, and wounded, etc.; 6) the manner in which the alleged crimes were carried out, particularly the use of cruel or brutal means of conducting the crimes; and 7) the legal qualification of the alleged crimes.

The Art of Torture and the Place of Execution: A Forensic Narrative

In El Calafate, Argentina, a remote global nature tour destination where tourists lodge en route to experience the spectacular glacial beauty of Patagonia, a 17‐year‐old local boy was kidnapped and taken to an otherwise unremarkable waterscape on the edge of town, where he was tortured and executed. His death, however, was officially declared a suicide. The malevolence of his assailants and their protectors moved outward from the youth's body and the crime site into the homes of despairing and disbelieving family and friends, overflowing into private and public protest, all to no avail. The crime and its aftermath dramatically altered the lives of the victim's working‐class family and friends.While their faith in the local police and courts has nearly been destroyed, and faith in relevant human rights law barely ignited, continued communication about this crime as part of an ongoing community disaster seems to infer an unspecified promise, or at least, a stubborn desire, to continue seeking justice with words. In this article, I explore the layered attempts of family and friend's to narrate, counter, and untangle the causes and effects emanating from the youth's murder, the official evidence box, and the spatially situated terror that persists. Mediated through ethnographic writing, the forensic narration shows how violent crime distorts and divides human perception of everyday places with ominous and artful precision.

Botanical DNA evidence in criminal cases: Knotgrass (Polygonum aviculare L.) as a model species

The possibilities and strategies for using DNA characteristics to link a botanical sample to a specific source plant or location vary with its breeding system. For inbreeding species, which often form small patches of identical genotypes, knotgrass (Polygonum aviculare L.) is a suitable model species because of its (1) occurrence in a wide range of natural environments, (2) abundant presence in pieces of evidence, and (3) ease in molecular processing. The value of knotgrass for forensic casework was demonstrated using data from a homicide case. Using the DNA fingerprinting technique AFLP® we were able to identify the knotgrass population at the crime site as the most likely origin of the botanical evidence. We expect that the development of tailored marker systems for knotgrass and other frequently occurring (model) species will considerably accelerate the use of botanical DNA evidence in criminal cases.