The effect of line‐up administrator blindness on the recording of eyewitness identification decisions

Purpose. Line‐up administrators’ expectations have been shown to influence eyewitnesses’ identification decisions. Expectations may also influence administrators’ willingness to record witnesses’ decisions as positive identifications. Methods. Single‐ and double‐blind participant administrators presented a line‐up to a confederate witness, who identified either the suspect or a filler. Results. A hierarchical log‐linear analysis revealed an interaction effect of blindness and witness choice on participants’ recording of the identification: Single‐blind administrators were more likely to record the confederate's choice as a positive identification when the witness chose the suspect (vs. a filler), whereas double‐blind administrators’ records were not influenced by the witness's choice. An interaction between blindness and witness choice also emerged for participant administrators’ witness evaluations. Single‐blind administrators rated confederates who chose a filler as significantly less credible than those who chose a suspect; double‐blind administrators’ ratings were consistent across photo selection. Conclusions. Blindness influenced line‐up administrators’ record of line‐up outcomes. These results add to the growing body of research supporting the use of double‐blind line‐up administration.     

When is an intervening line‐up most likely to affect eyewitness identification accuracy?

Purpose. Intervening line‐ups affect identification accuracy in subsequent line‐ups. We conducted 3 experiments to investigate the conditions under which viewing multiple line‐ups is more likely to affect eyewitness identification accuracy. Method. In each of the 3 experiments, a forensically relevant factor known to affect the accuracy of face recognition memory was manipulated to assess how the factor impacted the suggestive influence of an intervening line‐up on eyewitness identification accuracy in a subsequent test line‐up. These factors were (a) in Experiment 1, same‐race versus cross race target faces, (b) in Experiment 2, whether the intervening line‐up occurred on the day of the presentation phase (close to presentation) or 1 month later on the day of the subsequent test line‐up (far from presentation), and (c) in Experiment 3, whether the target face was presented for 10 seconds or 60 seconds. Results. In each experiment, factors associated with poorer memory for the target face led to a greater suggestive influence of the intervening line‐up on identification accuracy in the subsequent line‐up, evidenced by lower hit rates and higher false‐alarm rates. Conclusions. These findings suggest that the problem of decreased identification accuracy following the viewing of an intervening photograph is especially of concern when memory for the perpetrator is likely to be poor. Implications of these findings for interpreting line‐up results in the courtroom are discussed.     

Solving Double‐Sided Puzzles: Automated Assembly of Torn‐up Banknotes Evidence

Reconstruction of 2D object is a problem concerning many different fields such as forensics science, archiving, and banking. In the literature, it is considered as one‐sided puzzle problem. But this study handles torn banknotes as a double‐sided puzzle problem for the first time. In addition to that, a new dataset (ToB) is created for solving this problem. A selection approach based on the Borda count method is adopted in order to make the right decision as to which keypoint‐based method is to be used in the proposed reconstruction system. The selection approach was determined the Accelerated‐KAZE (AKAZE) as the most successful keypoint‐based method. This study also proposes new measures determining the success ratio of the reconstructed banknotes and calculating their loss ratio. When the torn banknotes were reconstructed with the AKAZE‐based reconstruction system, the average success rate was calculated as 95.55% by the proposed metric.     

Co‐Parent Court: A Problem‐Solving,Community‐Based Model for Serving Low‐Income Unmarried Co‐Parents

The Hennepin County Co‐Parent Court Project was a 3‐year demonstration project for unmarried co‐parents. The goal of the project was to remove barriers to co‐parenting in low‐income, unmarried parents. The Co‐Parent Court Project encompassed a number of services, including educational workshops, individual case management, parenting plans, legal mediation, and, if needed, supports and treatment for domestic violence. There are published articles that highlight the participant outcomes of the Co‐Parent Project. This article, however, focuses on the background for why this project was developed, components of this project, and lessons learned from implementation.     

