...Hair Analysis in Solving a Crime Name Institution Hair Analysis in Solving a Crime 1. Introduction Hair is among the most commonly used evidences in the crime investigations. Hair analysis is based on its chemical characteristics and physical structure which aid during investigations. It is notable that hairs are easily transferred hence can be left as evidence after a criminal activity. Hair analysis can be of great use in forensic analysis during an investigation since it can help prove crime in various ways. First, hair analysis can easily link a suspect to a crime scene. It can also show the association or link between the suspect and the victim. Hair analysis can also help single out a particular suspect from other suspects in the case. It is important to note that hair is a great resource to forensic science. The presence of the suspects ‘ hair on the victim’s body can help determine his or her sex and race. Hair analysis can also be used to determine the DNA of a suspect in a crime scene. The forensic problem to be solved is identification of the murder suspect in the Ford Heights Four case. A couple was robbed and murdered in Ford Heights in East Chicago. According to witnesses, four men were seen leaving the crime scene after the incident. The four men were later convicted and sentenced to prison despite their insistence on being innocent. However, after some years, DNA testing was conducted and the four suspects proved to be innocent before being released...
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...(2015) contends that criminal laws define the punishment levelled on the people who break the prescribed societal conduct while Holland (2015) asserts that criminal laws refer to the state laws, which make certain actions illegal and punishable by fines or imprisonment. Accordingly, the case of Casey Anthony falls under the criminal and as such, the forensic evidence gathered from the trunk of her car makes her criminally reliable, as the said evidence is admissible in the court of law. The forensic experts from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) examined a band of hair recovered from her vehicle, which exposed evidence of apparent decomposition. Forensic analysis of the recovered band of hair showed consistence with the band of hair of the deceased. The FBI experts who conducted forensic analysis on the band of hair told the court that the sample had many consistencies in relation to the post-mortem banding. Moreover, microscopic hair examination specialist told the jurors that the root portion of the air was dark and, therefore, consistent with the evidence presented by the FBI. The analyzed evidence showed that the hair was evicted forcibly from the deceased. Further, an investigator of the crime scene testified that that there was an odor smell emanating from Casey Anthony’s car, which indicted that there was decomposition in the car. All this evidence prompted the court to judge Casey Anthony with first-degree murder when the remains of the deceased were found near...
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...on a DVD that we watched in class called ‘Beaten by a hair’. In this case, a woman was reported missing after she went to work and never returned home. After the police discovered a bloody pillow case in the woods, near her house, they linked it to the missing pillow case in the woman’s room, and then realized that they had a murder case on their hands. A mystery in the case was that one of the local neighbors had mentioned seeing the woman leave through the front door of her house but the evidence says different, so investigators had to find out who left the house that morning. I am interested in this case because it was very intriguing how the forensic officers put all the pieces together and discovered the missing woman and her murderer. It was also interesting that if the forensic officers had not gone through every single hair fiber on the brush they had found, they could not have had enough evidence to convict the killer. Science and Methods Used In this case there were many different scientific methods such as an ultraviolet light test, a luminol test, an amido black test, and the use of a highly trained dog. Two main scientific methods used in the solving of this case were hair and DNA analysis and the use of mass spectrometry. When the woman was missing and the only lead the forensic officers had was the bloody pillow case; they had to use various scientific methods in order to solve the case. The forensic officers started using their methods where they suspected...
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... Mitochondrial DNA Analysis Brandon Sanders UMUC BIOL 320 6380 Forensic Biology New Methods and Applications in Mitochondrial DNA Analysis Mitochondria are structures within cells that function as energy mediators. Each cell contains hundreds to thousands of mitochondria. We know from this class that DNA is bundled in chromosomes inside the nucleus, but mitochondria also include a very small amount of their own DNA. This genetic material is known as mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA. The use of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence analysis to identify biological evidence has been well documented. More than 50 laboratories worldwide are now applying mtDNA analysis in forensic casework; e.g., to help identify human remains or to help discover the source of a shed hair. In addition, the number of mtDNA sequences added to population databases has grown rapidly. Estimates find that there are greater than 5000 sequences which have been generated in forensic laboratories, and that an equal number will be generated in the next year or two. As a result, more is known about the genetics of mtDNA, as well as the power of the system as a forensic marker. Therefore, the analysis of mtDNA is in a strong position as we approach the next millennium. Using Mitochondrial DNA as a means for human...
