Forensic Sources Research Articles

Cases of homicide in Senegal in medicolegal autopsies during the period from 2017 to 2021

Introduction: In case of death by homicide or suspicious death, unidentified deceased bodies, a judicial procedure is opened and a requisition for an autopsy is systematically requested from the medical examiner, whose purpose is to identify the causes and circumstances of death. The objective of this study is to determine the epidemiological and medico-legal aspects of violent deaths by homicides involving a medico-legal obstacle in Senegal. Methodology: Our study was carried out in public hospital structures in Senegal. This is a retrospective study based on data collected in judicial requisitions, autopsy reports and in registers from January 2017 to December 2021. It concerned all cases of death that have benefited from a forensic autopsy following a judicial requisition. Results: During the study period, violent deaths constituted the most represented forensic form with 53.4% of autopsies performed, ahead of natural deaths with 42.4%. The average age of the deceased subjects was 37 years with a male predominance in 242 cases (78%).The place of death or discovery of the corpse was in Rural Dakar .Violent deaths by homicides accounted for 12.5% of cases. Thus, in the cases of homicides, intentional assault and wounding by a knife were in the foreground with 71.2% followed by infanticide 15%. Conclusion: Homicide deaths are violent deaths that represent a public health problem due to unemployment, poverty and economic crises. Thus, the information collected from forensic sources provides information about the victims, the causes and circumstances of death. Improving the collection of data on the perpetrators of homicides requires detailed databases on homicides during investigations and after judicial sanctions , to have a more complete overview of homicide profiles and homicide prevention strategies at national level.

INFLUENCE ON WRITING OF UNUSUAL CONDITION OF PERSON CAUSED BY MENTAL DISORDERS

The article is devoted to the study of writing disorders and the diagnosis of the unusual state of the writer caused by mental disorders. The authors found that modern forensic sources pay little attention to this aspect of the problem being highlighted. However, the scientific approach to its solution largely depends on a comprehensive analysis of mental disorders, which should be established by the methodology of forensic handwriting. It was determined that writing is a complex mental activity of a person, which includes both cognitive, speech, motor, and emotional processes. Differentiating the states of the executor of the manuscript by handwriting is a difficult task, especially in connection with some similarity of the reflection in the manuscripts directly of the reasons that change the skill of writing, for example, such as alcohol intoxication, a state of great excitement, stress, etc. It was stated that the objects of handwriting expertise are handwritten texts, short notes, signatures, and even digital markings. Depending on the specific circumstances of the case under consideration by the forensic handwriting examination, the fact of the writing of the text by a specific person can be established or refuted, the methods of execution of certain manuscripts, the state of a particular person at the time of execution of the manuscript are established. The range of tasks of forensic expertise regarding the writing of persons who are in a psychopathological state are similar, but largely different, to the medical diagnostic tasks of establishing mental disorders of a person listed in the international classification of diseases. It is indicated that it is appropriate to refer to the information of psychiatry in order to understand the general characteristics of the psychopathological state of a person, to form a clear idea about its varieties and their characteristic signs - symptoms and syndromes. The article examines the development and current state of research on writing disorders in mental disorders, reveals the psychophysiological foundations of the writing mechanism and its psychological features. Examples of expert research practice and experimental-psychological research of writing disorders in patients with various mental disorders are also given.

Mystical Sects on Territory of Tobolsk Province of 18<sup>th</sup> — Early 20<sup>th</sup> Centuries: Distribution and Number of Followers

The article is devoted to the study of the history of the mystical sectarianism spread on the territory of the Tobolsk province in the 18th — early 20th centuries. The main groups of mystical sects in the Tobolsk province are revealed. The features of the sects’ doctrine are characterized. The socially dangerous nature of the activities of Eunuchs, causing physical and moral harm to persons involved in the sect, is characterized on specific historical material. The authors come to the conclusion about the relativity of government statistics on the number of sectarians in the region. The nature of the interaction of sectarian communities with the state, as well as the implementation of confessional policy on the territory of the province is presented in the work. Analysis of forensic sources allows us to conclude that the use of severe punishment, including imprisonment, deprivation of all rights of the state and exile to remote areas of the country, largely contributed to the departure of Eunuchs from the practice of castrating their followers, the use of less cruel methods of achieving “bodily purity”. The dynamics of the degree of distribution and the nature of the settlement of sectarians are considered. The research was carried out on the basis of the analysis of the complex of legislative, statistical and record keeping sources of the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (Moscow) and the State Archive in Tobolsk.

