Management of crime scene units by Quebec police senior managers: Insight on forensic knowledge and understanding of key stakeholders

What do policing leaders think and know of forensic science? Beyond crime scene investigators or detectives, how do police senior managers perceive the role, utility and limitations of forensic science? Very few empirical studies have addressed the issue. Forensic scientsts should be concerned about the perception that law enforcement senior managers have of their discipline for two reasons. First, strategic and financial decision-makers are obviously key players in the overall administration and provision of forensic science, either as a supervisor, money provider or as a customer. Second, literature has highlighted that other actors involved in forensic science underestimate the scope and possibilities offered by forensic science, hence limiting its exploitation and potential. Following interviews with 18 police senior managers from Quebec (Canada), this study shows that they generally restrict forensic science to a reactive discipline whose role and utility is to identify offenders and support the Court. This understanding of forensic science, like that of many others including a significant share of forensic scientists, differs from the perception of other police activities in modern law enforcement agencies where proactive action is sought. Considering these findings and the growing body of literature which calls for forensic science to connect more tightly with policing and security, we advocate a more extensive education of police leaders regarding the scope of forensic science.     

死刑复核中法医鉴定结论审查的特点与建议——基于634例统计分析

本文通过对634例死刑复核案件中法医鉴定结论审查情况的回顾性分析,发现死刑复核案件中法医鉴定结论具有5个特点:(1)死刑复核案件中法医鉴定结论需要移交法医审查的数量较多:(2)死刑复核案件中法官对鉴定结论或其他技术性问题审查的能力普遍不足,且差异很大:(3)死刑复核案件中法医鉴定结论质量差异较大,经过一审、二审审理,死刑复核案件中的法医学鉴定结论仍然存在各种问题,其中结论依据不足,可能需要补充鉴定、重新鉴定或无法继续鉴定的约占8%左右;(4)死刑复核案件中法医鉴定结论是否需要移送法医审查,受鉴定结论本身和法官个人因素的影响:(5)随着死刑复核工作的开展,法官对法医鉴定结论审查的能力有所提高。根据统计的结果,本文对目前死刑复核案件中法医鉴定结论的审查模式给予了一定的肯定,并对审查模式的不足进行了初步分析,在此基础上提出了完善死刑复核程序中鉴定结论审查内容、审查程序,提高法官鉴定结论的审查能力,建立技术法官制度的建议。     

Origin and development of forensic medicine in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The medicolegal death investigation system in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is unique in the world. It is exclusively derived from Islamic judiciary based on Shari'ah law, which is the definitive Islamic law or doctrine. This law is applied on Saudi citizens as well as foreigners. This is different from other Islamic countries, which have a combination of Islamic and other judiciary systems.The forensic medicine centers in KSA are related administratively to the Ministry of Health (MOH) and its subdivisions in the different governorates. They are concerned with forensic medical examination and autopsy, as well as the clinical forensic medical examination of sexual assault cases, and those injured in civil and criminal cases. The assisting laboratories (forensic histopathology, microbiology, serology, forensic chemistry) are working independently under the funding of MOH, whereas the DNA laboratory and other departments of forensic sciences, for example, counterfeiting and forgery unit are related administratively to the Ministry of Interior represented by the Administration of Criminal Evidences. Efforts concerning crime scene investigations are shared with Administration of Criminal Evidences' crime scene investigators.Forensic medicine education in KSA developed in the past few years after the foundation of Saudi specialty certificate in forensic medicine. The certificate is a postgraduation qualification equivalent to a doctorate degree in forensic medicine and requires completion of a 4-year training program in both MOH- and Ministry of Interior-related departments, as well as passing annual evaluation and examination.This review is aimed at providing in the next decade the medicolegal centers with national forensic specialists throughout the kingdom and granting skillful headships for the next generations. Moreover, this review suggests more scientific associations with the academic universities in the various fields of forensic sciences through academic cooperation.     