Novel O‐propyl,S‐propyl,and N‐propyl substituted 1,4‐naphthoquinones and 1,4‐anthraquinones as potential fingermark development reagents for porous surfaces

Lawsone is a 2‐substituted‐1,4‐naphthoquinone derivative, which has been proposed as an alternative to the reagents currently used for fingermark detection on porous surfaces. 2‐substituted‐anthraquinones, which contain an additional conjugated benzene ring, have a similar chemical structure to that of lawsone. In this study, a new series of 2‐substituted‐1,4‐naphthoquinones and 2‐substituted‐1,4‐anthraquinones were synthesized and completely characterized by¹H NMR,¹³C NMR, IR, and HPLC‐TOF/MS analyses. All newly synthesized 2‐substituted‐1,4‐quinones were investigated for their ability to develop latent fingermarks on porous surfaces, and this ability was compared with that of lawsone. Each fingermark developed was graded using an established method; thus, quantitative data were attributed to each fingermark. It has been demonstrated that the 1,4 ‐ quinones react with amino acids present in latent fingermarks on selected paper surfaces to produce faint yellow‐orange impressions, which exhibit strong photoluminescence when illuminated with a forensic light source at 440 nm and observed through a red filter. None of the compounds caused background darkening. The results obtained were generally similar to those of lawsone, however, 8‐dibromo‐2‐(propylamino)naphthalene‐1,4‐dione and 5,8‐dibromo‐2‐(propylthio)naphthalene‐1,4‐dione yielded better results for copier paper and colored (blue) copier paper used in this analysis. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the role of 1,4‐anthraquinone derivatives as potential fingermark development reagents. The results indicate that 1,4‐quinones have a potential to be used as reagents for enhancement of latent fingermarks.     

Z‐Transform Method for Pairwise Osteometric Pair‐matching,

A new pairwise osteometric pair‐matching approach based on the Z‐transform method is presented. In contrast to previous methods that perform a global t‐test on the summed skeletal element pair measurement distances, this approach performs t‐tests on each individual distance, facilitating the capture of measurement‐specific variation. This new approach is compared to published pairwise sorting methods using a standard reference dataset of postcranial remains maintained by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis indicates significantly improved performance for the clavicle and radius over all previous methods (p < 0.01). The z‐transform method weighted by the effect size outperformed the t‐test (Byrd and Adams) and the mean t‐test (Lynch) for all elements (p < 0.01). The method performed better than the absolute value t‐test (Lynch) for five elements (p < 0.01) and performed at least as well for the remainder. To facilitate usability all methods are available at: https://github.com/spawaskar-cora/z-transform-method .     

Identification of 2‐(ethylamino)‐1‐(4‐methylphenyl)‐1‐pentanone (4‐MEAP), a New “Legal High” Sold by an Internet Vendor as 4‐Methyl Pentedrone

Online vendors are offering a new legal high, 4‐methylpentedrone (4‐MPD). Information for potential users provided by internet vendors of 4‐MPD includes incorrect structures and nonexistent CAS numbers. A sample of 4‐MPD was obtained and analyzed using GC‐MS, NMR, and LC‐EIS. The fragmentation data from the GC‐MS and LC‐EIS produced an M‐1 ion that suggested the molecular mass was 219 amu, rather than 205 amu as calculated for 4‐methylpentedrone. The difference in molecular mass corresponded to the addition of a methyl group. Based on the mass and fragmentation pattern, two standards were synthesized, 2‐(ethylamino)‐1‐(4‐methylphenyl)‐1‐pentanone and 1‐(4‐methylphenyl)‐2‐(propylamino)‐1‐butanone. The synthesis involved bromination of the appropriate ketone followed by the reaction with ethylamine or propylamine. Based on the NMR data and unique fragmentation patterns produced by these molecules, the sample was identified as 2‐(ethylamino)‐1‐(4‐methylphenyl)‐1‐pentanone, not 4‐methylpentedrone.     

