Prediction of burglary: A research note

This note examines the relationship between individual burglary and individual burglar characteristics. The primary contribution of this work is the development of a practical prediction model designed to assist in burglary investigations. By using various statistical techniques, a number of discriminating variables were identified, and subsequently clustered in such a fashion as to disclose a probability of occurrence figure based on ex post facto data. While the use of such a device may increase both the nature and extent of the information available to investigative officers, it is neither a substitute for the elements of probable cause nor a replacement for competent field investigation.     

Enzyme typing of human hair roots.

Sufficient phosphoglucomutase activity was found to be present in plucked hair noses bearing either fragmentary or complete outer root sheaths to enable typing of individual roots by starch-gel electrophoresis. Hair roots collected by brushing were found to contain very little PGM activity. Other isoenzyme systems were detected in hair roots but in insufficient quantities to make typing feasible.     

The detection of Y chromosomes in bloodstains--a reevaluation

A method has been described for detecting Y chromosomes in the leukocytes of human bloodstains prepared on a variety of substrates. The factors that influence the proportion of chromosomes exhibiting a Y spot (the Y cell index) in a bloodstain are considered, including the subjective nature of assessment of the Y chromosome fluorescence, the substrate, and the age of bloodstain. In contrast to previous workers no decay in Y cell index with the age of the stain was observed. The results of a blind trial involving stains derived from case work, where from other evidence there was no doubt as to the sex of the donor, are presented. Sixty-five percent of the male bloodstains were correctly identified and no females were wrongly reported as male.     

Bank security dye packs: synthesis, isolation, and characterization of chlorinated products of bleached 1-(methylamino)anthraquinone

Banknote evidence is often submitted after a suspect has attempted to disguise or remove red dye stain that has been released because of an anti-theft device that activates after banknotes have been unlawfully removed from bank premises. Three chlorinated compounds have been synthesized as forensic chemical standards to indicate bank security dye bleaching as a suspect's intentional method for masking a robbery involving dye pack release on banknotes. A novel, facile synthetic method to provide three chlorinated derivatives of 1-(methylamino)anthraquinone (MAAQ) is presented. The synthetic route involved Ultra Clorox bleach as the chlorine source, iron chloride as the catalyst, and MAAQ as the starting material and resulted in a three-component product mixture. Two mono-chlorinated isomers (2-chloro-1-(methylamino)anthraquinone and 4-chloro-1-(methylamino)anthraquinone) and one di-chlorinated compound (2,4-dichloro-1-(methylamino)anthraquinone) of the MAAQ parent molecule were detected by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and subsequently isolated by liquid chromatography (LC) with postcolumn fraction collection. Although GC-MS is sensitive enough to detect all of the chlorinated products, it is not definitive enough to identify the structural isomers. Liquid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy was utilized to elucidate structurally the ortho- and para-mono-chlorinated isomers once enough material was properly isolated. A reaction mechanism involving iron is proposed to explain the presence of chlorinated MAAQ species on stolen banknotes after attempted bleaching.     

Forensic genetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA hypervariable region I/II sequences: an expanded Korean population database

We have analyzed variation of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) hypervariable segments I and II (HVS-I and HVS-II) in 185 randomly chosen individuals from Korea to provide an expanded and reliable Korean database. Combined sequence comparison of HVS-I and HVS-II led to the identification of 167 different haplotypes characterized by 154 variable sites. One hundred and fifty-one of the haplotypes were individual-specific, 14 were found in two individuals and 2 were found in three individuals. A pairwise comparison of the 185 HVS-I/II sequences found an average of 10.11 +/- 4.63 differences between individuals. The random match probability and gene diversity for the combined hypervariable regions were estimated at 0.66% and 0.9988, respectively. Analyzing the expanded database including three previously reported data sets and the present data using haplogroup-based comparisons and comparison with closely related sequences allowed errors to be detected and eliminated, thus considerably improving data quality. Sample division comparisons based on PhiST genetic distance measures revealed no significant population differentiation in the distribution of mtDNA sequence variations between the present data set and a database in The Scientific Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods (SWGDAM), but did indicate differences from other sets of data. Based on the results of mtDNA profiles, almost all of the mtDNA types studied here could be classified into subsets of haplogroups common in east Asia, and show that the Koreans possess lineages from both the southern and the northern haplogroup complexes of east Asian populations. The new data, combined with other mtDNA sequences, demonstrate how useful comparison with closely related mtDNA sequences can be for improving database quality, as well as providing haplotype information for forensic and population genetic analyses in the Korean population.