Sub-sampling and preparing forensic samples for pollen analysis

The main forensic application of palynology is in providing associative evidence, assisting to prove or disprove a link between people and objects with places or with other people. Although identification and interpretation of pollen is a specialist job, sub-sampling and preparing pollen samples for analysis may be carried out by non-specialists. As few forensic laboratories have residing palynologists, laboratories may wish to reduce the cost of analysis or risk of contamination by doing their own sub-sampling and preparation. Presented is a practical guide for sub-sampling and preparing forensic samples for pollen analysis, providing a complete standard procedure for both the palynologist and non-specialist. Procedures for sub-sampling include a wide variety of materials commonly collected for forensic analysis (soil, clothing and other fabrics, footwear, twine and rope, firearms, granulated materials, plant and animal material, and illicit drugs), many of which palynologists will not be familiar with. Procedures for preparation of samples (pollen concentration) are presented as a detailed, step-by-step method. Minimizing the risks of laboratory and cross-sample contamination during sub-sampling and preparation is emphasized.     

Wrongful convictions and claims of false or misleading forensic evidence

The results are reported of a study to examine case factors associated with 732 wrongful convictions classified by the National Registry of Exonerations as being associated with “False or Misleading Forensic Evidence.” A forensic error typology has been developed to provide a structure for the categorization and coding of factors relating to misstatements in forensic science reports; errors of individualization or classification; testimony errors; issues relating to trials and officers of the court; and evidence handling and reporting issues. This study, which included the analysis of 1391 forensic examinations, demonstrates that most errors related to forensic evidence are not identification or classification errors by forensic scientists. When such errors are made, they are frequently associated with incompetent or fraudulent examiners, disciplines with an inadequate scientific foundation, or organizational deficiencies in training, management, governance, or resources. More often, forensic reports or testimony miscommunicate results, do not conform to established standards, or fail to provide appropriate limiting information. Just as importantly, actors within the broader criminal justice system—but not under the purview of any forensic science organization—may contribute to errors that may be related to the forensic evidence. System issues include reliance on presumptive tests without confirmation by a forensic laboratory, use of independent experts outside the administrative control of public laboratories, inadequate defense, and suppression or misrepresentation of forensic evidence by investigators or prosecutors. In approximately half of wrongful convictions analyzed, improved technology, testimony standards, or practice standards may have prevented a wrongful conviction at the time of trial.     

脂肪栓塞综合征的法医学研究进展

脂肪栓塞综合征（fat embolism syndrome,FES）是一种较多见而又威胁生命的临床症候。多年来,FES一直是医学界,尤其是法医学及骨科学领域研究的难点。在法医学中,FES的鉴定因缺乏典型的症状、体征,极易发生误鉴或漏鉴。本文就FES的病因、发病机理、病理学、致死机制以及FES的最新法医学诊断研究进行了回顾。     

Testing the performance of mtSNP minisequencing in forensic samples

There is a growing interest among forensic geneticists in developing efficient protocols for genotyping coding region mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) SNPs (mtSNPs). Minisequencing is becoming a popular method for SNP genotyping, but it is still used by few forensic laboratories. In part, this is due to the lack of studies testing its efficiency and reproducibility when applied to real and complex forensic samples. Here we tested a minisequencing design that consists of 71 mtSNPs (in three multiplexes) that are diagnostic of known branches of the R0 phylogeny, in real forensic samples, including degraded bones and teeth, hair shafts, and serial dilutions. The fact that amplicons are short coupled with the natural efficiency of the minisequencing technique allow these assays to perform well with all the samples tested either degraded and/or those containing low DNA amount. We did not observe phylogenetic inconsistencies in the 71 mtSNP haplotypes generated, indicating that the technique is robust against potential artefacts that could arise from unintended contamination and/or spurious amplification of nuclear mtDNA pseudogenes (NUMTs).     

Proposing Problem-Based Learning for teaching future forensic speech scientists

In the last 10–15 years, Masters programmes and undergraduate modules have emerged in the UK that teach forensic speech science. Forensic speech science is the forensic subdiscipline concerned with analysing speech recordings, such as telephone calls of unknown speakers, when they arise as evidence. In order to answer questions surrounding the identity of the speakers in these recordings, forensic speech analysts draw on their expertise in phonetics and acoustics. Even though existing UK forensic speech science programmes do not claim to train students to a level where they are in a position to carry out real-life forensic casework, a proportion of the graduates from these programmes do go on to fill discipline-specific roles in security organisations or for private providers of forensic speech analysis. It is therefore surely in the community’s interests to review educational approaches to capitalise on the current training opportunities. This paper specifically proposes to explore the potential of a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) approach to forensic speech science teaching. PBL is a student-centred learning approach that heavily relies on the students’ independence in the solving of ill-structured problems. PBL has shown to be beneficial to programmes that directly lead on to discipline-specific professional roles, and has even become the standardised teaching approach in some of those areas (medicine being the flagship example). Given its reported success in other disciplines, the question arises as to whether PBL could bring similar benefits to prospective forensic speech practitioners and to forensic speech science as a whole.     