MARRIAGE,IN‐LAWS,AND CRIME: THE CASE OF DELINQUENT BROTHERS‐IN‐LAW*

With marriage comes in‐laws, and if the in‐laws include delinquent males, their delinquency could affect the prosocial effects of the given marriage. In this article, I focus on the effect of having a convicted brother‐in‐law as a general indicator of this broader phenomenon of family‐formation processes impairing the positive impact of marriage on crime desistance. I use registry data on all men from birth cohorts 1965–1975 in Denmark (N = 69,066) to show that when a man marries, his new family ties to delinquent brother(s)‐in‐law do indeed hinder his criminal desistance. The results that take into account the characteristics of husbands, wives, their shared family‐formation process, and the criminality of male family members suggest that 1) family dynamics tend to keep criminality within family networks and 2) influences from one's broader social network through marriage are important for the protective effects of marriage. Analyses of previous conviction, co‐offending between a man and his brother‐in‐law, as well as analyses of in‐laws who reside in close proximity confirm the two mentioned main findings. In all, the findings reported in this article add to our understanding of the processes by which families are tied, and how these family‐formation processes influence men's behavior.     

Determination of Acetamiprid and IM‐1‐2 in PostMortem Human Blood,Liver, Stomach Contents by HPLC‐DAD

An HPLC‐DAD method was developed to detect and quantify a neonicotinoid insecticide acetamiprid (ATP) and its metabolite IM‐1‐2 in autopsy samples of a fatal intoxication case. The postmortem blood and tissue distribution of ATP and IM‐1‐2 was determined for the first time. The method showed acceptable precisions and recoveries with relative standard deviations of <10% for ATP level and 1.38 % for IM‐1‐2. The detection and quantification limits for ATP were 0.015 μg/mL and 0.030 μg/mL for blood and were 0.035 μg/g and 0.050 μg/g for liver samples, respectively. The mean contents of ATP were 0.79 μg/g in the liver, 47.35 μg/g in the stomach contents and 2.7 μg/mL in the blood. IM‐1‐2 content was 17.0 μg/g in the stomach contents. ATP and IM‐1‐2 were not detected in the urine. The presence of ATP and IM‐1‐2 in the samples was confirmed by GC‐MS. The method can be exploited in future forensic casework.     

Is there a magical time boundary for diagnosing eyewitness identification accuracy in sequential line‐ups?

We examined whether eyewitness identification latencies for sequential line‐up decisions indicate an optimum time boundary that reliably discriminates accurate from inaccurate decisions. Participants (N = 381) observed a crime simulation and attempted two separate identifications from target‐present or target‐absent sequential line‐ups. As has previously been found with simultaneous line‐ups, the optimum time boundary identified did not reliably discriminate accurate from inaccurate identifications for both line‐up targets. Diagnosticity for choosers was, however, much higher at very high confidence levels than at lower levels. Possible reasons for why one index of signal strength (confidence), but not another (latency), might postdict accuracy within the sequential framework were presented.     

Direct‐to‐Consumer Genetic Testing,Gamete Donation,and the Law

Once thousands of dollars, direct‐to‐consumer (DTC) genetic testing has become affordable and readily accessible in recent years. The technology can reveal a wealth of information to consumers: health risks, ancestry composition, and connections to genetic matches through relative databases. However, the law has not yet regulated many aspects of this new technology. This article analyzes how the law should regulate DTC genetic testing within the context of gamete donation. It will argue that gamete donors’ privacy interests warrant state regulation of DTC genetic testing kits and their associated genetic relative databases. It will also explore how state regulation should balance the competing interests of gamete donors and of donor‐conceived individuals.     