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...WEEK 1- INTRODUCTION TO FORENSIC SCIENCE Quote "Every contact leaves a trace." - Edmond Locard (1877 - 1966) Learning Objective(s) At the end of this topic, you should be able to: 1. Define 'Forensic Science'; 2. Explain the limits of Forensic Science; 3. Identify the types of forensic work; 4. Describe Locard's Exchange Principle; 5. Differentiate Reconstruction & Re-enactment. Synopsis To illustrate the scope and diversity of Forensic Science, place it in its legal context, and describe the various types of forensic work. There will also be a discussion of Comparison leading to Association, Reconstruction versus Re-enactment, Locard's Exchange Principle, and the limits of Forensic Science. Various case studies will also be analysed throughout the lecture. Case Studies Felicia Lee; Walter Dinivan; Madam Jetkor Miang Singh; Roberto Calvi; Buck Ruxton & the Jigsaw Murders; Acid Bath Haigh; 2005 London Bombings; "Brides in the Bath"; Gareth Williams; The Woodchipper Murder WEEK 2- CHEMICAL ANALYSIS IN FORENSIC SCIENCE Quote "Actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea" The act is not culpable unless the mind is also guilty. Learning Objective(s) At the end of this topic, you should be able to: 2A. Atomic Structure & Spectroscopy 1. Explain the structure of the atom and Bohr's model; 2. Differentiate between emission and absorption spectroscopy; 3. Explain the chemistry behind EDX and SEM-EDX; 4. Explain the chemistry in NAA; 2B. Molecular...
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...A GUIDE IN FORENSIC CHEMISTRY Forensic chemistry is a branch of chemistry that deals with the application of chemical knowledge, principles, and procedures to matters involving civil or criminal law and to all questions where control of chemical compounds, products, or processes is involved. Forensic Chemistry is an interdisciplinary field of Chemistry tasked to solve cases that can only be explained or resolved by applying analytical methods of investigation and instrumentation with chemistry as the main core of discussion. Forensic chemistry is a broad and diversified field of science. It includes all branches of chemistry and the application of its principles to solve crimes when it arise in the administration of justice. Significantly, Forensic chemistry is vital in crime detection when the components or chemical composition, structure of physical evidence/s collected from the scene of the crime are needed to support in the speedy solution of crime. Application of forensic chemistry is legally applied to the following: 1. Primarily, Forensic Chemistry deals in the recognition, identification, preservation, packaging & transportation of physical evidence collected at the crime scene. 2. In crime detection, it is applied in the identification of poisons, blood, semen, feces, urine, saliva, and other body fluids whether fresh or dried. It also include other stains of interests from ob-gynecological origin, mineral stains, fruits and/or vegetable stains. 3. It is...
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...ways to catch a criminal? The forensic community plays an important role in helping out with this situation. Forensic scientist help law enforcements get a lead and solve a case. Forensic scientists use different devices like urine testing, DNA testing, DNA markers, and many more devices to help get a lead in a case in order to come to the decision of convicting the right person. Forensics technology has improved greatly over time DNA In most cases the easiest way to catch a criminal is by DNA. With DNA in a criminal case it can put you at the place of crime. There are some flaws with DNA though. There is always the possibility of people having the same DNA strands. And if a piece of hair or any other kind of DNA is found at a crime scene and that is the only evidence and two people have the same DNA strand there’s a possibility of the wrong person going to jail. Once a crime has been committed the most important item to recover is any type of evidence left at the scene. If the suspect left any DNA at the crime scene, he could then be linked to the crime and eventually charged. A suspect’s DNA can be recovered if the suspect leaves a sample of his or her DNA at the crime scene. However, this method was not always used to track down a suspect. Not a long time ago, detectives used to use bite marks, blood stain detection, blood grouping as the primary tool to identify a suspect. DNA analysis has been the most recent technique employed by the forensic science community to identify...
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...oday, the word "forensics" has become synonymous with crime and crime scene investigation. Immediately conjuring images of crime labs, ultra violet lights and high-tech computers, popular crimes shows like CSI have brought increased attention to the field of forensic science. They've also generated newfound interest in forensics careers. The term "forensic" comes from the Latin and means, simply, having to do with the law. Hence, any discipline that has any ties to the legal system is, in fact, forensic. This is why so many job titles within criminology, such as forensic psychologist, are preceded by the term. With regard to forensic science, the term is now commonly understood to refer to the application of scientific principles to questions...
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...Forensic science, has made great progress over recent years and scientists can gather an incredible amount of information by examining a corpse. It is such a broad field, and there are so many areas of expertise. As forensic scientists of various diciplines work together, they can produce enough information to give the person a background, a location of death, and last but not least a face. Identifying the victim can sometimes not be as simple as looking at their face and matching them to a description given by a worried relative or loved one. Sometimes there are extraneous forces at work, which make identifying the victim a long and laborious task. The main reasons for difficulty in identifying the victim are massive head trauma, submergence in water for long periods of time, decapitation and disfigurement All of these are of course guesome in their own right and the task of identifying a victim can be made much trickier if any of these issues arise. Normally dental work, blood tests and fingerprinting would go some way in making a positive identification of a corpse but there are other things to take into consideration Criminal examinations of the deceased, natural disasters and those caused by malice are sadly becoming an everyday part of life, making this field more and more prominent in today’s society. When we see this area of work in films and programmes the bodies often have teeth, an external or internal deformity, or something that makes the identification progress...
