Chemical development of latent fingerprints: 1,2-indanedione has come of age

The performance of 1,2-indanedione as a latent fingerprint reagent on some types of paper was found to exceed that of DFO, the leading fluorogenic fingerprint reagent. It even exceeds the performance of the sequence, DFO, followed by ninhydrin. No new prints could be observed when ninhydrin was applied after indanedione. On a large number of actual exhibits (used checks) indanedione developed 46% more identifiable prints than the sequence DFO-ninhydrin. A standard procedure for fingerprint development by indanedione is proposed. Best results are obtained with a 0.2% indanedione solution in HFE7100 solvent containing 7% ethyl acetate, but no acetic acid. It can be recommended to start using 1,2-indanedione, which is already commercially available, in actual fingerprint casework.     

Fourier transform infrared reflectance spectra of latent fingerprints: a biometric gauge for the age of an individual

To determine if changes in fingerprint infrared spectra linear with age can be found, partial least squares (PLS1) regression of 155 fingerprint infrared spectra against the person's age was constructed. The regression produced a linear model of age as a function of spectrum with a root mean square error of calibration of less than 4 years, showing an inflection at about 25 years of age. The spectral ranges emphasized by the regression do not correspond to the highest concentration constituents of the fingerprints. Separate linear regression models for old and young people can be constructed with even more statistical rigor. The success of the regression demonstrates that a combination of constituents can be found that changes linearly with age, with a significant shift around puberty.     

Criminal thinking as a moderator of the perceived certainty–offending relationship: age variations

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the perceived certainty of punishment and general criminal thinking interact and whether the effect varies as a function of age. Data from all 1354 members (1170 males, 184 females) of the Pathways to Desistance study were used to test whether perceived certainty, general criminal thinking, and their interaction predicted subsequent offending during late adolescence (16–18 years of age) and emerging adulthood (20–22 years of age). The results showed that while perceived certainty and general criminal thinking failed to interact at age 17, general criminal thinking moderated the effect of perceived certainty at age 21. During emerging adulthood, offending was more common and varied in young adults with low certainty perceptions and high criminal thinking than it was in emerging adults with high criminal thinking and high certainty perceptions or low criminal thinking and either high or low certainty perceptions.     

On non-invasive 2D and 3D Chromatic White Light image sensors for age determination of latent fingerprints

The feasibility of 2D-intensity and 3D-topography images from a non-invasive Chromatic White Light (CWL) sensor for the age determination of latent fingerprints is investigated. The proposed method might provide the means to solve the so far unresolved issue of determining a fingerprints age in forensics. Conducting numerous experiments for an indoor crime scene using selected surfaces, different influences on the aging of fingerprints are investigated and the resulting aging variability is determined in terms of inter-person, intra-person, inter-finger and intra-finger variation. Main influence factors are shown to be the sweat composition, temperature, humidity, wind, UV-radiation, surface type, contamination of the finger with water-containing substances, resolution and measured area size, whereas contact time, contact pressure and smearing of the print seem to be of minor importance. Such influences lead to a certain experimental variability in inter-person and intra-person variation, which is higher than the inter-finger and intra-finger variation. Comparing the aging behavior of 17 different features using 1490 time series with a total of 41,520 fingerprint images, the great potential of the CWL technique in combination with the binary pixel feature from prior work is shown. Performing three different experiments for the classification of fingerprints into the two time classes [0, 5h] and [5, 24h], a maximum classification performance of 79.29% (kappa=0.46) is achieved for a general case, which is further improved for special cases. The statistical significance of the two best-performing features (both binary pixel versions based on 2D-intensity images) is manually shown and a feature fusion is performed, highlighting the strong dependency of the features on each other. It is concluded that such method might be combined with additional capturing devices, such as microscopes or spectroscopes, to a very promising age estimation scheme.     

