Forensic Assistance Research Articles

A New Right to Procedural Accuracy: A Governance Model for Digital Evidence in Criminal Proceedings

This paper motivates and studies the feasibility of a new digital right to procedural accuracy (RPA) for digital evidence processing in criminal investigations. The need to guarantee a new principle of procedural accuracy under Art. 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is based on the concern that digital forensic science and AI technology have a significant impact on individuals’ rights in criminal proceedings, which are neither coherently nor comprehensively addressed. The personal and material scope of RPA are examined and include: (i) protection against unreliable digital evidence processing; (ii) right to access the chain of evidence, explanation, and forensic assistance; and (iii) the right to participate in the determinative stages of the digital evidence processing. Limitations of the RPA are also discussed.

Enhancing Criminal Investigations through Sustainable Forensic Assistance: A Case Study of the Ashanti Region in Ghana

Enhancing Criminal Investigations through Sustainable Forensic Assistance: A Case Study of the Ashanti Region in Ghana

THE ROLE OF DENTIST IN DISASTER MANAGEMENT :INDIAN PERSPECTIVE

Emergencies and disasters not only affect the health and well-being of people frequently, a large number of people are dead, injured, or subjected to greater risk of epidemics. The fundamental aspects of Disaster Management include Disaster Response, Disaster preparedness, and disaster mitigation. Dentists are one of the important constituents of the health team, yet their role or utility has not been emphasized till date. The various activities carried out by Dentists for the purpose of Disaster Management include providing support to First responders, Disease surveillanceand Forensic assistance.

Post-Mortem Dental Profile as a Powerful Tool in Animal Forensic Investigations-A Review.

Simple SummaryTeeth are the hardest anatomical structure of the animal body. As a result, even when preservation conditions are extremely poor and the rest of the skeleton decomposes, the dentition is often still preserved. The strong nature of the teeth means that they are often an invaluable biological source of information about a deceased animal. This is particularly important in forensic investigations resolving legal disputes involving animals and in circumstances where the animal body is recovered a long time after death. The post-mortem dental profile can contribute information such as species identification, sex, age-at-death, body size, geographical origin (provenance), and post-mortem interval. Although the dental profile may not lead to a positive identification, it can narrow the pool toward a presumptive identity. In this review, we briefly examine different dental techniques using characteristics of teeth as a means of identification of freshly deceased and skeletonised animals, highlighting the importance of dentition in the identification process in forensic contexts.Veterinary forensics is becoming more important in our society as a result of the growing demand for investigations related to crimes against animals or investigations of criminal deaths caused by animals. A veterinarian may participate as an expert witness or may be required to give forensic assistance, by providing knowledge of the specialty to establish a complete picture of the involvement of an animal and allowing the Courts to reach a verdict. By applying diverse dental profiling techniques, not only can species, sex, age-at-death, and body size of an animal be estimated, but also data about their geographical origin (provenance) and the post-mortem interval. This review concentrates on the dental techniques that use the characteristics of teeth as a means of identification of freshly deceased and skeletonised animals. Furthermore, this highlights the information that can be extracted about the animal from the post-mortem dental profile.

Role of Dental Professionals in Disaster Management: A Review

Disasters are not confined to a particular part of the world; they can occur anywhere and at any time. Emergencies and disasters not only affect the health and well-being of people; frequently, a large number of people are dead, injured, or subjected to greater risk of epidemics. The fundamental aspects of Disaster Management include Disaster Response, Disaster preparedness, and disaster mitigation. Dentists are one of the important constituents of the health team, yet their role or utility has not been emphasized till date. The various activities carried out by Dentists for the purpose of Disaster Management include providing support to First responders, Disease surveillance, Forensic assistance, Triage duties, Definitive clinical treatments, Prescribing appropriate drugs, Vaccination programmes, Policymaking, etc. Forensic odontology also plays a major role in the identification of disaster victims with Dental Identification, DNA Identification, Palatoscopy, and Cheiloscopy. In the current scenario, Dental professionals have risen to the challenge in the fight against COVID -19 and have proved to be an invaluable resource in the pandemic response. Thus, in a developing country like India, where a disaster can fall at the strike of the clock, there is a need to harvest the services of the wide distribution of dental professionals practicing in the country.