WITHDRAWN: Malware patterns detection and prediction using cloud based deep learning for secured network environment

Abstract The today’s network environment is highly susceptible to different types of traffic from multiple sources whereby the need to analyze the packets arises. The vulnerabilities and loopholes exist in these network traffic, which are being exploited by the threat actors. Considering the ever increasing high volumes of network packets, emerging new trends and zero day attacks, there is every need to enhance the approaches for malware analysis and detection in terms of accuracy and effectiveness. The need of the hour is to optimize the malware analysis and detection techniques using metahueristic approach over a wide range of datasets from different cyber forensic sources. The work based in the existing malware detection includes signature analysis from historical datasets based on the heuristic functions or frequency analysis. In this research manuscript, the evaluation, training and prediction of the network traffic is presented using the ML (machine learning) and DL (deep learning) based implementations so that the overall security in the network can be elevated. In addition, the results are evaluated using high performance programming platforms so that the further prediction of any new type of malware can be done.

CONTENT AND SYSTEM OF FORENSIC LAW SOURCES: THE GENERAL PART

The problem of studying forensic law sources, as an element of the national legal system, is becoming urgent today. By studying their systemic properties, the possibility of scientific forecasting in the development of the legal system tendency, determining courses of the most effective steps to improve the entire mechanism of legal regulation of forensic relations’ complex is increasing.
 The article purpose is to conduct research on the prerequisites for systematizing the modern array of the forensic science legal basis in Ukraine and to identify theoretical and applied peculiarities for the formation of the general part content in the system of forensic law sources.
 To uncover the problem and subject of examination, as well as to accomplish the tasks, the synthesis method was used, which helped to identify the main areas of legal regulation and the system of general forensic relations, the formal legal method helped to clarify the content of forensic legislation legal norms.
 Attention is drawn to the fact that the legal construction of the general part of the current Law on judicial examination from the point of view of legal technique in general and rule-making in particular is an example of legislative anachronism in which neither substantive nor formal requirements of the culture of law-making are properly observed, what directly complicates its implementation, compliance and application.
 The need for injunctions of a general nature is emphasized with the purpose for a better understanding of the essence, objectives and content of specific injunctions. In general provisions of the basic act of forensic legislation it is offered to combine injunctions that define: the concept, terminology, content, legal basis, objectives, principles of forensic activity and their content, subject and object composition of forensic examination, as well as the powers of state, interdepartmental, departmental and public bodies on state regulation and forensic management.
 It has been established that the content of most sources of forensic law testifies to the differentiation of their injunctions, which can be carried out in a special part according to three generic criteria: the type of forensic activity entity (based on departmental subordination, form of ownership); type of forensic examination; type of legal proceedings.
 Arguments on the lack of a single scientifically based system of interconnected regulatory legal acts of forensic legislation are presented, which, as a result, created the social prerequisites for its systematization in the form of codification. The course of the highest degree of legislation perfection is substantiated, which should be presented in the form of Forensic Code of Ukraine.

Aportaciones de la medicina forense en la mejora del conocimiento del suicidio

Suicide is an important public health problem. Suicide mortality, and the quality and reliability of suicide statistics are key points in monitoring and preventing suicidal behaviours. The objective of this paper is to review the contribution of forensic medicine to suicidal behaviour, to underline the importance of forensic sources to investigate risk factors, and to highlight the role of Institutes of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences in suicide prevention programmes.We describe the collaboration between Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences and specialists in the fields of psychiatry and public health. This collaborative work has facilitated the development of an integrative model in the investigation of suicidal behaviour allowing more precise suicide mortality data, the standardisation of research on suicide, and the development of suicide prevention strategies to reduce a preventable cause of death.

Improving suicide mortality statistics in Tarragona (Catalonia, Spain) between 2004–2012

