Forensic Methods Research Articles

Big Data, Behavioral Genetics and Risk of Future Offending

A convergence of trends in assessing the future risk of reoffending could result in morally questionable inputs into the criminal process. Advances in the analysis of DNA and increases in the availability of information about people gleaned from social media might allow for new inferences to be drawn against offenders during the sentencing process. We explore how developments in forensic DNA analysis methods and law enforcement DNA databases in conjunction with information about an offender’s developmental environment could lead the prosecution to postulate a high risk of recidivism and thus argue for a longer sentence. We then consider some reasons why such a prosecution strategy might be troubling. In doing so, we focus on issues related to the inferential process, discrimination, privacy and constitutive luck.

Forensic Analysis of Poaching: Wildlife in the Legal Arena

Poaching and the international wildlife trade are growing problems, fueled by a confluence of greed and poverty and managed by ever-more-evolving criminal networks. These actions lead to the loss of biodiversity, which is made worse by changes in habitat and drives many species to the verge of extinction. In this situation, forensic evidence is the cornerstone of investigations into crimes involving both people and animals, and it is essential to securing convictions and criminal prosecutions. The application of forensic methods—especially in the field of forensic genetics—is constantly progressing, giving investigators the instruments they need to address the many problems associated with wildlife-related inquiries.
 This article highlights current developments while examining the evolution of these forensic tools and their useful uses. In addition, it provides examples of actual cases where forensic evidence was crucial in obtaining convictions, paving the way for the eventual application of similar methods to dismantle criminal organizations and safeguard species for the sake of maintaining biodiversity.

Effective image tampering localization with multi-scale ConvNeXt feature fusion

With the widespread use of powerful image editing tools, image tampering becomes easy and realistic. Existing image forensic methods still face challenges of low generalization performance and robustness. In this letter, we propose an effective image tampering localization scheme based on ConvNeXt encoder and multi-scale Feature Fusion (ConvNeXtFF). Stacked ConvNeXt blocks are utilized as an encoder to capture hierarchical multi-scale features, which are then fused in decoder for locating tampered pixels accurately. Combined loss function and effective data augmentation strategies are adopted to further improve the model performance. Extensive experimental results show that both localization accuracy and robustness of the ConvNeXtFF scheme outperform other state-of-the-art ones. The source code is available at https://github.com/multimediaFor/ConvNeXtFF.

Bridging the gap: Hospital to workplace.

Work-oriented neurorehabilitation to return to competitive employment after a serious neurologic illness or injury is an interdisciplinary process that begins as soon as pathology has stabilized. This bimonthly column provides narratives of anonymized clients in situations that challenge their return-to-work. Each case study is designed for postgraduate education about tools and methods that are appropriate to consider in similar situations. Through case studies of adults attempting to return to safe and dependable competitive employment, real-world issues are explored that occur at the interface between the client and their employer. The current case describes Structured Task Self Appraisal (STSA), a forensic rehabilitation method to collect self-report baseline information concerning the client's job-relevant functional limitations. STSA guides return-to-work rehabilitation services. Information concerning the core tasks and important abilities of the client's target occupation that are immediately available in O*NET can be analyzed in a structured manner to provide the workplace context for rehabilitation.

Aspects of the Use of Forensic Methods and Techniques in the Investigation of Acts of Theft of Property Committed by Minors

At the present stage, theoretical issues of forming basic methods and techniques for investigating property crimes committed by minors are relevant; general patterns of theft of other people's property by them and the general trends in their detection and investigation related to this type of crime are relevant. The purpose of the study is to develop the concept of a basic methodology and technique for investigating property crimes committed by minors. In accordance with the stated purpose of the study, its tasks are: to assess the current state and determine the directions for further improvement of the theoretical support for the practice of combating property crimes committed by minors; to determine the content of the basic forensic characteristics of acts of theft of other people's property, to identify the relationship between its elements, to determine their role in putting forward typical versions in the investigation of these crimes. In the course of the study, the following methods of scientific knowledge were used: analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, logical and systemic analysis. The study found that the forensic characterisation of crimes committed by minors is important, since minors react more sharply and quickly to negative social changes, and this factor is the reason for the differentiation of criminal liability, which separates minors into a separate category of criminals. The study has revealed a significant criminogenic role of the immediate negative environment in the formation of the personality of a juvenile criminal who. Since the moral formation of a juvenile's personality begins in the school and continues in the educational or labour collective, there is a close connection and continuity between these stages. A person's personality is determined by his or her lifestyle, level of spirituality, social, material and other values, including the informal status in a social group. The orientation of a personality largely depends on such negative factors associated with the emergence of a mercenary orientation as the influence of previously convicted persons who are organisers or active participants in thefts.

