Showing papers in "Science & Justice in 2021"

TL;DR: A statement of consensus developed in response to the outstanding question: in the context of a case, given the results of an empirical validation of a forensic-voice-comparison system, how can one decide whether the system is good enough for its output to be used in court?

TL;DR: The study suggests that practitioners and academicians should not absolutely rely on CFTs for evidence extraction from a digital crime scene, and highlights the implications of doing so, and makes many recommendations in this regard.

TL;DR: It is proposed to shift the focus from means to purpose and consider forensic science current challenges in terms of discipline, before addressing organisations’ specific issues.

TL;DR: It is argued that Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis is uniquely equipped for determining which of two procedures or conditions has better discriminability and it is demonstrated how estimates of reliability can be extracted from this Signal Detection framework.

TL;DR: This proof-of-concept approach shows promise in permitting the DNA deconvolution of mixed samples where the individual contributors are present in similar amounts that would otherwise be difficult to interpret, resulting in an increase in evidentiary value.

TL;DR: The shedder categorisation of participants was possible from their handprints and remained unchanged over three years, and use of consecutive deposits may assist in establishing a participant's shedder status.

TL;DR: In this paper, Gut microflora samples were collected from the vermiform appendix and the transverse colon of human cadavers with postmortem interval (PMI) between 5 and 192h.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors report on the application of optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging on assessing security features in specimen passports and national ID cards, allowing sub-surface imaging of translucent structures, non-destructively enabling quantitative visualisation of embedded security features.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors employed attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy with chemometrics to provide objective characterisation of condom lubricants and personal hygiene products from the international market.

TL;DR: Equipped with this high-resolution tool, imaging and biophysical analysis by the AFM can provide a unique complement to other tools available to the researcher for the analysis and characterization of forensic evidence.

TL;DR: The capability and effectiveness of forensic examination in tackling road fatalities is reviewed and the most important aspects of this discipline, such as nature of a vehicle-pedestrian collision, common issues resolved by this type of examination and typical physical evidence used in the reconstruction of vehicle-Pedestrian collisions are explored.

TL;DR: While reiterating the usefulness of pollen analysis in criminal investigation, this report recommends orthogonal testing as a way of improving the evidential weighting of forensic palynology.

TL;DR: Whole bovine blood with 12.5% v/v ACD-A was found to be viable for use in basic bloodstain simulation at ambient and physiological temperature and linear mixed models accounting for variation in the donor demonstrated that these fluid properties of the bovines changed predictably over time and with temperature.

TL;DR: Overall, this study suggests that forensic evidence - particularly DNA - has a stronger influence during the verdict stage than the sentencing stage.

TL;DR: Assessment of how printed fingermarks can be used to generate realistic latent marks bearing varying quantities of materials to be detected finds them to constitute a valuable alternative to natural secretions in the context of education and proficiency testing.

TL;DR: The availability of a bespoke freeware for SfM recovery and subsequent analysis of for footwear evidence (DigTrace) is reported and it is hoped that this report will encourage further research, experimentation and ultimately adoption by practitioners.

TL;DR: This review collates current knowledge in three areas relating to optimising DNA recovery from burned bone: 1) impact of burning on bone and subsequent effects on sample collection, 2) difficulties of preparing burned samples for DNA extraction, and 3) protocols for bone decalcification and DNA extraction.

TL;DR: It is demonstrated that DNA suitable for STR analysis can still be recovered from fired ammunition with only slightly reduced yields compared to unfired ammunition, and it is shown that the handler of the ammunition was most commonly either the sole contributor or the major contributor to the recovered DNA profile.

TL;DR: The goals of this study were to ascertain human identity capabilities of DNA obtained from latent fingerprints that have been first environmentally insulted and then developed by the deposition of a columnar thin film (CTF), and to determine if the CTF process and material are detrimental to single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors used Raman Spectroscopy (RS) coupled with the exploratory principal component analysis (PCA) and supervised partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) in facial creams.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the issues of Between Expert Reliability in legal proceedings, using forensic age estimations as a case study, and identify that radiologists and odontologists examining knees or teeth images to estimate age seem to disagree within their own disciplines (radiologist 1 v. odontologist 2) as well as across different disciplines.

TL;DR: In this article, a qualitative analysis was performed to examine the certainty expressions used in the conclusions of digital forensics reports, and the results indicated that more research on DF evaluation and reporting practices is necessary and justifies a need for enhanced focus on quality control and peer review within the DF discipline.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors draw upon guidance set out in fundamental forensic science reporting literature in order to describe each reporting type in turn, outlining their scope, content and construction requirements in an attempt to provide support for the digital forensic field.

TL;DR: The normative approach proposed here has been acknowledged in the forensic framework, and represents a promising structure for reasoning that can support the decision-making process in forensic age estimation.

TL;DR: The ricochet behaviour of AK bullets on two different concrete samples (rough and a cement-skimmed intermediate) and one cement sample were explored and consistent bullet wipe markings were observed, acting as a strong indicator for the directionality of the projectile during ricochet.

TL;DR: The high selectivity and sensitivity of the UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap (LC-HRMS) method, in combination with the established fragmentation, offer a new approach for the rapid and accurate screening of diuretics in adulterated products, which would be ultimately beneficial for the public health.

TL;DR: This case is used as a vehicle to demonstrate the way biases can influence investigations, and to inform the development of a framework to guide and inform objective digital forensics investigations, which could go some way towards neutralising biases and preventing similar miscarriages of justice in the future.

TL;DR: The inter-observer variation between 21 examiners when repeatedly calculating the AO six times for a single impact pattern on a plain white wall did not exceed the 30 cm acceptable allowance utilised in previous literature.

TL;DR: In the presented study, the potential of alizarine and purpurin, natural anthraquinone dyes, as a fingermark reagent was examined in comparison with ninhydrin and lawsone.

TL;DR: Heat-induced warping, fracture and metric change had a major impact on the pre- and post-observations' agreement in both low-to-medium intensity burns and high intensity burns, demonstrating that heat-induced changes affected not only the scoring of morphological features burnt at high temperatures but also the scoring at lower intensities.