Pathway to terrorist behaviors: The role of childhood experiences,personality traits,and ideological motivations in a sample of Iraqi prisoners

Radicalization to terrorism is a multifaceted process with no single theory or approach to explain it. Although research has focused on understanding the process, there is still a dearth of studies that examine an empirically driven pathway to terrorism behavior. This study examines a cross-sectional sample of incarcerated men convicted of terrorism in Iraq (N = 160). A questionnaire-guided interview included adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), conduct disorder (CD), antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), religious and political ideology, views about causes of terrorism, and the severity of terrorist acts. Path analysis was employed to examine the relationships between these factors and to identify the model with the best fit. After adjusting for age, employment, and location, results indicated that ACEs positively impacted CD, ASPD, religious guidance, and terrorism attitudes. ASPD positively affected political commitment and terrorism attitudes, but inversely affected current religious commitment. Political commitment inversely influenced terrorism attitudes. Religious commitment positively influenced the prioritization of religion in life, which subsequently impacted terrorism attitudes and behavior severity. Additionally, attitudes toward terrorism directly affected the severity of terrorism behavior. All paths in the final model were statistically significant at p < 0.05. Although these findings may be limited in generalizability due to the unique sample, results support the complex and interdependent nature of childhood and adult experiences on the development of both terrorism attitudes and the severity of terrorism behavior.     

Veldt fires in South Africa: Implications on osteometry and the biological profile

Standard operating procedures for forensic anthropological analyses dictate that thermally altered remains should not be measured, hindering the creation of a biological profile. Few studies have addressed estimating biological parameters from burned remains, with the greatest focus of this research area being on cremated remains. However, veldt fires are more common than cremation in the South African forensic context. The aim of this study was to explore the degree of structural changes observed in domestic pig (Sus scrofa) bones associated with thermal destruction and the potential impact on the estimation of a biological profile using standard osteometric methods. A total of 96 pig femora were divided equally into two categories: fresh and dry. Within each category, equal samples were exposed to different durations of burning, namely, 5, 10, and 20 min. Ten standard femoral anthropological measurements were collected before and after burning. Technical error of measurement and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to assess changes in the femoral dimensions before and after burning. Most measurements were significantly different after burning, with the fresh bones decreasing in size by up to 7.8% and the dry bones decreasing in size by up to 4.0%. The magnitude of post-burning measurement changes for both burn conditions was similar to, or smaller than has previously been reported for observer measurement errors of commonly used variables investigated for standard osteometric studies. Veldt fires are less intense than cremation, thus causing less shrinkage.     

Form follows function: Applying photographic content analysis to forensic firearm identification

Drawing forensic conclusions from an image or a video is known as “photographic content analysis.” It involves the analysis of an image, as well as objects, actions, and events depicted in images or video. In recent years, photographic depictions of objects suspected as illegal firearms have substantially increased, appearing on CCTV surveillance footage, captured by mobile phones and shared on social media. However, the law in Israel states that a person can be charged with illegally possessing a firearm only if it can be proven that the object is capable of shooting with lethal bullet energy. This becomes more challenging in cases where the firearm was not physically seized, and the evidence exclusively consists of images and video. In this study, photographic content analysis was applied to images and video where objects suspected as commercial or improvised firearms had been depicted. An image and event sequence reconstruction video databases of both firearms and replicas were created in order to better define firearm-specific functional morphological features. We demonstrate that it is possible to classify an object as a firearm by analyzing the functional, and not only the esthetic, morphology in images and video. It is also shown that event sequence reconstruction in video may be used to infer that an object suspected as a firearm has the capacity to shoot by confirming the occurrence of a shooting act or shooting process. Thus, photographic content analysis may be used to forensically establish that an object depicted in an image or a video is a firearm by ruling out other known scenarios, and without physically seizing it.     

The use of liquid latex as a pre-treatment to recover debris-covered latent fingerprints from exterior surfaces of vehicles

This study evaluated the effectiveness of using liquid latex as a pre-treatment for fingerprint recovery from the exterior surfaces of vehicles in summer. The sample of this study was 540 sebaceous latent fingerprints deposited on the lower body of three vehicles. Thirty control and thirty experimental fingerprints were deposited on each vehicle, and the experiment was repeated three times. The three vehicles were driven daily for either 2, 3, or 4 weeks after the deposition of fingerprints. After the vehicles reached their designated debris accumulation duration, the latent fingerprints in the control groups were developed with black fingerprint powder. Liquid latex was applied onto the fingerprints in the experimental groups, and they were subsequently developed with black fingerprint powder. A chi-sure test indicated that there was a significant difference in fingerprints recovery performance between two methods (X² = 4.903, d.f. = 1, p = 0.027). An odds ratio test indicated the control method increases the probability of fingerprint recovery by 1.54 times. A Fisher's exact test was used to evaluate the quality of fingerprints recovered from both methods and it indicated that there is no significant difference in quality using the two methods (p = 0.058). This study indicated that the traditional fingerprint powder method performed better for fingerprint recovery from exterior surfaces of vehicles in summer.     

