Human Identification Using Automatic and Semi‐Automatically Detected Facial Marks

Continuing advancements in the field of digital cameras and surveillance imaging devices have led law enforcement and intelligence agencies to use analysis of images and videos for the investigation and prosecution of crime. When determining identity from photographic evidence, forensic analysts perform comparison of visible facial features manually, which is inefficient. In this study, we will address research efforts to use facial marks as biometric signatures to distinguish between individuals. We propose two systems to assist forensic analysts during photographic comparison: an improved multiscale facial mark system in which facial marks are detected automatically, and a semi‐automatic facial mark system that integrates human knowledge within the improved multiscale facial mark system. Experiment results employ a high‐resolution time‐elapsed dataset acquired at the University of Notre Dame between 2009 and 2011. The results indicate that the geometric distributions of facial mark patterns can be used to distinguish between individuals.     

疑罪问题研究

疑罪是指在刑事诉讼活动中,因证据不足而对犯罪嫌疑人、被告人是否构成犯罪以及罪行轻重、此罪彼罪与一罪数罪等方面难以作出正确判断的情况。疑罪的基本特征是证据不足。疑罪可分为罪与非罪之疑罪、情节轻重之疑罪、此罪彼罪之疑罪和一罪数罪之疑罪。疑罪产生的原因是多方面的。认定疑罪要注意与疑难刑事案件相区别,把握好疑罪的认定标准,掌握好疑罪的处理原则:罪与非罪之疑适用疑罪从无;情节轻重之疑、此罪彼罪之疑和一罪数罪之疑适用疑罪从宽。贯彻好疑罪的处理原则有着重要的理论和实践意义。文章还就刑事诉讼各阶段如何具体贯彻疑罪的处理原则提出了建设性的意见。     

Global forensic anthropology in the 21st century

While it has a long history, the last 30 years have brought considerable advances to the discipline of forensic anthropology worldwide. Every so often it is essential that these advances are noticed and trends assessed. It is also important to identify those research areas that are needed for the forthcoming years. The purpose of this special issue is to examine some of the examples of research that might identify the trends in the 21st century. Of the 14 papers 5 dealt with facial features and identification such as facial profile determination and skull-photo superimposition. Age (fetus and cranial thickness), sex (supranasal region, arm and leg bones) and stature (from the arm bones) estimation were represented by five articles. Others discussed the estimation of time since death, skull color and diabetes, and a case study dealing with a mummy and skeletal analysis in comparison with DNA identification. These papers show that age, sex, and stature are still important issues of the discipline. Research on the human face is moving from hit and miss case studies to a more scientifically sound direction. A lack of studies on trauma and taphonomy is very clear. Anthropologists with other scientists can develop research areas to make the identification process more reliable. Research should include the assessment of animal attacks on human remains, factors affecting decomposition rates, and aging of the human face. Lastly anthropologists should be involved in the education of forensic pathologists about osteological techniques and investigators regarding archaeology of crime scenes.     

Developing Outcome Measures for Criminal Justice Information Sharing: A Study of a Multi-Jurisdictional Officer Notification System for Policing Sex Offenders in Southern California

Information-sharing efforts are broadly assumed by criminal justice and security practitioners to be effective, yet their impact on policing performance has not been thoroughly studied. This paper develops measures for an information-sharing system in a population of sex offenders in Southern California. We compared interagency involvement and policing outcomes for registered sex offenders with (n = 3,919) and without (n = 581) records pertaining to their sex offender status in the Officer Notification System (ONS) of ARJIS. To account for differences in criminal activity, offenders were matched on each of four focal incidents (citations, field interviews, crime cases, and arrests) and compared on outcomes that followed the focal incident. Compared to controls, sex offenders with ONS records were 75 % more likely to be involved with multiple agencies, 92 % more likely to have a citation following a crime case, 34 % more likely to have multiple crime cases (i.e., a crime case following an initial crime case), 44 % more likely to have a field interview following a citation, over 2 times more likely to have a field interview following a crime case, and 20-30 % more likely to have an arrest after a crime case, citation, or field interview. Novel measures of information sharing revealed links between the sharing of information about sex offender registrant status and the frequency and timing of police incidents and inter-agency involvement.     