Tasks of research in forensic medicine - different study types in clinical research and forensic medicine

In the last years the research output of forensic medicine has sometimes been regarded as insufficient and as of poor quality, especially when parameters as impact factors and external funding were taken into account. However, forensic medicine has different tasks compared to clinical medicine. The main difference between basic subjects, clinical and forensic medicine is not a lack of scientific efficiency in forensic medicine but is a result of the questions asked, the available methods and specific aims. In contrast to natural-scientific research, forensic science has furthermore important intersections with arts and socio-scientific disciplines. Etiologic and pathogenetic research is of only limited relevance in forensic medicine. Thus, forensic medicine is excluded from these research fields, which are mainly supported by external funding. In forensic medicine research mainly means applied research regarding findings, the probative value and reconstruction as well as examination at different points of intersection between medicine and law. Clinical types of research such as controlled randomised, prospective cross-sectional, cohort or case-control studies can only rarely be applied in forensic medicine due to the area specific research fields (e.g. thantatology, violent death, vitality, traffic medicine, analytical toxicology, hemogenetics and stain analysis). The types of studies which are successfully established in forensic medicine are comparison of methods, sensitivity studies, validation of methods, kinetic examinations etc. Tasks of research in forensic medicine and study types, which may be applied will be addressed.     

‘Tolling for the luckless,the abandoned and forsaked’: Therapeutic jurisprudence and international human rights law as applied to prisoners and detainees by forensic psychologists

Objectives. There has been an explosion of interest in therapeutic jurisprudence as both a filter and lens for viewing the extent to which the legal system serves therapeutic or anti‐therapeutic consequences. However, little attention has been paid to the impact of therapeutic jurisprudence on questions of international human rights law and the role of forensic psychologists. The paper aims to provide an intersection between human rights, therapeutic jurisprudence, and forensic psychology. Method. Human rights are based on legal, social, and moral rules. Human rights literature generally considers legal rights but such policy statements do not provide principles to guide forensic psychologists in addressing moral or social rights. Therefore, a framework to guide forensic psychologists is required. Conclusion. As duty‐bearers, forensic psychologists need to address the core values of freedom and well‐being in rights holders (in this instance, prisoners and detainees with a mental illness). The paper proposes that human rights principles can add to the normative base of a therapeutic jurisprudence framework, and in‐turn, therapeutic jurisprudence can assist forensic psychologists to actively address human rights.     

论鉴定留置的若干法律问题

鉴定留置指为鉴定被告心神或者身体状态，而将被告送入医院或者其他适当处所之处分。鉴定留置的存在是与法医学的发展休戚相关。从某种意义上讲，现代去医学发展的不成熟是鉴定留置制度存活的土壤。鉴定留置应定性为一种依附性行为。即依附于强制鉴定，其本身属于调查程序。而非强制处分。鉴定留置属于强制鉴定延伸的自然结果．而强制鉴定将在一定程度上限制被告人的行动自由。应当接受司法审查。强制鉴定作为一种独立的强制措施．对自由的侵犯程度不可与羁押同日而语，甚至其结果可能减轻或者免除被告人的刑事责任。因此在司去审查控制下的鉴定留置期间不应当计入羁押期间。     

The forensic entomologist in the context of the forensic pathologist's role.