The Analysis of Data Tampering and Forensics in a Cloud Environment

In cloud systems, where sensitive data is stored and processed remotely, data manipulation is a serious security problem. The issues of data tampering in cloud environments are explored in this research, along with the importance of forensic investigation in reducing its effects. We explore several data tampering techniques and illustrate the need for strong security measures to guard against unlawful behavior. This paper also covers forensic analysis methods, tools, and techniques that are crucial in locating, analyzing, and minimizing data tampering instances in cloud systems. The security posture associated with cloud infrastructures can be greatly improved by integrating cutting-edge forensic procedures, ensuring data integrity, confidentiality, and overall system dependability.

Forensic support of court proceedings: ontological, methodological and praxeological aspects

The article presents the results of comprehension by the author of the phenomenon of forensic support as a separate entity, the system in which the processes of production, dissemination and application of forensic knowledge in practice take place. Accordingly, in the ontological aspect, forensic support is seen as a complex, multifaceted system that includes a number of subsystems functionally interconnected by the general purpose, the main among which are the science of forensic science, forensic education and forensic practice. Each of them has its own components, which can also be considered and described as systems consisting of certain elements – individual processes and their results, which have their own structure, including objects, subjects, connections, functions and goals.
 Forensic support of law enforcement and judicial activities, considered under the system-activity (process) point of view can be represented as a system of scientific, pedagogical and applied activities for the development of forensic techniques, methods and recommendations, the transfer of knowledge about them to the subjects of these types of activities, the formation of their skills and abilities necessary for the effective use of forensic tools in each forensic situation in order to positively implement their professional tasks and procedural functions. From the standpoint of the resource approach, forensic support is a set of forensic technical means, tactical techniques and methodological recommendations, as well as forensic knowledge and skills of subjects authorized to disclose, investigate and litigate criminal cases.
 The practical component of the forensic support of the trial of criminal cases is the activity of the court in the formation and further application of the complex, developed by the national forensic science and tested by judicial practice of measures aimed at reducing the influence of the factor of information uncertainty of the initial stage of the trial, forecasting.

Rapid analyzing mixed STR profiles based on the global minimum residual method.

The analysis of mixed short tandem repeat (STR) profiles has been long considered as a difficult challenge in the forensic DNA analysis. In the context of China, the current approach to analyze mixed STR profiles depends mostly on forensic manual method. However, besides the inefficiency, this technique is also susceptible to subjective biases in interpreting analysis results, which can hardly meet up with the growing demand for STR profiles analysis. In response, this study introduces an innovative method known as the global minimum residual method, which not only predicts the proportion of each contributor within a mixture, but also delivers accurate analysis results. The global minimum residual method first gives new definitions to the mixture proportion, then optimizes the allele model. After that, it comprehensively considers all loci present in the STR profile, accumulates and sums the residual values of each locus and selects the mixture proportion with the minimum accumulative sum as the inference result. Furthermore, the grey wolf optimizer is also employed to expedite the search for the optimal value. Notably, for two-person STR profiles, the high accuracy and remarkable efficiency of the global minimum residual method can bring convenience to realize extensive STR profile analysis. The optimization scheme established in this research has exhibited exceptional outcomes in practical applications, boasting significant utility and offering an innovative avenue in the realm of mixed STR profile analysis.

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation-Related Head Trauma: A Case Report

Introduction: In all cases of cardiac arrest, adequate cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) performance is crucial for survival. There are differences between the performances of CPR in pediatric cases compared to CPR in adults. In all cases in which CPR is needed, there is a possibility for the occurrence of CPR-related traumatic injuries. Aims and methods: We used all available forensic examination methods in order to provide objective forensic investigation conclusions and feedback to clinicians. Results: We present an untypical case of head trauma with intracranial bleeding caused via CPR-related traumatic injury. Although it is not connected with the mechanism and genesis of death, it should be noted as being practically casuistic. The child had a severe congenital heart malformation. The surgical team decided that surgery was absolutely necessary. Complications developed in the postoperative period. On the second postoperative day, cardiac arrest occurred, CPR was performed, and the girl survived for 15 minuntil there was a second cardiac arrest. A second CPR was performed, but she died. During the forensic autopsy, with the exception of expected findings, head bruising and intracranial bleeding were registered. Conclusion: The forensic conclusion was that the head trauma was caused accidentally during CPR due to the non-voluntary impact of the head with respect to the background of anticoagulant therapy, which was one possible factor for the massive bleeding.