关于中止行为构成他罪问题的处断探析

刑法理论界对于犯罪中止行为本身又构成犯罪这一问题并没有进行深入的研究，对于如何进行处理更没有明确。本文基于这一背景，对中止行为构成犯罪的情形进行了认定。并且对于这一情形如何处理进行了明确认定。在这一过程中，将成立紧急避险的可能性予以排除，并且在处罚原则上排除了适用牵连犯和想象竞合犯的处罚原则，而认为应当进行数罪并罚。     

犯罪构成的性质:事实认识方法抑或规范解释模型

犯罪构成性质问题是犯罪构成理论的基础性和方向性问题。从事实与规范关系视角考察,目前世界范围内对犯罪构成性质的定位有案件事实认识方法与规范解释模型两种。从应然的立场,基于事实与规范关系的法理、犯罪构成理论的目标以及犯罪构成的实际内容等方面的考量,应将犯罪构成性质定位于刑案事实认识的方法而非法律规范解释的模型。这一犯罪构成性质的新定位有着法教义学的重大意义,体现在这一新定位能够深刻体现犯罪构成的本真、合理择定犯罪论体系建构完善的方向和路径、有效推进犯罪认定的司法实践等方面。     

The influence of camera-to-object distance and focal length on the representation of faces

When one thinks of the so-called barrel or wide-angle distortion, grotesquely warped faces may come to mind. For less extreme cases with primarily inconspicuous facial proportions, the question, however, still arises whether there may be a resulting impact on the identification of faces. In the first experiment, 3 test persons were photographed at a fixed camera-to-object distance of 2 m. In the second experiment, 18 test persons were each photographed at a distance of 0.5 m and 2.0 m. For both experiments photographs were taken from a fixed angle of view in alignment with the Frankfurt Plane. An isolated effect of the focal length on facial proportions could not be demonstrated. On the other hand, changes in the camera-to-object distance clearly influenced facial proportions and shape. A standardized camera-to-object distance for passport photos, as well as reconstruction of the camera-to-object distance from crime scene photos and the use of this same distance in taking photographs for comparison of suspects are called for. A proposal to refer to wide-angle distortion as the nearness effect is put forward.     

论职务犯罪侦查强制措施及其立法完善

职务犯罪侦查强制措施是实现侦查目的的重要途径和桥梁。职务犯罪侦查措施具有程序保障、案件侦破、人权保障、遏制犯罪、惩戒教育等主要功能，其主要特征体现在适用主体的法定性、适用对象的特定性、限制权利的单一性、适用措施的强制性、适用效力的暂时性等方面。目前，我国现行法律对职务犯罪侦查强制措施的有关规定不具体、不明确、不完善，已严重影响了对职务犯罪的打击和反腐败斗争的深入开展。为更好地发挥强制措施的实际功效，应当结合职务犯罪侦查实际，大力加强研究职务犯罪侦查强制措施立法完善问题。     

大陆首例QQ号码盗窃案的法律适用探讨

通过对我国大陆首例QQ号码盗窃案的法律适用问题的分析,指出在罪刑法定原则下,对此类案件以盗窃罪论处缺少充分法律依据,建议通过完善计算机犯罪、侵犯通信自由罪以及建立对虚拟财产独立的法律保护体系,来应对此类新型犯罪。     

Photo identification: facial metrical and morphological features in South African males

Personal identification of individuals is very important in forensic sciences. Facial identification is becoming even more relevant with increasing crime rates, problems with access control and terrorist attacks. To make facial identification more accurate, an in depth knowledge of the common and rare facial characteristics seen in various populations is needed. This will be advantageous when comparing facial photographs. Currently very little data is available on the facial variation of South Africans. Therefore the aim of this study was to analyse the facial features of a group of South African Bantu-speaking men, to determine the common and rare facial features seen in the group. Facial photographs were taken for 200 volunteers from the Pretoria Police College, in the norma frontalis position. The subjects were between 20 and 40 years of age, with no facial deformities. Thirteen measurements were taken directly from the photographs and used in 12 indices. Eight morphological features were also analysed on each face. Each feature was divided into different categories, which described variants of that feature. The metrical and morphological data were then used to create various combinations of facial characteristics that described different regions of the face. The frequency of occurrence of these combinations was calculated for the study population. The most common features were oval or inverted trapezoid facial shapes, intermediate size noses with a down-turned septum tilt and intermediate size mouths with a flat V-shaped upper lip notch (cupid's bow). The eyes were mostly situated closely together. Some of the rare or absent features included round or square facial shapes and narrow noses with an upturned septum tilt. Matching these rare features on facial photographs will be useful during cases of disputed identification.     