Distribution of Venlafaxine,O‐desmethylvenlafaxine,and O‐desmethylvenlafaxine to Venlafaxine Ratio in Postmortem Human Brain Tissue

Venlafaxine (VEN) and its metabolite O‐desmethylvenlafaxine (ODV) inhibit reuptake of serotonin and norepinephrine. This study examines whether VEN is differentially distributed in postmortem brain and examines relationships between brain and femoral blood concentrations from donors prescribed VEN for treatment of depression. Using high‐pressure liquid chromatography‐ultraviolet detection, VEN and ODV concentrations were measured in temporal, occipital, and cerebellar cortex of six postmortem brains. The ODV/VEN ratio was calculated as a relative measure of drug metabolism within each region where higher ratios indicated a greater conversion of VEN to ODV. Compared to the other regions examined, the cerebellum showed decreased VEN (p = 0.056), ODV (p = 0.006), and ODV/VEN (p = 0.027) ratios. In parts per million, VEN was higher in temporal and occipital cortex, but not cerebellum, as compared to femoral blood concentration. These observations suggest that VEN and ODV are differentially distributed in the brain, and metabolism of VEN to ODV may vary across brain regions.     

Distribution of ∆9‐Tetrahydrocannabinol and 11‐Nor‐9‐Carboxy‐∆9‐Tetrahydrocannabinol Acid in Postmortem Biological Fluids and Tissues From Pilots Fatally Injured in Aviation Accidents

Little is known of the postmortem distribution of ?⁹‐tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and its major metabolite, 11‐nor‐9‐carboxy‐?⁹‐tetrahydrocannabinol (THCCOOH). Data from 55 pilots involved in fatal aviation accidents are presented in this study. Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis obtained mean THC concentrations in blood from multiple sites, liver, lung, and kidney of 15.6 ng/mL, 92.4 ng/g, 766.0 ng/g, 44.1 ng/g and mean THCCOOH concentrations of 35.9 ng/mL, 322.4 ng/g, 42.6 ng/g, 138.5 ng/g, respectively. Heart THC concentrations (two cases) were 184.4 and 759.3 ng/g, and corresponding THCCOOH measured 11.0 and 95.9 ng/g, respectively. Muscle concentrations for THC (two cases) were 16.6 and 2.5 ng/g; corresponding THCCOOH, “confirmed positive” and 1.4 ng/g. The only brain tested in this study showed no THC detected and 2.9 ng/g THCCOOH, low concentrations that correlated with low values in other specimens from this case. This research emphasizes the need for postmortem cannabinoid testing and demonstrates the usefulness of a number of tissues, most notably lung, for these analyses.     

Synthesis and Analysis of Glucuronic Acid‐Conjugated Metabolites of 4‐Bromo‐2,5‐Dimethoxyphenethylamine

In the study reported here, two glucuronic acid‐conjugated metabolites of 4‐bromo‐2,5‐dimethoxyphenethylamine (2C‐B)—a ring‐substituted psychoactive phenethylamine—were chemically synthesized for the first time and a method for analyzing them in urine was developed. β‐D‐Glucuronide of 4‐bromo‐2,5‐dimethoxyphenylethylalcohol was successfully synthesized using methyl 2,3,4‐tri‐Ο‐acetyl‐1‐O‐(trichloroacetimidoyl)‐α‐D‐glucuronate as a glucuronyl donor and boron trifluoride diethylether complex as a Lewis acid catalyst. β‐D‐Glucuronide of 4‐bromo‐2,5‐dimethoxyphenylacetic acid was synthesized by condensing 4‐bromo‐2,5‐dimethoxyphenylacetic acid and benzyl D‐glucuronate followed by benzyl group deprotection based on catalytic hydrogenation. Two glucuronic acid‐conjugated metabolites of 2C‐B in urine were qualitatively and semiquantitatively evaluated via direct liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) analysis of a diluted urine sample. The simple method proposed is expected to be useful for studying the metabolic fate of 2C‐B.     

