Identification Of Offenders Research Articles

Isolation and genetic analysis of pure cells from forensic biological mixtures: The precision of a digital approach

Latest genotyping technologies allow to achieve a reliable genetic profile for the offender identification even from extremely minute biological evidence. The ultimate challenge occurs when genetic profiles need to be retrieved from a mixture, which is composed of biological material from two or more individuals. In this case, DNA profiling will often result in a complex genetic profile, which is then subject matter for statistical analysis.In principle, when more individuals contribute to a mixture with different biological fluids, their single genetic profiles can be obtained by separating the distinct cell types (e.g. epithelial cells, blood cells, sperm), prior to genotyping.Different approaches have been investigated for this purpose, such as fluorescent-activated cell sorting (FACS) or laser capture microdissection (LCM), but currently none of these methods can guarantee the complete separation of different type of cells present in a mixture.In other fields of application, such as oncology, DEPArray™ technology, an image-based, microfluidic digital sorter, has been widely proven to enable the separation of pure cells, with single-cell precision.This study investigates the applicability of DEPArray™ technology to forensic samples analysis, focusing on the resolution of the forensic mixture problem.For the first time, we report here the development of an application-specific DEPArray™ workflow enabling the detection and recovery of pure homogeneous cell pools from simulated blood/saliva and semen/saliva mixtures, providing full genetic match with genetic profiles of corresponding donors. In addition, we assess the performance of standard forensic methods for DNA quantitation and genotyping on low-count, DEPArray™-isolated cells, showing that pure, almost complete profiles can be obtained from as few as ten haploid cells. Finally, we explore the applicability in real casework samples, demonstrating that the described approach provides complete separation of cells with outstanding precision.In all examined cases, DEPArray™ technology proves to be a groundbreaking technology for the resolution of forensic biological mixtures, through the precise isolation of pure cells for an incontrovertible attribution of the obtained genetic profiles.

Legal Punishment and the Public Identification of Offenders

In the United States, the identities of criminal offenders are matters of public record, accessible to prospective employers, the press, and ordinary citizens. In European countries, the identities of offenders are routinely kept hidden, with some exceptions. The question addressed in this discussion concerns whether the public disclosure of the identities of offenders is part and parcel of their legal punishment. My contentions are that public disclosure is not conceptually part of legal punishment, necessary to serve substantive penal aims, or likely to enhance penal aims. At times, it will conflict with defensible aims of legal punishment. Other values might support or require the public identification of criminal offenders, but the aims of legal punishment do not appear to do so.

Sexual Homicide Committed by a Family Member: Report of Two Cases and Discussion of Its Motivation Factors

Sexual homicide is a distinctive form of homicide and an extreme form of sexual violence. This phenomenon has been well addressed in psychiatric, psychological and forensic literatures. Nevertheless, sometimes it is difficult to understand the motivations behind a sexual homicide mainly when it occurs within the closed family environment. We report two cases of women’s sexual homicide committed by a family member, other than a sexual partner or an ex-partner. The sexual character was confirmed by laboratory evidences which also allowed the offender identification. In both cases, the offenders did not have any history of violence conviction and were not under substance abuse influence. In addition, psychological autopsy has not revealed any psychiatric disorder of the offenders. In this paper, we describe the findings, we discuss the characteristics of this type of murder and its motivation factors related to our socio-cultural and legislative context.

Antisocial personalities: Measuring prevalence among offenders in South Africa

The identification of offenders who meet the criteria for psychopathy, antisocial personality disorder or dissocial personality disorder could be of significant value to help address the violent crime crisis in South Africa. A sample of 500 male maximum security offenders was selected to determine the prevalence of these disorders among South African offenders. Results for the incidence of psychopathy and dissocial personality disorder indicate a similar trend to that found in other countries; whereas the prevalence of antisocial personality disorder contradicts international findings.

The challenges surrounding the regulation of anonymous communication provision in the United Kingdom

This article presents an analysis of the regulatory challenges posed by anonymous communication applications in the United Kingdom, which are in widespread use largely due to the online privacy sought by individuals. However, protecting individuals through the use of anonymous applications presents a serious problem in terms of offender identification where malicious use has occurred. Although numerous anonymous communication applications exist, due to the volume of media criticism attracted, indicating its role in a rise in acts of cyberbullying in the United States of America; this article focuses on the anonymous bulletin board Yik Yak. To demonstrate the limitations present when attempting to determine an offender's identity, a digital forensic analysis was carried out on an iPhone handset used for communicating via Yik Yak and the key findings highlighted. Since Yik Yak is growing in popularity, the article proceeds to examine the challenges for regulating use in University campus environments in England and Wales given their status as a ‘private communications service providers’, remaining outside the confines of the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act 2014. A discussion of hypothetical university campus network infrastructures is presented in order to identify the challenge of identifying malicious Yik Yak users, concluding that for anonymous communication applications such as Yik Yak, reliance should be placed upon sufficient data retention periods in order to assist the investigation of criminal behaviour and offender identification.