Behavioural case linkage with solved and unsolved crimes

Offender behaviour is used to distinguish between crimes committed by the same person (linked crimes) and crimes committed by different people (unlinked crimes) through behavioural case linkage. There is growing evidence to support the use of behavioural case linkage by investigative organisations such as the police, but this research is typically limited to samples of solved crime that do not reflect how this procedure is used in real life. The current paper extends previous research by testing the potential for behavioural case linkage in a sample containing both solved and unsolved crimes. Discrimination accuracy is examined across crime categories (e.g. a crime pair containing a car theft and a residential burglary), across crime types (e.g. a crime pair containing a residential burglary and a commercial burglary), and within crime types (e.g. a crime pair containing two residential burglaries) using the number of kilometres (intercrime distance) and the number of days (temporal proximity) between offences to distinguish between linked and unlinked crimes. The intercrime distance and/or the temporal proximity were able to achieve statistically significant levels of discrimination accuracy across crime categories, across crime types, and within crime types as measured by Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis. This suggests that behavioural case linkage can be used to assist the investigation, detection and prosecution of prolific and versatile serial offenders.     

Are Female Offenders Underreported Compared to Male Offenders? A German-Greek Comparison of Crime Reporting,Rating of Offence Seriousness and Personal Experiences of Victimisation

The difference in official crime statistics between women and men is a constant fact in criminology, but has yet to be explained in a satisfactory way. There are few studies addressing the issue of why this gender gap is larger in registered crime than it is in self-report studies. The study at hand comprises a survey among Greek and German students to examine whether this gap could be attributed to a gender-specific reporting of crime. Participants’ self-reported experiences of victimisation and their rating of the seriousness of offences depicted in case vignettes were used to gain insight into varying tendencies to report a crime depending on the offender’s gender. The act of reporting a crime did not vary gender-specifically.     

The “G-local” Dimension of Albanian Organized Crime: Mafias,Strategic Migration and State Repression

This paper elaborates on the relation between globalization, migration, and transnational organized crime. The case selected is on ethnic Albanian organized crime and its migration to Western Europe and the United States. There are a few perspectives on the ability of organized crime to take advantage of globalization in an effort to expand their criminal markets. One view is that criminal groups, similarly to multinational corporations, are taking advantage of globalization and are opening outposts in Western cities. The opposing view is that organized crime groups are highly localized and territorial. This paper tries to answer the following questions: Are Albanian groups operating in the USA and Europe part of the same species originating from Albania and Kosovo? Are these groups coordinated by a central organization in the country of origin that sought opportunity to exploit the process of international integration? The paper concludes that the migration of Albanian organized crime may not be a strategic business choice. Therefore, rather than fitting the stereotype of hypersophisticated international organized crime bureaucracies found in news reports, this study suggests that many Albanian organized crime groups are localized and spontaneously formed. What might appear to be the product of globalizations is, in fact, the consequence of state repression or wars between rival criminal groups. The conclusions are based on a mixed-methods approach, including interviews with experts, Albanian migrants and offenders, and in-depth analysis of court cases.     

Applications of crime seriousness information in police departments

This article describes the use of crime seriousness information in police operations. It is based on a project at the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department in which eight weeks of crime information were coded using the Sellin-Wolfgang seriousness scale. Statistics were then derived which quantified the seriousness of the various categories of crimes. Several applications were investigated based on the crime seriousness data. These included: (1) case assignment to detectives, (2) allocation of patrol personnel, and (3) determination of the size and location of patrol beats. Areas for future research are presented involving the use of crime seriousness data.     

A Test of Case Linkage Principles with Solved and Unsolved Serial Rapes

Case linkage involves identifying crime series on the basis of behavioral similarity and distinctiveness. Research regarding the behavioral consistency of serial rapists has accumulated; however, it has its limitations. One of these limitations is that convicted or solved crime series are exclusively sampled whereas, in practice, case linkage is applied to unsolved crimes. Further, concerns have been raised that previous studies might have reported inflated estimates of case linkage effectiveness due to sampling series that were first identified based on similar modus operandi (MO), thereby overestimating the degree of consistency and distinctiveness that would exist in naturalistic settings. We present the first study to overcome these limitations; we tested the assumptions of case linkage with a sample containing 1) offenses that remain unsolved, and 2) crime series that were first identified as possible series through DNA matches, rather than similar MO. Twenty-two series consisting of 119 rapes from South Africa were used to create a dataset of 7021 crime pairs. Comparisons of crime pairs that were linked using MO vs. DNA revealed significant, but small differences in behavioral similarity with MO-linked crimes being characterized by greater similarity. When combining these two types of crimes together, linked pairs (those committed by the same serial offender) were significantly more similar in MO behavior than unlinked pairs (those committed by two different offenders) and could be differentiated from them. These findings support the underlying assumptions of case linkage. Additional factors thought to impact on linkage accuracy were also investigated.     