SELF‐CONTROL AND VICTIMIZATION: A META‐ANALYSIS

A consequential development in victimization theory and research was the idea that individuals with low self‐control self‐select into the various risky behaviors that may ultimately result in their victimization. To establish the empirical status of the self‐control–victimization link, we subjected this body of work to a meta‐analysis. Our multilevel analyses of 311 effect size estimates drawn from 66 studies (42 independent data sets) indicate that self‐control is a modest yet consistent predictor of victimization. The results also show that the effect of self‐control is significantly stronger when predicting noncontact forms of victimization (e.g., online victimization) and is significantly reduced in studies that control directly for the risky behaviors that are assumed to mediate the self‐control–victimization link. We also note that the studies assessing self‐control and victimization are not representative of victimization research as a whole, with intimate partner violence (IPV), violence against women, and child abuse being severely underrepresented. We conclude that future research should continue to examine the causal processes linking self‐control to victimization, how self‐control shapes victims’ coping responses to their experience, and whether self‐control matters in contexts where individuals may have limited autonomy over the behavioral routines that put them at risk for victimization.     

Detection of trace drugs of abuse in baby formula using solid‐phase microextraction direct analysis in real‐time mass spectrometry (SPME‐DART‐MS)

The intentional or unintentional adulteration of baby formula with drugs of abuse is one of the many increasingly complex samples forensic chemists may have to analyze. This sample type presents a challenge because of a complex matrix that can mask the detection of trace drug residues. To enable screening of baby formula for trace levels of drugs, the use of solid‐phase microextraction (SPME) coupled with direct analysis in real‐time mass spectrometry (DART‐MS) was investigated. A suite of five drugs was used as adulterants and spiked into baby formula. Samples were then extracted using SPME fibers which were analyzed by DART‐MS. Development of a proof‐of‐concept method was completed by investigating the effects of the DART gas stream temperature and the linear speed of the sample holder. Optimal values of 350°C and 0.2 mm/s were found. Once the method was established, representative responses and sensitivities for the five drugs were measured and found to be in the range of single ng/mL to hundreds ng/mL. Additional studies found that the presence of the baby formula matrix increased analyte signal (relative to methanolic solutions) by greater than 200%. Comparison of the SPME‐DART‐MS method to a traditional DART‐MS method for trace drug detection found at least a factor of 13 improvement in signal for the drugs investigated. This work demonstrates that SPME‐DART‐MS is a viable technique for the screening of complex matrices, such as baby formula, for trace drug residues and that development of a comprehensive method is warranted.     

Unexpected Serotonin Syndrome,Epileptic Seizures,and Cerebral Edema Following 2,5‐dimethoxy‐4‐bromophenethylamine Ingestion

4‐bromo‐2,5‐dimethoxyphenethylamine (2C‐B) is a designer drug. In Europe, 2C‐B is easily obtained and used for recreational purposes. It is known for its stimulating effects similar to those of 3,4‐methylenedioxymethamphetamine, although in higher doses it has more hallucinogenic effects. Here, we report a case of 2C‐B ingestion, confirmed by liquid chromatography‐tandem mass spectrometry, in an 18‐year‐old man. The neurological consequences were severe, including the development of serotonin syndrome and severe brain edema. Supportive therapy resulted in a stable condition, although, after several months, the patient still suffered from severe neurological impairment due to the drug‐induced toxicity. This case showed that 2C‐B could not be identified with the drugs of abuse screening routinely used in Dutch hospitals. The use of 2C‐B carries many risks, with potentially profound neurological damage, that both consumers and healthcare physicians are unaware of.     

Effects of High‐g Impact on Physical,Electrical, and Optical Characteristics of Light‐Emitting Diodes

Previously, one of the tools available in automotive or aircraft accident analysis was the examination of the indicator bulbs. Currently, indicator bulbs have been largely replaced by light‐emitting diodes (LEDs). Here a series of studies was carried out on impact effects on LEDs to determine whether their properties change after impact, and whether it is related to its working status (lit or unlit). The LEDs were measured before mechanical shock with a series of tests, including current–voltage, current–light, bandwidth, subject to impact ranging from 450 g to 2000 g, and then retested. The tests showed consistent slight but statistically significant increases in forward voltages at a given current after impact, which could be used to estimate the impact. Some LEDS were imaged before and after impact with thermal and X‐ray imaging, but no mechanical changes were seen. It was not possible to determine the LED's working status from these test results.