Comprehensive Study of Network Forensic

Today, as the cybercrimes are increasing rapidly, there is necessity to find the root cause of the loopholes that are left while taking care of cyber security. So, the evidences are searched to find the source of the cyber attack. This can be done by detecting networks and network components used by criminals which comes under network forensics. Network forensic is a domain of computer forensic which studies internal and external network to find out important artifacts for investigators to discover the origin of the cyber attack. The proposed survey focuses on overview of network forensic domain having different network forensic methods, methodology along with the analysis of network forensic tools (NFTs). The proposed survey also concentrates on the comparison of NFTs like Network Miner, Xplico, LogRhythm, NIKSUN, Nmap, etc. based on their features, compatibility with platforms, whether they are open source or commercial, etc. Finally, this paper concludes with the basic purpose and features of every tool and its usability.

Straight from the coyote's mouth: genetic identification of prey through oral swabs of predators

Human–carnivore conflicts often involve the depredation of domestic livestock. These depredation events are rarely observed, yet mitigation typically involves identifying the species or individual involved for removal or relocation. We tested a molecular method to identify individuals involved in depredation events using mouth swabs to determine if prey DNA could be detected, and for how long. We fed mule deer Odocoileus hemionus meat to captive coyotes Canis latrans and swabbed their mouths at five predetermined intervals between 2–72 h after consumption of the deer meat. We assessed two different molecular forensic methods to analyze the saliva swabs: qPCR for species identification and microsatellites for individual prey identification. We found that qPCR analysis was highly effective, detecting the deer DNA in the coyote saliva for up to 72 h post‐deer consumption. Our results suggest that if an individual carnivore suspected of livestock depredation is captured within 72 h of a depredation incident, it is possible to confirm their potential involvement with a buccal swab and qPCR analysis. Utilizing this method could aid in more targeted and effective removal of individual problem carnivores as opposed to widespread removal of involved species.

Scientific guidelines for evaluating the validity of forensic feature-comparison methods

When it comes to questions of fact in a legal context—particularly questions about measurement, association, and causality—courts should employ ordinary standards of applied science. Applied sciences generally develop along a path that proceeds from a basic scientific discovery about some natural process to the formation of a theory of how the process works and what causes it to fail, to the development of an invention intended to assess, repair, or improve the process, to the specification of predictions of the instrument’s actions and, finally, empirical validation to determine that the instrument achieves the intended effect. These elements are salient and deeply embedded in the cultures of the applied sciences of medicine and engineering, both of which primarily grew from basic sciences. However, the inventions that underlie most forensic science disciplines have few roots in basic science, and they do not have sound theories to justify their predicted actions or results of empirical tests to prove that they work as advertised. Inspired by the “Bradford Hill Guidelines”—the dominant framework for causal inference in epidemiology—we set forth four guidelines that can be used to establish the validity of forensic comparison methods generally. This framework is not intended as a checklist establishing a threshold of minimum validity, as no magic formula determines when particular disciplines or hypotheses have passed a necessary threshold. We illustrate how these guidelines can be applied by considering the discipline of firearm and tool mark examination.

Science, evidence, law, and justice

For nearly 25 y, the Committee on Science, Technology, and Law (CSTL), of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, has brought together distinguished members of the science and law communities to stimulate discussions that would lead to a better understanding of the role of science in legal decisions and government policies and to a better understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks that govern the conduct of science. Under the leadership of recent CSTL co-chairs David Baltimore and David Tatel, and CSTL director Anne-Marie Mazza, the committee has overseen many interdisciplinary discussions and workshops, such as the international summits on human genome editing and the science of implicit bias, and has delivered advisory consensus reports focusing on topics of broad societal importance, such as dual use research in the life sciences, voting systems, and advances in neural science research using organoids and chimeras. One of the most influential CSTL activities concerns the use of forensic evidence by law enforcement and the courts, with emphasis on the scientific validity of forensic methods and the role of forensic testimony in bringing about justice. As coeditors of this Special Feature, CSTL alumni Tom Albright and Jennifer Mnookin have recruited articles at the intersection of science and law that reveal an emerging scientific revolution of forensic practice, which we hope will engage a broad community of scientists, legal scholars, and members of the public with interest in science-based legal policy and justice reform.