The difficult issue of age assessment on pedo-pornographic material

The issue of juvenile pornography has seen an increase in the past few years of the number of expert opinions requested to forensic pathologists, paediatricians and other various experts within the forensic and medical fields concerning the age of represented individuals. Regardless of the entity of the problem, no actual method exists which can allow us to give an objective and scientific answer, particularly in the postpubertal stage. Using parameters related to sexual maturation can be very dangerous. Nonetheless some experts still insist with similar types of “expertises”. This study aims at verifying the ability of different experts in assessing age of postpubertal individuals represented in pornographic material. Results underline the difficulties and major uncertainties of age evaluation by visual observation of photographic material particularly when the subjects have reached the sexual maturation stage – and therefore in verifying whether the individual is above or below 18 years of age (an important age limit for most European countries as far as this type of crime is concerned). Furthermore the study stresses the need both to search for an alternate approach and to apply extreme caution in judicial evaluation.     

刑事一体化与犯罪心理学的发展

刑事一体化倡导一种新的研究视野,对于促进犯罪心理学的发展具有重要意义。犯罪心理学是一门交叉学科或边缘学科,用刑事一体化的大视角来审视,一些基本理论问题还须进一步阐释和完善。面对刑事一体化的思路,犯罪心理学需要进一步发展与创新。创新才能促进发展,才能使犯罪心理学有更好的前景。     

刑事诉讼中的刑事政策:以社会理论为基础的分析理路(一个导论)

中国刑事司法实践基本上一直沿袭着旧有的刑事政策以及与此有关的惯习操作 ,在程序上与刑事诉讼的法治化要求多有抵牾 ,刑事政策的合理化是以“自上而下”的权力型改革模式作为推动刑事诉讼法治化的根本动力。虽然刑事政策逐渐受到学者的关注 ,但因囿于价值判断和视野局限而造成对社会事实缺乏有效的分析 ,所以 ,对“理解”中国刑事司法的问题助益无多。而以一定的社会理论为分析理路 ,或许是研究刑事诉讼中的刑事政策的一种可行的方法     

刑事和解的刑事政策价值

刑事和解的刑事政策价值,即刑事和解对实现刑事政策目标的意义和作用。刑事和解的刑事政策价值有:(1)恢复正义。刑事和解既关注国家法律的权威、社会公众的法感情,也关注被害人的利益,尽量恢复被打破的平衡,追求刑罚法律效果和社会效果的统一。(2)化解矛盾。报应性司法"以恶制恶"的实现途径可能会加深当事人双方矛盾,而刑事和解以面对面的商谈提供了化解矛盾的可能。(3)提高司法效率。刑事和解由于能切实提高轻微犯罪案件的处理效率,有利于犯罪人顺利实现再社会化,有效节省司法成本并促进司法资源的优化配置,从而实现司法效益。     

论犯罪集团首要分子的刑事责任

犯罪集团首要分子的刑事责任认定及归责根据是刑法理论和司法实践的难点问题,"张任行、张国忠等黑社会性质组织犯罪案"中两名首要分子行为表现方式多样,归责情况复杂,该案是研讨犯罪集团首要分子刑事责任的典型判例。其中,对犯罪集团中"知而不为"型首要分子的刑事责任可以基于首要分子"概括的犯意"进行认定;对"不知不为"型首要分子的刑事责任可以借鉴国际刑法中的"归咎责任"进行认定;根据罪责自负原则,首要分子对超过其控制力或支配力的犯罪行为不承担刑事责任。精确区分犯罪集团首要分子刑事责任的目的是构建开放型的犯罪集团首要分子归责体系。     

刑事上诉审之构造

刑事上诉审构造有覆审制、续审制及事后审查审制三种模式,美、日、德等国各自采用不同的上诉审构造。就欧美国家上诉审运行的深层机理而言,抑制事实纠错和建构程序保障机制是各国刑事上诉审良性运作的基础,且各国上诉审构造背后均有其诉讼体制上的原因。我国目前的上诉审构造在庭前审查机制、审查范围及审查标准等诸问题上均存在若干流弊,必须借鉴他国法治经验,对我国二审程序进行改造。改造我国刑事上诉审不应当片面地追求当事入主义或盲目比附他国经验,而是应当根据我国的法制环境来建构改良式的覆审制。     