Forensic Investigation of Crimes Against the Amur Tiger and Other Animals: Problems and Solutions

The late 20th century saw the development of a new special framework for the conservation of large mammals – both tigers and their prey, mostly ungulates, – along with their habitats in the Far East of Russia. Tightening controls on poaching, illicit trafficking and trade in wild animals and their parts, as well as enforcement of adequate penalties for these crimes rely on effective crime detection procedures and quality forensic investigation, which provides important grounds for prosecution. There are currently only four organizations conducting such forensic investigations within the geographic range of the Amur tiger.Efforts to facilitate forensic assistance have included production of the monograph “The Basics of Wildlife Forensics”, establishment of a veterinary treatment and diagnostic center for post-mortem examinations and a carcass storage facility for preservation of forensic evidence, and ongoing work to create biorepositories.However, there is still no streamlined system for state-supported forensic investigation of crimes against wildlife and forensic examinations of wild animals, their parts and derivatives.Such examinations should be conducted by specialized centers under designated conservation authorities of the constituent subjects of the Russian Federation, similar to the forensic bureaus of the Ministry of the Interior.

Forensic Assistance in the Investigation of Crimes against Tigers

The article deals with the problem of providing forensic assistance in the investigation of crimes against tigers, and the work of international organizations and foreign forensic science institutions involved in tiger conservation. It provides information about the key features of tiger anatomy and the formation of tiger tracks and signs in natural habitats, as well as traces left in the event of criminal attacks on animals. Also presented is an overview of forensic trace evidence analysis, as well as forensic ballistics, zoology, veterinary, molecular genetics, and toxicology examinations conducted in order to establish circumstances relevant to the detection, investigation and prosecution of tiger poaching incidents.

The Problems of Enforcement of Citizens' Constitutional Rights and Liberties in Forensic Practice

Various problems of law enforcement practice, e.g. ensuring an adequate scientific level of forensic assistance in criminal proceedings, regulations governing forensic practice, and methodological support for forensic examinations, are examined from the perspective of basic constitutional principles. The authors propose ways to improve current legislation on forensic practice in the Russian Federation.

Technical Forensic Assistance to Customs Authorities: the Need for Improved Regulatory Framework

The paper characterizes procedural actions performed by forensic practitioners and law enforcement personnel working in customs. It substantiates the need to update the legal framework behind the system of continuous forensic support of various operations within the system of the Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation. A system of technical forensic support for customs operations is offered for consideration. The practical significance of the proposed set of actions by the system's agents is linked to the increasing importance of detection of major and minor customs offenses, as well as the need for a more detailed approach that specifies the essence of activities incorporated into continuous forensic support and enhancement of the forms of interaction with customs authorities at all levels of state control.

A Unified Forensic Framework for Data Identification and Collection in Mobile Cloud Social Network Applications

Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC) is the emerging and well accepted concept that significantly removes the constraints of mobile devices in terms of storage and computing capabilities and improves productivity, enhances performance, saves energy, and elevates user experience. The consolidation of cloud computing, wireless communication infrastructure, portable computing devices, location- based services, and mobile web has led to the inauguration of novel computing model. The Mobile social networks and cloud computing technology have gained rapid and intensive attention in recent years because of its numerous available benefits. Despite being an advanced technology to communicate and socialize with friends, the diverse and anonymous nature of mobile cloud social networking applications makes them very vulnerable to crimes and illegal activities. On considering the point of mobile cloud computing benefits, the forensic assistance based mobile cloud computing could offer a solution to the problem of social networking applications. Therefore, this work proposes a Mobile Cloud Forensic Framework (MCFF) to facilitate forensic investigation in social networking applications. The MCFF comprises of two components such as the forensic logging module and the forensic investigation process. The forensic logging module is a readiness component that is installed both the device and on the cloud. The ClouDroid Inspector (CDI) tool uses of the record traced by forensic logging module and conduct the investigation in both the mobile and the cloud. The MCFF identifies and collects the automated synchronized copies of data on both the mobile and cloud environment to prove and establish the use of cloud service via Smartphones.