Forensic Digital Analysis of Telegram Applications Using the National Institute Of Justice and Naïve Bayes Methods

Currently, Telegram is an instant messaging application that is often used by the Indonesian people as a means of long-distance communication with other users. Telegram also has good security features to protect all data from its users. However, Telegram has a positive impact on its users. This security feature can be used by several people to protect against digital crimes, especially cases of sexual harassment. To overcome the existing crimes, analysis, and forensic methods are needed to help solve crimes. This research is guided by the investigation process using the National Institute Of Justice (NIJ) method and the Naïve Bayes method to classify the conversations found. It can be concluded that MOBILedit Forensic Express has a poor performance in finding digital evidence in the Telegram application and FTK Imager is very good at finding digital evidence in the Telegram application. In this research, the classification process using the Naïve Bayes method has been able to classify conversations that contain sexual harassment or not. Evaluation of the classification method uses a confusion matrix to determine the best classification model.

Use of Forensic Methods In Disclosure of Fire Insurance Claims

When an insurance claim occurs, there is often a difference of opinion between the insurer and the insured in interpreting the contents of the policy. In order to resolve claim disputes, according to the clauses in the policy, an opinion from an independent third party is needed. The purpose of third party involvement is to provide an opinion from another point of view. In this research, it is described how third parties are involved in resolving an insurance claim. Starting from the incident report, it was reported that a fire had occurred at latitude coordinates 7°25'26"S and longitude 112°43'33"E. Appointed investigators visit places affected by the fire to carry out inspections at the scene and investigate the origin of the fire and look for possible causes of the fire. Using forensic methods that include on-site investigation, damage analysis, witness statements, interpretation, and deductive reasoning processes, data collected in the field is then analyzed to be tested against a number of proposed hypotheses. Debris and electrical cable samples were collected for further analysis. Based on physical evidence collected during the investigation, it was discovered that the fire started in the northwest portion of the building. The results of the findings were then traced by tracing the parts of the building that were damaged, and investigators found an electrical short circuit due to a failure in the lights. These findings are then analyzed by the insurance claims team to determine the amount of the claim that must be paid by the insurer. There were no suspicious elements or circumstances surrounding the fire and other possible causes of the fire have been considered and ruled out.

Technology in the Administration of Justice: Forensic Scene Research in International Approach

Technology begins to play a leading role in the administration of justice, in particular in case of complex proceedings, to which basic forensic methods, techniques and tools have not yet been applied. Humans as an end users of a computer software more and more often use highly specialized software in daily work, thanks to which a number of further analyses can be performed. Such operations, the vast majority of which have been forwarded from competent foreign institutions, are conducted by domestic centres with the application of the latest achievements in forensic science. Recent efforts aimed at introducing commercial services (also made available for use by public institutions) to the market of solutions for the study of sceneprompted the author to scientifically analyse the use of modern technologies in forensic science, with particular emphasis on the crime scene (being the place where traces are discovered and evidence is secured) for the purposes of proceedings conducted by competent law enforcement institutions. Thus, the study can be deemed original and its purpose is to fill the cognitive gap in the indicated scope.Individual sections of the article are devoted to the indication of the role that photography plays in forensic science, issues related to satellite imaging, creation of threedimensional reconstruction models of crime scenes using scanning technology, with an emphasis on the role played by artificial intelligence algorithms in this process as well. As a research thesis, an assumption was made that scene research (its detailed scope, correctness, duration, the possibility of conducting analyses, drawing conclusions), necessary to adequately secure the crime scene, is not independent of the progress of technology. The study includes both theoretical considerations, for which an analysis of Polish and foreign language sources was used, as well as focuses on presenting practical possibilities of applying the described tools. The issue raised remains up-to-date, in particular given the need to seek international opportunities to use the latest, constantly developing technologies for the purpose of conducting criminal proceedings. This focus contributes to the presentation of a comprehensive study, for which a qualitative descriptive method supported by a critical analysis of sources has been used. The article also contains final conclusions and research postulates, including de lege ferendalegislative suggestions.