Hospital Wet Mount Examination for the Presence of Sperm in Sexual Assault Cases is of Questionable Value

Many protocols for the examination of sexual assault victims include the preparation of vaginal wet mount slides to determine whether sperm are present and if so, whether the sperm are motile. We have reviewed findings in 501 case reports to compare the efficiency of sperm detection on wet mounts to subsequent crime laboratory results of sperm searches on vaginal swabs. Sperm were detected on wet mounts in only 41% of cases in which sperm were detected in the crime laboratory. Motile sperm were observed in only 12% of cases reporting a 0–9 h postcoital interval; in three cases, motile sperm were seen at 15 h and beyond, indicating that motile sperm are not reliable evidence of a short postcoital interval. These findings demonstrate that wet mount examinations are of little value in guiding subsequent analyses in the crime laboratory or in corroborating other investigative aspects of the case.     

Quantitative assessment of evidential weight for a fingerprint comparison I. Generalisation to the comparison of a mark with set of ten prints from a suspect

The authors have published elsewhere a quantitative method for assessing weight of evidence in the case where a finger mark from a crime scene is compared with a control print taken from a single finger of a suspect. The approach is based on the notion of calculating a likelihood ratio (LR) that addresses a pair of propositions relating to the single finger that was the origin of the crime mark. In practice, things are rather different because the crime mark will not just be compared with a single finger from a suspect but with a set of prints from all of his/her fingers; likewise, when the mark is compared with a database, this will consist of ten print records from random individuals. It is clear that "finger propositions" are not realistic in this situation and we show how our approach may be generalised to address a pair of propositions that relate to the person that made the crime mark. It often is the case that information is present at the crime scene that enables some inference to be drawn relating to which of the offender's ten fingers left a particular mark of interest. This kind of inference may profitably be drawn into the formal analysis. We illustrate our approach with an example.     

中国传统现场勘查责任机制浅析

在传统中国的法律体制和刑事司法实践中,隐含着预防和惩治“冤假错案”的法文化逻辑,并具体化为一系列错案治理机制。其中,以传统犯罪现场勘查的相关机制最为典型,错案治理的法文化逻辑就贯穿于这一系列机制之中。中国传统法律严厉打击可能导致侦审错误的违法行为,形成了勘查官不亲临、报案不如实、现场保护不力、勘查延宕违限、勘查错漏等非违行为的治理机制,在一定程度上压缩了刑事错案的生存空间。即使在现今刑事司法活动中,这些法文化资源仍具有重要的借鉴意义。     

“杨天庆涉黑案”的特点、成因与防控类似违法犯罪的对策

“杨天庆涉黑案”是重庆2009年“打黑大审判”第一案。该案既有我国黑社会性质组织的一般特点,也有其个别化特点,前者使本案成立黑社会性质组织犯罪,后者使该犯罪具有残暴性、隐蔽性和迷惑性。该黑社会性质犯罪组织的滋生和形成,主要源于溺爱型的家庭教育、基层行政执法不力、重庆的“袍哥文化”、刑满释放人员等的社会化不足问题等因素。为防控类似违法犯罪的滋生和蔓延,应针对这些因素采取相应对策。     

论保外就医期间犯新罪的侦查羁押问题

保外就医是出于人道主义考虑，对重病犯人采取的一种特殊服刑方式，其对象一般是患疾病，难以在监狱里生活，随时有生命危险或行动不便的人。保外就医服刑犯在监狱外重新犯罪，愿数罪并罚。但在法律的执行过程中，法律法规在对此类犯罪嫌疑人开展侦查和收押方面的模糊性给该类案件的处理带来一定阻力。本文结合实例，针对保外就医犯人监外服刑期间犯新罪侦查收押实践中的疑难进行分析，力求发现问题的症结，并提出相应的对策建议．