刑法教义学与犯罪论体系的分野

刑法教义学是以制定法和判例为基础的学问,其研究方法的核心是对刑法的解释和体系化。刑法教义学是观察和分析各种犯罪论体系的重要维度。大陆法系的犯罪阶层体系是一种教义学体系,是对刑法总则的解释和体系化;苏俄的犯罪构成体系则背离了刑法教义学传统,因而衍生出诸多问题。我国应当强化以实在法规范为对象的教义学研究,逐步清除苏俄犯罪构成体系的不当影响。     

论刑事赔偿对刑事诉讼的救济

阐述刑事赔偿对刑事诉讼进行救济的科学内涵,阐明刑事赔偿救济刑事诉讼的具体范畴,并对刑事赔偿救济刑事诉讼的责任免除作了阐述。认为刑事诉讼的动态平衡被打破符合刑事追诉的认识论规律,刑事赔偿是对刑事诉讼进行救济的重要途径。指出被追诉人合法权益遭受侵害是刑事诉讼动态平衡被打破的标志,对遭受侵害的合法权益本身进行救济,实质是对动态平衡被破坏的刑事诉讼程序的间接的救济。刑事赔偿救济刑事诉讼的范畴包括侵犯人身自由权的救济、侵犯生命健康权的救济以及侵犯财产权的救济等。     

Bone age assessment: the applicability of the Greulich-Pyle method in eastern Turkish children

The aim of this study was to investigate whether or not the Greulich-Pyle (GP) method is adequate for Turkish children. A group of 767 individuals (425 girls and 342 boys) between 7 and 17 years were studied. Bone age (BA) from plain radiographs of left hands and wrists by GP standards was estimated. The total mean differences between BA and chronological age (CA) for girls and boys were found to be 0.20 and -0.13 years, respectively. There were significant differences between BA and CA in age groups 7-, 8-, 10-, 11-, 12-, 13-, 15-, and 16-year-olds for girls and 7-, 10-, and 12-year-olds for boys. The results of this study suggest that the mean differences between BA and CA are low enough to be of no practical significance, and thus, for the time being unless any other methods will be proved more useful, this method could be used in all age groups.     

Dental age assessment of southern Chinese using the United Kingdom Caucasian reference dataset

Dental age assessment is one the most accurate methods for estimating the age of an unknown person. Demirjian's dataset on a French-Canadian population has been widely tested for its applicability on various ethnic groups including southern Chinese. Following inaccurate results from these studies, investigators are now confronted with using alternate datasets for comparison. Testing the applicability of other reliable datasets which result in accurate findings might limit the need to develop population specific standards. Recently, a Reference Data Set (RDS) similar to the Demirjian was prepared in the United Kingdom (UK) and has been subsequently validated. The advantages of the UK Caucasian RDS includes versatility from including both the maxillary and mandibular dentitions, involvement of a wide age group of subjects for evaluation and the possibility of precise age estimation with the mathematical technique of meta-analysis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the applicability of the United Kingdom Caucasian RDS on southern Chinese subjects. Dental panoramic tomographs (DPT) of 266 subjects (133 males and 133 females) aged 2-21 years that were previously taken for clinical diagnostic purposes were selected and scored by a single calibrated examiner based on Demirjian's classification of tooth developmental stages (A-H). The ages corresponding to each stage of tooth developmental stage were obtained from the UK dataset. Intra-examiner reproducibility was tested and the Cohen kappa (0.88) showed that the level of agreement was 'almost perfect'. The estimated dental age was then compared with the chronological age using a paired t-test, with statistical significance set at p<0.01. The results showed that the UK dataset, underestimated the age of southern Chinese subjects by 0.24 years but the results were not statistically significant. In conclusion, the UK Caucasian RDS may not be suitable for estimating the age of southern Chinese subjects and there is a need for an ethnic specific reference dataset for southern Chinese.     