Digital Communication Forensics in 6G and beyond Networks

6G networks can be truly intelligent wireless systems that have the flexibility for continuous technological improvements. However, security events affecting information systems have grown increasingly complicated and sophisticated. Intruders may be able to operate due to a lack of evidence authenticity. Using network forensics methods can solve many cybercrime instances. These methods can be used to locate the intruder and to determine the intrusion’s origin and how it can be avoided in the future. Existing network forensics techniques confront security threats and vulnerabilities in several networks, such as personal area networks, local area networks, wide area networks, and wireless wide area networks under telecom networks, in practice, but cannot operate in 6G and beyond telecom networks, which are critical at this moment. Thus, a comprehensive literature analysis of telecom networks is conducted to identify existing concerns and challenges in conducting digital communication forensics. Hence, a digital forensics system for 6G and beyond networks is proposed as an initial idea on the basis of the highlighted issues, thereby assessing security incidents and providing justified evidence that explains the footprints of the attackers.

Theoretical concepts of the development of criminal forensic methods.

Theoretical concepts of the development of criminal forensic methods.

Synergy of on-surface and in-air trajectories: Exploratory analysis of forensic online signatures implementing lessons learned from biometrics

With the increased use of digital devices, forensic document examiners (FDEs) encounter increasing number of dynamic or online signatures during their physical examinations. This shift expands the possibility of examinations and creates new challenges for FDEs. As such, FDEs require new examination skills using data science-based analyses with artificial intelligence and machine-learning techniques. In recent years, automated signature verification has gained significant interest in biometric research and could be useful in forensic investigations. However, the use of complex black-box systems inconveniencing FDEs in explaining the rationale behind their final assessment, especially when dealing with limited signature samples and various types of forged signatures. Therefore, a new forensic method is needed to assist FDEs’ analysis. To tackle these challenges and incorporate lessons learned from biometrics into forensics, this study proposes a novel forensic online signature analysis method. The proposed method uses a single-template strategy based on recent scientific findings in biometrics while updating the strategy for forensic use. This strategy creates a mean-template set from known signature samples that serve as a writer’s signature master pattern. Consequently, FDEs can evaluate intra-writer and inter-item variations using the mean-template set and a questioned signature. Furthermore, to take advantage of recent digital devices, we focused on both on-surface and in-air trajectories of online signatures, which could improve the discriminative power because in-air trajectories are invisible for imposters. Finally, we demonstrate the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed method in a forensic scenario using a public forensic online signature dataset.

Collection of Evidence of War Crimes by Forensic Methods

The article examines the historical experience of using evidence collection methods in wartime, which demonstrates the risks of unstable boundaries between what is permitted and what is prohibited. Compliance with the standards of the Geneva Conventions and their protocols is an absolute rule, but tactical methods of obtaining evidence developed for peacetime run into emotional, mental, situational states and circumstances. In such cases, the question arises as to the appropriateness of such techniques in the difficult conditions of war and the need to develop new investigation methods and tactics of investigative (detective) actions which would be adapted or modified to the conditions of martial law. The inherent purpose of the article is to show a retrospective of war crimes evidence collection with an indication of judicial practice and to suggest the creation of theoretical prerequisites for optimizing forensic approaches to war crimes evidence collection. Formation of the methodology for investigating war crimes should cover the peculiarities of investigating different types of criminal offenses by their criminal law features (both against life and health of a person, his/her sexual freedom and inviolability, against property, and war crimes themselves), which is expressed in a single mechanism of criminal activity implemented in the context of military aggression of the Russian Federation. This indicates that a prerequisite for the successful development of new and improvement of existing forensic techniques is the definition of conceptual approaches to the technology of creating the techniques themselves. In modern conditions, we are talking about the formation of a comprehensive forensic methodology for investigating war crimes, which is based on criminal law and forensic features. Collecting evidence of war crimes is a prerequisite for investigating and ultimately bringing perpetrators to justice. The hegemony of forensic science is the key to achieving justice and bringing perpetrators to justice, and investigations must be accompanied by strict adherence to international humanitarian and criminal law to avoid human rights violations and guarantee fair trials.