Supply and demand: the shifting expectations of forensic anthropology in the United Kingdom.

Forensic anthropology is a relatively young discipline in the United Kingdom. Practitioners utilise techniques devised and adapted within the field of biological anthropology and attempt to contribute towards the identification of deceased individuals within the forensic context. Traditionally this means the examination of the human skeleton in an attempt to either create biological boundaries of the deceased thus reducing the number of potential identifications, or to compare the remains with antemortem records to positively identify the deceased. Usually an osteological profile is generated containing estimates of biological sex, age at death and stature and information on pathologies and traumas. Current diversification and pioneering research within the field of forensic anthropology now means that forensic anthropologists can contribute towards the identification of living individuals with the use of such methods as facial recognition, ear mark identification and DNA analysis. In the UK its origins lie mainly in the field of archaeology. In the UK, many fields of anthropology fall under the auspices of archaeology and most anthropologists tend to be housed in archaeology departments. As such, forensic anthropology has grown as a result of the initial and continued growth of forensic archaeology. This is not the situation in North America, where archaeology is very much a sub-discipline of anthropology. In addition, forensic anthropology has been founded a great deal longer in North America than in the UK, and as such already has many established and reputable practitioners, an association and an accreditation scheme. These three features have yet to be fully implemented in the United Kingdom, although this will happen within the next five years. Changes are now occurring within the discipline of forensic anthropology in the United Kingdom. Many of these changes are the result of a shift in the current expectations of the discipline and will help to define the direction of development for the future decade at least. These changes, at a superficial level, appear separate and distinct, however they are ultimately related to the same conceit. That of maintaining the standard of performance against a background of changing expectations regarding the nature of forensic work. Forensic anthropology was developed in its early years by astute individuals who saw both a clear lacking in police procedure [1,2] and a new and exciting academic niche. The discipline developed and grew as a corollary of the work these individuals performed and the publicity they received as a consequence. There were no real expectations of the discipline at this point because nobody fully appreciated just what the discipline could offer. It is argued here that this is not true now. New expectations are being placed upon the discipline, and this brief article aims to identify them and suggest how they might be dealt with. One could argue that a discipline is only of use if it has something to offer society. As a result, the expectations of society and the discipline's ability to fulfil those expectations will define whether the subject is deemed to be of use or not. A failing of some disciplines is that they neglect to make it clear just what they have to offer society. With forensic anthropology society not only realises that it has something to offer it, but society is now becoming demanding. Great Expectations The first task is to identify those who are making the demands of forensic anthropology in the United Kingdom. There are five sources of disciplinary expectation: the public, the police, the legal system, students and the media. The Public now realises that forensic anthropology can have an important social role. This is true at the Individual, the National and the International levels. For the Individual, forensic anthropology can help to provide important psychological benefits for individuals who have lost their loved ones and are waiting and searching for 'emotional closure'. For the Nation forensic anthropology can contribute towards the application of justice and the increase in public confidence in the criminal justice system, while at the same time help augment a sense of national identity and collective history. At the International level it can help raise awareness of criminal and social injustices, and be a vigorous part of the practical and political process to rectify these injustices. There is much published literature on these last two issues [3-81. Much recent international work by UK forensic anthropologists has focused on the Balkan region. The emphasis of the process of deployment for these missions has now moved from the offices of central government to a number of forensic expert databases that aim to organise and expedite the process. There are two main expert databases in the UK. The Centre for International Forensic Assistance is based in Scotland (http://www.cifa.org) and the International Forensic Centre of

Computerized forensic assistance software (FAS 1.0) for training and standardized investigation in distributed and disconnected services

As part of a European union (EU) support program in forensic science for the Palestinian police, a forensic assistance software was designed to respect the quality management of the anti-terrorism laboratory of the Palestinian police by the different forensic teams in the disconnected Palestinian cities. This tool not only proposes up-to-date detection and identification protocols for traces, explosives, drugs, GSR, biological samples, but also appeared to be a convenient support for forensic practice teaching.

Implementation of a Rule of Law Forensic Assistance Program for the Palestinian Civil Police - Achieving the Possible

Implementation of a Rule of Law Forensic Assistance Program for the Palestinian Civil Police - Achieving the Possible