An adequate death investigation requires the combined efforts and cooperation of experts in different disciplines: crime scene technicians, death investigators, forensic pathologists, anthropologists, entomologists, other medical and non-medical professionals. These front-line experts play a crucial role in every death investigation process. The forensic pathologist normally has the legal authority to take charge of the dead body at a death scene and his primary functions are the exterior and interior examination of the cadaver by analyzing the extent of antemortem injuries and the postmortem changes and the recovery of physical evidence. He is responsible for determining how, when and why of any death which is the result of violence, suspicious or unexplained circumstances or a death which is sudden or unattended, defending and explaining the reasons for making these diagnoses in a courtroom. The forensic entomologist can provide invaluable aid in death cases where human remains are colonized by insects and in the overall investigation. His principal role is to identify the arthropods associated with such cases and to analyze entomological data for interpreting insect evidence. He is responsible for determining the period of insect activity according to all the variables affecting insect invasion of remains and their development. The major goal of medico-criminal entomology is to contribute to the determination of the time, cause, manner and place of the investigated death (especially on badly decomposed corpses or skeletonized human remains) with the support of all the elements which can be inferred from the study of insects found on the cadaver or nearby. The application of techniques devised recently in forensic entomology can allow experts in the field to collect strong entomological evidence and provide useful information not only in a death investigation including movement or storage of the remains following death, time of dismemberment, postmortem artifacts on the body but also at the scene, and even more in child neglect, sexual molestation and identification of suspects. As the role of the forensic entomologist at the death scene, at the autopsy and in the laboratory is defined and well known, this paper focuses on the difficulties that could arise if forensic pathologists and entomologists are uncertain about the procedures that they have to follow, do not realize the value of objective findings or fail to evaluate them. Although every forensic case presents a slightly different set of circumstances and has to be tackled individually, the forensic pathologist should work with the forensic entomologist from the visual observations of the cadaver on the scene, through the collection of arthropods and temperature data at the death scene and at the autopsy, up to the final report with the interpretation of entomological and other biological evidence.     

Homicide by unusual‐edged weapons: Forensic considerations of two cases

Homicide by stab wound is common worldwide. However, the use of unusual edged weapons is rarely reported in the forensic literature. Here, we report two cases of homicide involving a Japanese sword, or katana, and a sickle. Both of these weapons can create either stab or incised wounds with some particularities. In our cases, characteristics of the external wounds, internal injuries, and the depth of penetration raised the possibility of an unusual weapon. Meticulous forensic examination of these injuries (morphological characteristics, depth of penetration, trajectories, and cut marks in the bone) may allow the forensic expert to determine the type of weapon used.     

刑事诉讼中法医精神病鉴定争议的反思与理论诠释

法医精神病鉴定在一些重大刑事案件中持续成为舆论关注的焦点。不论法医精神病鉴定启动与否均会陷入被质疑的困境。这既存在制度安排的问题,也存在鉴定本身的问题,还存在凭直觉判断的问题,更存在理论误导的问题。这些问题叠加在一起衍生了较为复杂的中国性问题。这一复杂问题的解决,需要合理配置启动法医精神病鉴定程序的权力(利),科学对待法医精神病鉴定本质,尊重法医精神病鉴定的医学认定,正确使用法医精神病鉴定意见中的刑事责任能力判断,在正当程序中维护法医精神病鉴定的科学性。对于非制度问题需要正确的理论诠释,避免因实践难题与理论缺陷交织触发一些不具有实质意义的纷争和枉顾科学的呼吁。     

The importance of a urine sample in persons intoxicated with flunitrazepam--legal issues in a forensic psychiatric case study of a serial murderer

The sedative-hypnotic benzodiazepine flunitrazepam (FZ) is abused worldwide. The purpose of our study was to investigate violence and anterograde amnesia following intoxication with FZ, and how this was legally evaluated in forensic psychiatric investigations with the objective of drawing some conclusions about the importance of urine sample in a case of a suspected intoxication with FZ. The case was a 23-year-old male university student who, intoxicated with FZ (and possibly with other substances such as diazepam, amphetamines or cannabis), first stabbed an acquaintance and, 2 years later, two friends to death. The police investigation files, including video-typed interviews, the forensic psychiatric files, and also results from the forensic autopsy of the victims, were compared with the information obtained from the case. Only partial recovery from anterograde amnesia was shown during a period of several months. Some important new information is contained in this case report: a forensic analysis of blood sample instead of a urine sample, might lead to confusion during police investigation and forensic psychiatric assessment (FPA) of an FZ abuser, and in consequence wrong legal decisions. FZ, alone or combined with other substances, induces severe violence and is followed by anterograde amnesia. All cases of bizarre, unexpected aggression followed by anterograde amnesia should be assessed for abuse of FZ. A urine sample is needed in case of suspected FZ intoxication. The police need to be more aware of these issues, and they must recognise that they play a crucial role in an assessment procedure. Declaring FZ an illegal drug is strongly recommended.     