Collecting touch DNA from glass surfaces using different sampling solutions and volumes: Immediate and storage effects on genetic STR analysis

Touch DNA has become increasingly important evidence in todays' forensic casework. However, due to its invisible nature and typically minute amounts of DNA, the collection of biological material from touched objects remains a particular challenge that underscores the importance of the best collection methods for maximum recovery efficiency. So far, swabs moistened with water are often utilized in forensic crime scene investigations for touch DNA sampling, even though an aqueous solution provokes osmosis, endangering the cell's integrity. The aim of the research presented here was to systematically determine whether DNA recovery from touched glass items can be significantly increased by varying swabbing solutions and volumes compared with water-moistened swabs and dry swabbing. A second objective was to investigate the possible effects of storage of swab solutions prior to genetic analysis on DNA yield and profile quality when stored for 3 and 12 months, as is often the case with crime scene samples. Overall, the results indicate that adapting volumes of the sampling solutions had no significant effect on DNA yield, while the detergent-based solutions performed better than water and dry removal, with the SDS reagent yielding statistically significant results. Further, stored samples showed an increase in degradation indices for all solutions tested, but no deterioration in DNA content and profile quality, allowing for unrestricted processing of touch DNA samples stored for at least 12 months. One further finding was a strong intraindividual change in DNA amounts observed over the 23 deposition days which may be related to the donor's menstrual cycle.     

Delayed elimination in humans after ingestion of colchicine: Two fatal cases of colchicine poisoning

Colchicine has been widely used in the treatment of acute gout over the years, but it has a narrow therapeutic index, and overdose can be life threatening. A method using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry system was applied in two fatal cases of colchicine poisoning in this study to the determination of colchicine in blood. In case 1, a 19-year-old man suffered from depression and ingested 160 colchicine tablets (each 0.5 mg). The concentration of colchicine in his blood samples showed a fluctuating trend and kept above the therapeutic steady-state concentration for 5 days. In case 2, a 70-year-old female patient with a history of gout and chronic colchicine intake ingested five times the usual dose of colchicine (5 mg) and died after 12 days of medical care, with 5 ng/mL of colchicine in her blood sample. Our findings suggest that the delayed elimination and accumulation in humans after colchicine overdose could keep the concentration of colchicine maintaining above the therapeutic steady-state concentration for many days before dying, probably along with a fluctuating trend.     

Application of forward‐looking infrared (FLIR) imaging from an unmanned aerial platform in the search for decomposing remains

Traditional methods of cadaver detection in outdoor environments include manual ground search, cadaver dogs, and manned aerial reconnaissance during daylight. These methods have limitations; however, a potential low‐cost alternative may be to employ thermal imaging equipment mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to detect heat emitted by insect and bacterial activity on the decomposing remains. No studies have addressed the influence of wrappings on detection of maggot mass thermal signatures nor assessed thermal detection of smaller body fragments. We addressed these knowledge gaps by utilizing a two‐phase experimental approach to explore thermal detection of carcasses using UAV‐mounted infrared imaging. In Phase 1, pig body fragments were deposited on the surface or shallow buried. In Phase 2, whole pig carcasses were deposited in four conditions: on the surface uncovered, wrapped in plastic or carpet, or buried. Our results demonstrated that observable heat emissions from remains corresponded to peak insect activity during active decay and could be readily detected in uncovered whole carcasses and fragments. Although plastic and carpet wrappings partly impeded detection of insect heat signatures, these materials were clearly detectable themselves because of their contrast to the background ground surface. Thermal signatures of buried partial remains and disturbed gravesoil were also observed; however, the buried whole carcass transitioned to adipocere prior to the decay stage and without any insect colonization or heat signature. These data can inform operational implementation of this technique to complement existing search strategies to offer a robust, low‐cost alternative for use where scene characteristics allow.     

3D forensic facial approximation: Implementation protocol in a forensic activity

The primary objective of this paper is to report on the successful implementation of forensic facial approximation in a real case in the forensic context. A three‐dimensional (3D) facial approximation protocol of the skull was performed with free software, applying techniques in a virtual environment that have already been consolidated in the literature. The skull was scanned with the photogrammetry technique, the digital replica was imported in the Blender software (Blender Foundation, Amsterdam) and individualized model sketches of the face were traced with the MakeHuman software (MakeHuman Org) according to the anthropological profile of the victim. The face created was imported in Blender, where it was adapted, modeled, and sculpted on the 3D skull and its soft tissue markers, using an American open‐source application of the technique in the digital environment. The face created in a virtual environment was recognized and legal identification procedures were started, resulting in the more agile delivery of the disappeared body to its next of kin. It is therefore concluded that facial approximation may not be a primary method of human identification, but it can be satisfactorily applied in the forensic field as an individual recognition resource. It has great value in narrowing the search, reducing the number of alleged victims, and leading to identification tests, therefore significantly reducing the number of genetic DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) tests—which are considered costly for the State or Federation—and consequently reducing the waiting time before delivery of the body to its family.     

Research on detection techniques for pattern modifications of playing cards used in illegal gambling operations

We investigated pattern-modified marked cards used in fraudulent gambling cases in Korea. These cards are printed with modifications to some of the repeated marks on the back, revealing the hand on the front and enabling fraudsters to deceive their victims. We proposed a method for identifying the modified part by first enhancing the card's color difference using an image processing technique and then calculating the similarity between the repeated basic patterns with a Siamese network. This method is fast and convenient, as it can determine the deformation with only 1 or 2 cards and can be implemented in mobile applications, allowing law enforcement officers to investigate quickly. The proposed method serves as a useful tool to aid document examiners in making judgments, as it does not require expensive equipment and effectively visualizes the alterations.