Y‐Chromosome DNA identification of aspermic male offender from vaginal swab of victim

Identification of the offender from spermatozoa andblood is the most often sought biological evidence inthe examination of rape victims. Forensic finding of thespermatozoa plays an important role to confirm therecent episode of sexual intercourse. Problems arise incases of digital penetration and vasectomized males.Criminals are getting smarter now days, they are usingcondom to commit rapes or ejaculate away from thebody of victim. In such cases no sperm cells are foundand conventional STR testing yields only a femaleprofile. This study demonstrates the presence of themale epithelial cells in the vaginal tract as availableproof of coitus. In many circumstances the applicationof PCR?based DNA typing methods results in the failure to amplify the minor (e.g., male) component of DNAmixtures due to competition with alleles from the major(e.g., female) component. In this study DNA profile fromthe aspermic semen, vaginal swab and a control sampleof a vasectomized male was obtained for all 16 Y?STRloci namely DYS392, DYS390, DYS385 a/b, DYS393,DYS3891, DYS38911, DYS391, DYS19, DYS439, DYS438,residing on the Y?chromosome and Amelogenin to helpthe investigating agencies to prove that a male wasinvolved in the offence and further investigation wasneeded.

Deterring DUI Behavior in the First Place

Dugosh, Festinger, and Marlowe’s (2013, this issue) study is an important pilot study aimed at the development of a brief screening device that contains objective items to predict recidivism. We must continue to develop criteria that will help us distinguish between driving-under-the-influence (DUI) offenders who are at significant risk of repeating the offense in contrast to those offenders who learn their lesson from the first offense and never repeat the offense, no matter what sanction they experience. The identification of offenders with a high risk of repeating the offense will help prosecution and adjudication officials assign appropriate sanctions for the offense and implement appropriate monitoring of the offenders to prevent recidivism. Studies have shown that approximately one third of all offenders arrested for DUI are repeat offenders (Fell, 1995; Fell, Tippetts, and Voas, 2010) and that drivers with a DUI offense are at approximately four times the risk of being alcohol positive in a fatal crash (Fell, 1992). If we can accurately identify those firsttime DUI offenders at high risk of repeating, then countermeasures can be implemented to prevent the recidivism. This approach will improve public safety. Although identifying high-risk offenders is certainly important, it must be recognized that, as Dugosh et al. (2013) note, the criminal justice system continues to apply remedial programs based primarily on prior offenses and the blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) at the time of arrest. This process occurs despite the availability of screening tests with reasonable validity. The use of such assessment instruments was popularized 40 years ago by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA’s) national Alcohol Safety Action Program (ASAP) implemented in 35 communities in the United States between 1969 and 1975. Currently, however, using these instruments has been restrained, not by the lack of useful test instruments but by the lack of court personnel resources to administer them (Voas and Fisher, 2001). As an example, it has been difficult to persuade adjudication

A comparison of scoring models for computerised mental health screening for federal prison inmates

There are high rates of mental disorder in correctional environments, so effective mental health screening is needed. Implementation of the computerised mental health screen of the Correctional Service of Canada has led to improved identification of offenders with mental health needs but with high rates of false positives. The goal of this study is to evaluate the use of an iterative classification tree (ICT) approach to mental health screening compared with a simple binary approach using cut-off scores on screening tools. A total of 504 consecutive admissions to federal prison completed the screen and were also interviewed by a mental health professional. Relationships between screening results and more extended assessment and clinical team discussion were tested. The ICT was more parsimonious in identifying probable 'cases' than standard binary screening. ICT was also highly accurate at detecting mental health needs (AUC=0.87, 95% CI 0.84-0.90). The model identified 118 (23.4%) offenders as likely to need further assessment or treatment, 87% of whom were confirmed cases at clinical interview. Of the 244 (48.4%) offenders who were screened out, only 9% were clinically assessed as requiring further assessment or treatment. Standard binary screening was characterised by more false positives and a comparable false negative rate. The use of ICTs to interpret screening data on the mental health of prisoners needs further evaluation in independent samples in Canada and elsewhere. This first evaluation of the application of such an approach offers the prospect of more effective and efficient use of the scarce resource of mental health services in prisons. Although not required, the use of computers can increase the ease of implementing an ICT model.