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...FORENSICS Forensics, by and large, is the application of science to the legal process. It is an emerging research domain in India. There are many different types of forensic sciences baring their vital presence possibly in every field of human endeavor. Of these, let us now discuss about the computational, cyber and the DNA forensics. COMPUTATIONAL FORENSICS: The development of computational methods or mathematical and software techniques to solve forensic issues is called computational forensics. These methods analyze the evidence beyond human cognitive ability. They scrutinize a large volume of data, which is at any case impossible for a human mind to figure out. In spite of this, we can’t say that these techniques alone would serve our purpose because computational forensics is a field which needs huge collaboration between recognition and reasoning abilities of humans combined with comprehension and analytic abilities of the tool or a machine, which is most of the times, a computer. Computational forensics aids us to model the uncertain. At the crime scenes, we usually get incomplete or broken evidences. These evidences are later on modeled by the computational forensic tool which gives us first clues from its largest biometric database (fingerprints, criminal histories, mug-shots, scar and tattoo, physical characteristics like height, weight, hair and eye color and aliases), which is a collection of significant information regarding the criminals, their criminal history...
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...factors that lead to miscarriages of criminal justice. Few wrongful convictions are caused by eyewitness identification, forensic science errors, and false confessions. Mistaken eyewitness identification is the number one cause of wrongful convictions. Eyewitness “was a factor in 72% of post-conviction DNA exoneration cases in the U.S.” (Innocence Project, 2007). Studies show that the human mind does not record or obtain information like a video recorder; it does not keep the information as a short-term memory, but keeps the information in long-term memory. For this reason, witnesses cannot fully recall facial details, especially when they are under stress by the events of the crime. Also, memory is very flexible...
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...Forensic science has emerged as a powerful tool in criminal investigations. The success of series such as Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) and Bones has greatly influenced the notoriety of this area of the sciences, mostly including only the physical aspect of crime investigations. This limited view does not demonstrate the diversity contained within forensic science. Internal workings of the bodily functions, chemically and biologically, are just as important in the collection of evidence as the physical aspect. In earlier class lectures, we learned forensic scientists consisted of chemists, who analyze and detect the presence of controlled substances in the body, and biologists, who use serology to detect substances found in stains. Now the focus has turned to the identification of toxins and poisonous substances that...
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...New Methods for the Forensic Analysis of DNA By Professor David S. Haymer I attended the lecture by Professor Haymer about new methods for the forensic analysis of DNA. Forensic science has long been used in the US legal system for classic fingerprints, lie detector tests and others. Even though the use of DNA evidence is relatively new, it has changed a lot about forensic science and how things are done. It’s changed the legal standards for use of forensics in the courtroom and the way the evidence is collected and preserved, and how police are trained to investigate crimes. DNA is considered to be superior in many ways to other forms of forensic evidence like fingerprints, hair analysis and serology tests. The only DNA forensic evidence...
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...Mary Jane Burton a State forensic analyst stated at Burnette’s trial that she examined pubic hairs from the rape kit and the victim’s sheets. The analyst said that one hair was coherent with Burnette others with the victim there were hair that were coherent with neither Burnette nor the victims. She also established that the semen found in the victim had blood type A antigens. She stated the victim was type A however Burnette was a non-secretor this meant his blood type could not be identified from bodily fluids. Burnette stated he was at the bar from 11 p.m. to approximately 2 a.m. on that night. His blind arthritic grandmother confirmed that he arrived home around 2 a.m. The jury found Burnette guilty of rape and burglary, and he was sentenced to 25 years in...
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...Wrongfully Convictions Introduction: Each year, many people that are innocent are dished out short or long term prison term for crimes that they did not commit. These innocent people have been “wrongfully convicted”. Sometimes these wrongfully convicted charges are unbeknownst to the judge and or jury; other times, they are just wrongfully convicted due to corrupt law enforcement officers. This corrupt issue is very wrong and should be done away with immediately, which is my reason my choosing this topic. In this research paper, I plan to find reasons for wrongful convictions, the actual number, statistics, of individuals that have been wrongful convicted, and those individuals who have stepped up to make a difference in this dilemma. Although there aren’t any statistics kept by the Criminal Justice Department on the number of crimes that were recorded as wrongful convictions, research has estimated about 5% of the cases that are tried annual result in a false conviction. Since 1989, 1,241 people have been wrongfully convicted and later cleared of all charges based on evidence that they were innocent, according to the National Registry of Exonerations, a project of the law schools at the University of Michigan and Northwestern University (Clark 2013). The Michigan Innocence Clinic was the first clinic of its kind to work on non-DNA exonerations. Their work has revealed particular circumstances far too often seen in cases of wrongful conviction. These cases show us how...
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