Histological assessment of gestational age in human embryos and fetuses

A light microscopic study performed on 760 human fetuses allows us to define several stages in their visceral development and to relate these to gestational age. The histological examination of most viscera, such as the central nervous system, is useless when the tissue preservation is poor. Nevertheless, three organs may still be studied in macerated fetuses: the lungs (where different glandular, canalar, and alveolar stages of development are evident), the kidneys (where the respective numbers of rows of primitive glomeruli and of generations of mature glomeruli vary after week 22), and the adrenal glands (where neuroblastic nests are normally found between weeks 7 and 26 of gestation). It is important to compare the degree of histological maturation with the clinical, macroscopic, and radiologic data in order to define the profile of maturation proper to each human fetus.     

Dental age assessment: the applicability of Demirjian method in eastern Turkish children

In the literature, little is known about the applicability of this method in Turkish children. The aim of this study was, therefore, to evaluate the reliability of Demirjian method of age estimation when used for eastern Turkish children. A retrospective study was performed on a sample of panoramic radiographs taken from 807 healthy eastern Turkish children. The stages of dental maturity of the mandibular left seven permanent teeth for each subject using the eight radiographic dental maturity stages demonstrated by Demirjian were evaluated. A paired t-test was used for statistical analysis. The mean difference between the chronological and dental ages ranged from 0.2 to 1.9 years in girls and from 0.4 to 1.3 years in boys. The differences between the chronological and dental ages were statistically significant in all age groups. The applicability of Demirjian method is not suitable for eastern Turkish population.     

Approaches to chronological age assessment based on dental calcification

The aim of the present study was to find an accurate estimation of chronological age using a small number of selected teeth. For this purpose, the method devised by Nolla [C. Nolla, The development of the permanent teeth, J. Dent. Child. 27 (1960) 254-266.] was used: the development of each of the teeth was determined according to this method on 374 radiographs, 195 of boys (mean age 8.59) and 179 of girls (mean age 8.75). The 28 variables representing the calcification stages were analyzed using cluster analysis followed by multivariate analysis (multiple linear regression model). Patient age was considered to be a dependent variable. Our study showed that antimere teeth are the most homogeneous as regards stages of development. The prediction was more accurate for boys and girls below 10 years of age, using teeth 21, 43 and 46 from boys and teeth 21, 46 and 47 from girls. These teeth accounted for 80% total variance of chronological age for dental calcification. Standard error was +/-1.4 years for boys and +/-1.2 years for girls. When the age of the children remained completely unknown, the best estimates were provided by teeth 43, 47, 46 and 44 from boys and teeth 44, 47 and 43 from girls.     

刑事诉讼法修改中的律师辩护制度

从本次刑事诉讼法修改的时间来看，自2003年第十届全国人大将刑事诉讼法的修改纳入本届人大的立法规划中後，对刑事诉讼法的修改便正常、如期、     

基于刑事侦查的犯罪隐语研究

犯罪隐语是一种涉嫌犯罪行为或自我保护的内部言语交际工具,蕴含着包括信息价值、文化价值、经济价值在内的社会价值,在刑事侦查过程中具有鉴别犯罪嫌疑人的身份、发现犯罪线索、解决并案问题、预审讯问中可有效利用语言的力量及帮助我们科学管理、做好羁押、监管工作等作用,在刑事侦查中准确地破解犯罪隐语,是科学性很强的技术工作,在碰到不了解意义的隐语时,根据隐语语义相互之间的联系规律,及不同地区隐语的特点,用类推法辨析其含义。     

论刑事政策对刑法解释的意义

从实证研究的角度看,我国存在着两种具有法律意义的刑法解释体系:刑法有权解释体系和刑法适用解释体系。刑法适用解释对定罪量刑有着更加现实和重要的意义。刑事政策是刑法定罪量刑的基础。无论是刑法有权解释还是刑法适用解释,其内容都必须符合刑事政策的要求。