Showing papers in "Science & Justice in 2019"

TL;DR: This work first examines the quality management systems utilised for the examination and analysis of fingerprint, body fluid and DNA evidence, and highlights an apparent lack of comparable quality assurance mechanisms within the field of digital forensics, one of the newest branches of forensic science.

TL;DR: Results suggest that forensic science disciplines need to agree on what they regard as task-relevant before context management procedures can be properly implemented and suggest foundational gaps in what analysts consider crucial in forensic decision making are revealed.

TL;DR: The declining role of the generalist in an era of increased specialization, the role of education in preparing the next generation of forensic scientists, and the implementation of advanced instrumentation with a focus on statistical significance and field deployable instrumentation are addressed.

TL;DR: The PMI oriented analyses of insect evidence sampled from the human cadaver in the atypical indoor habitat indicated the need for retrospective correction of temperature records from the station.

TL;DR: Although the majority of labs had positive perceptions about the ability of FDS to assist investigations, labs also reported a number of concerns and challenges with implementing FDS, and implications for decision-makers considering using FDS.

TL;DR: LLH presented the best absolute differences (ADs) among both populations without sex stratification, while CAM presented the worst results, and the best method for evaluating both countries was LLH, followed by NOL7, NOL8 and CAM.

TL;DR: Overall, sexual dimorphism was observed in mixed ancestry South Africans upper limb long bones and the need for population-specific standards of sexing in an attempt to improve current methods of forensic identification of descendants is emphasised.

TL;DR: A comparative study into the effectiveness of disulfur dinitride, cyanoacrylate fuming, vacuum metal deposition, gun blueing and wet powder suspensions on brass, bronze, copper and stainless steel indicates that the results indicate that the process is an effective process for fingermark visualisation on metal surfaces, including those exposed to adverse environments, and may offer potential improvements over existing processes for those surfaces.

TL;DR: This review article presents for the first time the Swiss narcotic law in perspective of scheduling of NPS, and compares it to the regulations of the German speaking neighbours Austria and Germany.

TL;DR: When the distinct relevant hypotheses and evidence are described properly in a causal model (a Bayesian network), the paradoxes vanish and the resulting Bayesian networks provide a powerful framework for legal reasoning.

TL;DR: Positive evidence is provided that a systematic approach for decision-making on using Rapid DNA analysis assists SoCOs in the decision to use the rapid device is provided.

TL;DR: It was confirmed that cyclopropylfentanyl can be differentiated from crotonylfentanyl.

TL;DR: It is shown that all the mean bare footprint measurements on the right and left feet obtained using the direct technique were larger than those obtained using GIMP and Adobe® Photoshop® images.

TL;DR: The published record provides historical perspective on major anthropological involvement in support of investigations by international criminal tribunals, formation of forensic anthropology teams in different countries and activities of the International Commission of Missing Persons and the forensic unit of the international Committee of the Red Cross.

TL;DR: It is revealed that the majority of PBM's (94%) is not well investigated and did not meet Daubert &Frye criteria, and in order to improve the assessment for use of P BM's as evidence in court regarding PMI estimation, PBM’s should be investigated more thoroughly and data should be made readily available.

TL;DR: The rules to resolve differing opinions ought to be articulated and documented in the form of standard operating procedures, before any deployment in casework practice, according to this paper.

TL;DR: Experimental research has been carried out to explain how Sn can be present in GSR particles when the last discharged cartridge also does not contain any Sn either in components and in the explosive charges, and the capability to overcome overlap ambiguity of Sb and Sn peaks in the X-ray spectra was shown.

TL;DR: The goal of this paper is to discuss the importance of scientific integrity as well as the factors it may compromise, so that forensic practitioners may be better equipped to recognize and avoid conflicts of interest when they arise.

TL;DR: It is demonstrated that diatom transfer to clothing varies significantly, with a greater abundance and a higher species richness transferred to coarse woven surfaces including acrylic, linen, and viscose, highlighting that, although clothing may offer a valuable repository of freshwater diatom trace evidence, the interpretation of evidential material should be approached within an exclusionary framework.

TL;DR: A more extensive education of police leaders regarding the scope of forensic science is advocated, showing that they generally restrict forensic science to a reactive discipline whose role and utility is to identify offenders and support the Court.

TL;DR: Two experimental studies designed to address the transfer and persistence of sediments on the soles of footwear in forensically relevant scenarios are presented, by means of quartz grain surface texture analysis, a technique which has been demonstrated to be able to distinguish between samples of mixed provenance.

TL;DR: National and designated metrology institutes from a number of countries recently participated in an inter-laboratory assessment of stable carbon isotope ratio determination of bulk honey, demonstrating that the majority of participants provided isotope delta values with acceptable performance metrics and all participants ensured traceability of their results.

TL;DR: Blue toning was found to visualise an additional 10-25% of marks, and its wider use after silver-based deposition processes is recommended based on the evidence from this study.

TL;DR: Py-GC/MS has the potential to be a useful tool to study the composition of SOM in Histosols to track the trace sample collected from a crime suspect, as well as classify small amounts of organic soil in a forensic context.

TL;DR: A rapid and accurate method based on quadrupole-Orbitrap mass spectrometry was developed for simultaneously confirming and quantifying 85 PDE-5i and derived analogues present in illicit products for erectile dysfunction (ED).

TL;DR: This study shows that ATR-FTIR spectroscopy with PLS-DA/LDA has a potential to present a rapid, non-destructive, reliable, and eco-friendly approach for the accurate identification and differentiation of Royal Bengal Tiger and Indian Leopard claws.

TL;DR: It was found that displacing a firearm resulted in secondary transfer in <50% of the experiments, highlighting that the secondary transfer must be taken into account in the interpretation of OGSR.

TL;DR: Comparison of extraction procedures indicated that microwave-assisted extraction increased the recovery of compounds detected in chromatographic analysis to a greater extent than solid-liquid extraction.

TL;DR: This study shows that such a determination is generally not necessary when utilizing two-dimensional measurements for length comparison between a bare and sock-clad footprint, however, if width measurements are being evaluated, the distinction between bare and socks should be considered.