Organizational and Human Factors Affecting Forensic Decision-Making: Workplace Stress and Feedback

Although forensic examiners operate in a stressful environment, there is a lack of understanding about workplace stress and feedback. These organizational and human factors can potentially impact forensic science judgments. In this study, 150 practicing forensic examiners from one laboratory were surveyed about their experiences of workplace stress, and the explicit and implicit feedback they receive. Forensic examiners reported that their high stress levels originated more from workplace-related factors (management and/or supervision, backlogs, and the pressure to do many cases) than from personal related factors (family, medical, and/or financial). The findings showed that a few (8%) of the forensic examiners sometimes felt strong implicit feedback about what conclusions were expected from them and that some (14%) also strongly felt that they were more appreciated when they helped to solve a case (e.g., by reaching a “match” as opposed to an “inconclusive” conclusion). Differences were found when comparing workplace stress and feedback levels across three core forensic science fields (forensic biology, chemistry, and latent prints) and across career stages (early, mid, and late). Gaining insights into the stress factors within a workplace and explicit and implicit feedback has implications for developing policies to improve the well-being, motivation, and performance of forensic examiners.     

Forensic identification science evidence since Daubert: Part II--judicial reasoning in decisions to exclude forensic identification evidence on grounds of reliability

Many studies regarding the legal status of forensic science have relied on the U.S. Supreme Court's mandate in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc., and its progeny in order to make subsequent recommendations or rebuttals. This paper focuses on a more pragmatic approach to analyzing forensic science's immediate deficiencies by considering a qualitative analysis of actual judicial reasoning where forensic identification evidence has been excluded on reliability grounds since the Daubert precedent. Reliance on general acceptance is becoming insufficient as proof of the admissibility of forensic evidence. The citation of unfounded statistics, error rates and certainties, a failure to document the analytical process or follow standardized procedures, and the existence of observe bias represent some of the concerns that have lead to the exclusion or limitation of forensic identification evidence. Analysis of these reasons may serve to refocus forensic practitioners' testimony, resources, and research toward rectifying shortfalls in these areas.     

Forensic DNA-typing of dog hair: DNA-extraction and PCR amplification

The forensic application of DNA-typing for the identification of dog hair provides objective evidence in the characterisation of traces found at crime scenes. During the past few years forensic dog identity testing has been improved considerably using multiplex PCR systems. However, DNA-typing from samples of one up to 10 dog hairs is often problematic in forensic science. A single dog hair contains very small quantities of DNA or the hair sample consists of hairs with roots of bad quality or even of broken hairshafts without roots. Here we describe an experimental study about dog hairs by means of a Ca(2+) improved DNA-extraction method, quantification and amplification.     

Intellectual and developmental disabilities and Ontario’s forensic inpatient system: a population-based cohort study

Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in forensic inpatient beds are both complex and understudied. Previous studies have been limited and largely based on smaller clinical samples. We used data from a population-based cohort of Ontario adults with IDD (H-CARDD cohort, n?=?66,000) to describe their prevalence in forensic inpatient beds during 2005–2015 and compare their demographic and clinical profiles with non-IDD forensic patients. Results show that forensic patients with IDD and without IDD have similar profiles, with the exception that patients with IDD are more likely to have a psychiatric disorder and to be younger, rural, and have high or very high morbidity. Strong support was found for disproportionate admission: individuals with IDD are 12.2% of forensic inpatients but only 0.8% of the general population (d?=?1.57). Support for disproportionate utilization was less dramatic and mixed. Little difference was found in terms of the per cent of longer-stay (treatment) admissions or multiple forensic admissions; however, patients with IDD did have longer number of bed days over 10 years (averaging 220.6 days more, d?=?0.28). A better understanding of the barriers to discharge for individuals with IDD will support implementation of appropriate pathways out of the hospital.