IntroductionMonitoring and preventing suicidal behaviour requires, among other data, knowing suicide deaths precisely. They often appear under-reported or misclassified in the official mortality statistics. The aim of this study is to analyse the under-reporting found in the suicide mortality statistics of Tarragona (a province of Catalonia, Spain). Method and materialsThe analysis takes into account all suicide deaths that occurred in the Tarragona Area of the Catalan Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences (TA-CILMFS) between 2004 and 2012. The sources of information were the death data files of the Catalan Mortality Register, as well as the Autopsies Files of the TA-CILMFS. Suicide rates and socio-demographic profiles were statistically compared between the suicide initially reported and the final one. ResultsThe mean percentage of non-reported cases in the period was 16.2%, with a minimum percentage of 2.2% in 2005 and a maximum of 26.8% in 2009. The crude mortality rate by suicide rose from 6.6 to 7.9 per 100,000 inhabitants once forensic data were incorporated. Small differences were detected between the socio-demographic profile of the suicide initially reported and the final one. Supplementary information was obtained on the suicide method, which revealed a significant increase in poisoning and suicides involving trains. ConclusionsAn exhaustive review of suicide deaths data from forensic sources has led to an improvement in the under-reported statistical information. It also improves the knowledge of the method of suicide and personal characteristics.

Beneficial impact of forensic sources to cause-of-deaths statistics

Beneficial impact of forensic sources to cause-of-deaths statistics

Diferencias entre fallecimientos inmediatos y a 30 días por lesiones por tráfico según fuentes forenses

ObjectiveTo study immediate (same day of the collision) and delayed (within 30 days of the collision) deaths due to traffic injuries in Catalonia (Spain) according to forensic sources and to assess the differences between the two kinds of deaths. Material and methodsAn observational study was conducted of all the traffic accident deaths registered in the Institute of Legal Medicine of Catalonia between January 1st 2005 and December 31st 2014. Data analysis was performed using the SPSS v.18.0 statistical package. Comparisons of proportions were based on the χ2 test. ResultsDuring the study period, 4044 deaths due to traffic injuries were recorded. Deaths within 30 days included more women, minors, elderly people, and pedestrians than immediate deaths. ConclusionsTraffic injury deaths in the 30 days following a crash differ from immediate deaths.

Validación de la causa básica de defunción en las muertes que requieren intervención medicolegal

Deaths due to external causes require additional medical tests in order to determine the cause of death. If these results are not incorporated into the death register these causes may be misclassified. The objective of this study is to validate the underlying cause of death of the Mortality Register with information obtained from forensic sources in Barcelona between 2004 and 2006. Cross-sectional design. The study population consisted of deceased residents in Barcelona with a medicolegal intervention between 2004 and 2006. The sources of information are the Mortality Registry and the forensic pathology file filled in by Institute of Legal Medicine of Catalonia (ILMC) (gold standard). The study variables are the cause of death, sex and age. Sensitivity and percentage of confirmation (PC) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) are calculated. The sensitivity of external causes is 59.7% (95% CI:56.5-62.9) and PC is 96.7% (95% CI:94.8-98.0). Traffic injuries, poisonings and suicides are under-reported in the Mortality Register with a sensitivity lower than 45% and a PC higher than 80%. Symptoms, signs and ill-defined conditions are over-reported with a sensitivity of 89.2% (95% CI:83.4-93.4) and a PC of 28.0% (95% CI:24.2-32.1). There are no differences by sex and age. The validity of the external causes in the Mortality Register is low due to under-reporting and the high proportion of symptoms signs and ill-defined causes. According to the results, incorporating information from forensic sources to the Mortality Register increases the quality of mortality statistics.

Substance Abuse Testing of Urine by GC/MS in Scanning Mode Evaluated by Proficiency Studies, TLC/GC, and EMIT

Using GC/MS in scanning mode as a screening and definitive identification methodology for substance abuse testing, 4500 urine samples have been analyzed. The accuracy and sensitivity of this method was evaluated by the results of 92 proficiency sample analyses, reanalyses by TLC screening with GC confirmation of 125 samples from forensic sources and reanalysis by EMIT screening for seven groups of drugs confirmed by GC/MS of 590 samples from industrial and treatment sources. The results of these studies are presented.

A Review of Medico-Legal Investigation of Gunshot Wounds

Abstract There are a number of major defects in this book. They all stem from the author's lack of knowledge of the subject. He is obviously unfamiliar with weapons and ammunition. His handling of the wounding effects of firearms is superficial. There is no in-depth treatment of any important subject. What the author has done is to compile a number of well-known facts—and some errors—from many forensic sources. To this he has added generous padding, consisting of information only tenuously related to the subject of the book, and photographs of poor quality.

Chromatographic and biological aspects of inorganic mercury

The major areas of utility, and the ecological and biological significance of inorganic mercury have been reviewed along with salient paper, thin-layer, gas, column and ion-exchange chromatographic techniques for the separation and identification of inorganic mercury from environmental and forensic sources.