A Forensic Traceability Index in Digital Forensic Investigation

Digital crime inflicts immense damage to users and systems and now it has reached a level of sophistication that makes it difficult to track its sources or origins especially with the advancements in modern computers, networks and the availability of diverse digital devices. Forensic has an important role to facilitate investigations of illegal activities and inappropriate behaviors using scientific methodologies, techniques and investigation frameworks. Digital forensic is developed to investigate any digital devices in the detection of crime. This paper emphasized on the research of traceability aspects in digital forensic investigation process. This includes discovering of complex and huge volume of evidence and connecting meaningful relationships between them. The aim of this paper is to derive a traceability index as a useful indicator in measuring the accuracy and completeness of discovering the evidence. This index is demonstrated through a model (TraceMap) to facilitate the investigator in tracing and mapping the evidence in order to identify the origin of the crime or incident. In this paper, tracing rate, mapping rate and offender identification rate are used to present the level of tracing ability, mapping ability and identifying the offender ability respectively. This research has a high potential of being expanded into other research areas such as in digital evidence presentation.

Recovering faces from memory: The distracting influence of external facial features.

Recognition memory for unfamiliar faces is facilitated when contextual cues (e.g., head pose, background environment, hair and clothing) are consistent between study and test. By contrast, inconsistencies in external features, especially hair, promote errors in unfamiliar face-matching tasks. For the construction of facial composites, as carried out by witnesses and victims of crime, the role of external features (hair, ears, and neck) is less clear, although research does suggest their involvement. Here, over three experiments, we investigate the impact of external features for recovering facial memories using a modern, recognition-based composite system, EvoFIT. Participant-constructors inspected an unfamiliar target face and, one day later, repeatedly selected items from arrays of whole faces, with "breeding," to "evolve" a composite with EvoFIT; further participants (evaluators) named the resulting composites. In Experiment 1, the important internal-features (eyes, brows, nose, and mouth) were constructed more identifiably when the visual presence of external features was decreased by Gaussian blur during construction: higher blur yielded more identifiable internal-features. In Experiment 2, increasing the visible extent of external features (to match the target's) in the presented face-arrays also improved internal-features quality, although less so than when external features were masked throughout construction. Experiment 3 demonstrated that masking external-features promoted substantially more identifiable images than using the previous method of blurring external-features. Overall, the research indicates that external features are a distractive rather than a beneficial cue for face construction; the results also provide a much better method to construct composites, one that should dramatically increase identification of offenders.

Use of DNA testing in police investigative work for increasing offender identification, arrest, conviction and case clearance

The use of DNA testing as part of police investigative work has increased substantially since its emergence in the 1980s. The objective of this Campbell systematic review has been to synthesize the existing evidence on the effectiveness of DNA testing as part of routine police investigative practices compared to other more traditional forms of investigation.We have identified five studies that clearly addressed the effectiveness of DNA testing as part of a criminal investigation to improve criminal justice system outcomes. The evidence suggests that DNA testing has positive value when used to investigate a broad range of crime types. There are caveats. Other than a methodologically sound evaluation in five U.S. jurisdictions, the evidence of the utility of DNA testing for serious violent crimes is based on studies with clear methodological weaknesses.SynopsisThe use of DNA testing as part of police investigative work has increased substantially since its emergence in the 1980s. The objective of this review has been to synthesize the existing evidence on the effectiveness of DNA testing as part of routine police investigative practices compared to other more traditional forms of investigation. We have identified five studies that clearly addressed the effectiveness of DNA testing as part of a criminal investigation to improve criminal justice system outcomes. The evidence suggests that DNA testing has positive value when used to investigate a broad range of crime types. There are caveats. Other than a methodologically sound evaluation in five U.S. jurisdictions, the evidence of the utility of DNA testing for serious violent crimes is based on studies with clear methodological weaknesses.AbstractBACKGROUNDThe use of DNA testing as part of police investigative work has increased substantially since its emergence in the 1980s. Initially used primarily in serious cases, such as homicides and rapes, recent use has expanded to include additional crimes, such as property offenses. The science behind the accuracy of DNA testing is substantial. With the growth of DNA databases, the possibility of comparing DNA evidence collected from a crime scene against a DNA database to identify suspects has become feasible. An important empirical question is whether wide scale use of DNA testing as part of routine police investigative practices will improve case outcomes.OBJECTIVESThe objective of this review has been to synthesize existing evidence on the effectiveness of DNA testing as part of routine police investigative practices compared to other more traditional forms of investigation.SEARCH CRITERIAWe were inclusive with respect to research design, including both experimental RCT designs and observational or quasi‐experimental studies. All studies must have provided an estimate of the effect of DNA testing (yes/no or degree of) as part of the investigative phase of a criminal case on a criminal justice system outcome, such as the identification of a suspect or a conviction.SELECTION STRATEGYWe searched 35 electronic databases and reviewed the references of seminal works in the area. This produced more than 10,000 titles that we scanned for potentially eligible works. These potentially eligible works were examined more carefully and evaluated against our eligibility criteria. This process resulted in five studies that met our inclusion criteria. Four of these five studies were dissertations or government reports.DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSISStudies were coded with respect to a range of methodological and substantive features. When possible, odds‐ratios were computed to reflect the effect of DNA testing on criminal justice system outcomes. Given the diversity of designs, we did not meta‐analyze results across studies. We did, however, use meta‐analysis to synthesize results across multiple sites within two of the five studies.MAIN RESULTSAcross studies we found generally positive results regarding the utility of DNA testing. The results from the single experimental study on the effectiveness of DNA for property crimes were consistently positive across the included sites. A time‐series analysis found a relationship between the size of a local DNA database and clearance rates for most crime types. Two of the remaining three quasi‐experimental designs found positive, and sometimes large, effects for the benefits of DNA testing. A study of homicides found a negative effect of the value of DNA. Clear alternative explanations for this finding are plausible.REVIEWERS' CONCLUSIONSThe evidence suggests that DNA testing has value when used to investigate a broad range of crime types. There are caveats to this conclusion, and additional high quality evaluations are needed to establish the robustness and generalizability of these findings. Other than a methodologically sound evaluation in five U.S. jurisdictions, the evidence of the utility of DNA testing in investigative practices for serious violent crimes is based on studies with clear methodological weaknesses.

Re-contextualizing pre-sentence reports

In the past two decades, Canadian policies governing the structure and content of presentence reports (PSRs) have shifted to focus more directly on the systematic identification of offender’s criminogenic risk and needs. In this article, we (1) examine how risk-based approaches to offender management have altered the structure and format of the PSR in Canada, and (2) contrast the structure of risk-based PSRs to Gladue reports for Aboriginal offenders in Canada. Gladue reports are designed to identify the unique systemic race/cultural and historical factors specific to Aboriginal offenders and to recommend alternatives to incarceration. We argue that although risk-based PSRs incorporate recognition of race-related issues, their structure and emphasis on actuarially based risk assessments frames race and risk differently from Gladue reports. In Gladue reports, holistic approaches and cultural impact factors are documented and used to understand risk and need. Finally, we argue that the conceptualization and relevance of race is limited by actuarial risk logic.

A position of influence: Variation in offender identification rates by location in a lineup

AbstractResearchers have identified several threats to the validity of the use of the lineup as a test of true recognition. One concern is related to the structure of the simultaneous lineup. It is argued here that a simultaneous presentation of an array nonetheless requires the viewer to undertake sequential processing of the items in the array. This sequential pattern is unlikely to be random and therefore the position of a culprit in a lineup may have a significant effect on the accuracy of witness selection. A simulated crime (snatching of a handbag) was shown to a convenience sample of 84 undergraduates aged between 18–23 years. In 84 subsequent live lineups, the offender was placed with four foils. He was positioned on the far left (position 1) in 42 cases (50%), and in 14 cases respectively in positions 3 (centre), 4 (centre right) and 5 (extreme right). A very strong association was found between position and correct identification with position 1 placement leading to a significantly lower proportion of correct identification (7.1%) compared to position 3 (50.0%), position 4 (64.3%), and position 5 (21.4%). Steps to remedy possible positional biases are considered. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Developing an Offender-Based Tracking System: The Western Australia Inois Project

In 1989 the Crime Research Centre (University of Western Australia) and criminal justice agencies in Western Australia became involved in the INOIS (Integrated Numerical Offender Identification System) project. The principal aim of this project was to introduce a common, unique identifier for offenders so that a longitudinal database could be established that could “track” offenders through the criminal justice system. This paper explains reasons for establishing this kind of database and explores some of the conceptual and technical issues which arise. Central to the development of the database and, therefore, to the INOIS project, was the underlying need to uniquely identify each offender. This paper focuses on how record-linking techniques were used to achieve this. The record-linking component of the INOIS project is discussed at length, and results from trials and from preliminary runs of the linkage system are presented and discussed. Additional research and operational usages of such a system are also identified.