The hidden origins of enorm lesion

Plato's Penal Code: Tradition, Controversy and Reform in Greek Penology. Trevor J. Saunders. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1991. xvii + 414pp. (incl. Indexes). £50 hb. ISBN 0 19 814893 3.

Roman Marriage: Iusti Coniuges from the time of Cicero to the time of Ulpian. Susan Treggiari. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1991. xv + 578pp. (incl. Indexes). £65 hb. ISBN 0 19 814890 9.

Marriage, Divorce and Children in Ancient Rome. Edited by Beryl Rawson. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991. xiv + 252pp. (incl. Index). £35 hb. ISBN 0 19 814918 2.

Law, Sex, and Christian Society in Medieval Europe. J.A. Brundage. University of Chicago Press, 1987. xxiv + 674pp. (incl. Index). £21.50 pb. ISBN 0 226 07784 5.

Church Courts, Sex and Marriage, in England, 1570–1640. M. Ingram. Past and Present Publications, Cambridge University Press, 1987. xiii + 412pp. (incl. Index). £45 hb. ISBN 0 521 386551.

The Medieval Canon Law. Teaching, Literature and Transmission. (The Sandars Lectures in Bibliography: 1987–1988). Dorothy M. Owen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990. xii + 82pp. £25 hb. ISBN 0 521 39313 9.

Notaries Public in England since the Reformation. C.W. Brooks, R.H. Helmholz and P.G. Stein. Norwich: The Erskine Press for the Society of Public Notaries of London, 1991. ix + 148pp. (incl. Index). £60.00 hb. £29.95 pb. ISBN 1 85297 0340.

The Common Law and English Jurisprudence 1760–1850. Michael Lobban. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991. xvi + 315pp. (incl. Index). £35.00 hb. ISBN 019 825293 5.

Prosecution and Punishment: Petty Crime and the Law in London and Rural Middlesex, c. 1660–1725. Robert B. Shoemaker. Cambridge: The University Press, 1991. xxviii + 352pp. (incl. Index). £40/$64.50 hb. ISBN 0 521 40082 1.

The London Hanged: Crime and Civil Society in the Eighteenth Century, Peter Linebaugh. London: Allen Lane, The Penguin Press, 1991. xxvii + 484pp. (incl. Index). £25 hb. ISBN 0 713 99045 7.

American Jurisprudence 1870–1970: A History. James Herget. Houston, Texas: Rice University Press, 1990. x + 367pp. (incl. Index.) $35.00hb. ISBN 0 89256 305 0.

Deutsche Juristen aus fünf Jarhunderten. G. Kleinheyer and J. Schröder. Heidelberg: C.F. Muller, 1989. 415pp. (incl. Index.) DM 34.80 pb.

Quellen zur Reform des Straf‐ und Strafprozessrechts, III Abteilung, NS‐Zeit (1933–1939), Band 1. Edited by J. Regge and W. Schubert et al. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1991. xxi + 648 pp. (incl. Index.) DM 498.

Quellen zur Reform des Straf‐ und Strafprozessrechts, III Abteilung, NS‐Zeit (1933–1939), Band 2, 1 Teil. Edited by J. Regge and W. Schubert et al. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1991. xxxi + 772 pp. (incl. Index.) DM 598.     

Anger biting. The hidden impulse

Based upon the paralogical reasoning of the anger-impulsive biter, this paper addresses the overload of emotional catharsis which can block a full memory of the biting event and suspend the logical infrastructure of rational behavior. In an effort to overcome these types of investigative difficulties, the paper suggests an approach to resolve dilemma through decompressing the emotional content into path ways of logical understanding. By offering a network of rationale hooks, the perpetrator becomes better equipped to acknowledge the deed.     

The hidden cost of some trustees-trustee commissions

There is a widespread variation in trustees’ approachto the taking of commissions for investing trust money and therequirements to disclose these commissions to beneficiaries.The net result is that settlors, beneficiaries and their advisersneed to be aware that a trustee's remuneration may not be clear,even from a set of audited accounts and that there may be arisk of conflict between the trust terms and a duty or regulatoryobligation to disclose.     

The persistence of fibres in head hair

Woollen and acrylic ski masks were used to investigate the persistence of fibres in both Caucasian and negroid head hair. Fibre loss followed an exponential decay with both types of fibre persisting for up to six days if the hair was not washed or up to three days if the hair was washed.     

Juvenile detention: The hidden closets revisited

This is the first national study of juvenile detention in more than a decade. The findings indicate that these facilities are undergoing a fundamental and substantial change. The consensus of professional opinion as well as recommendations from national standard-setting bodies indicate that juvenile detention centers should be reserved for those youth who present a clear and substantial threat to the community and who need to be confined until they appear in court. Now these facilities are assuming an added function by serving as short-term commitment options for juvenile court judges. In addition, the study found that the excessive use of detention continues to be a major problem.     

The persistence of human scalp hair on clothing fabrics

This study reports the persistence behaviour of human scalp hairs under a number of different circumstances. The effects of artificial dyeing of hairs, the presence or absence of roots and different types of fabrics on the persistence of hair on a variety of garments were investigated. The garments were made from cotton, polycotton, cotton/acrylic, polyester and wool. The results indicated that neither artificial dyes nor the presence or absence of roots had statistically significant effects on the persistence of hair. In contrast, the type of fabric had a major impact and it was found that, generally, hairs persist longer on rougher fabrics. The rate of loss of hairs from non-woollen fabrics during normal wear was found to follow an exponential decay curve. In contrast, the rate of loss from the woollen garments was quite linear, indicating a constant, even loss, and thus suggests that a different process is involved in the persistence of hairs on woollen garments from that on non-woollen garments. The speed at which hair was lost from fabrics decreased in the order polyester, cotton/acrylic, polycotton, cotton, smooth wool, rough wool, so that wool gives the best chance of recovering samples of hair. Due to the uniqueness of each case, it is advised that caution be used when making any interpretations and before drawing any conclusions.     

The transfer and persistence of petrol on car carpets

The significance of the presence of petrol in motor vehicle fires has often been challenged due to the possibility of a natural occurrence of petrol residues inside the vehicle. Transfer and persistence studies were undertaken to investigate the potential transfer and persistence of petrol onto vehicle carpets through the 'normal' usage of motor vehicles. The results of the transfer study indicate that petrol may be transferred from the external environment in sufficient quantities via the shoes of drivers or passengers to be detected after a 24 h period, but not after 1 week. Low levels of petrol were detectable after 24 h on all carpet mats where the initial volume was 500 microL or more. The level of evaporation of the petrol detected increased with corresponding increases in the time period between transfer and analysis. The results of the persistence study indicate that small volumes of petrol (less than 100 microL) are unlikely to be detected on carpet after a 24 h period, and volumes of less than 1000 microL are unlikely to be detected on acoustic padding after this time period. Larger volumes may be detected after this period, but will generally not be detectable on either carpet or acoustic padding after 4 weeks. In each case, the petrol that is detected exhibits a chromatographic profile of greater than 60% evaporated petrol. These results demonstrate the significance of finding a large volume of fresh or slightly evaporated petrol on car carpet.     

The transfer and persistence of automotive carpet fibres on shoe soles

The transfer and persistence of automotive carpet fibres to shoe soles was investigated. It was found that fibres were transferred with the normal activity of a car passenger. Carpet type and shoe sole parameters were significant determinants in the number of fibres that transferred. The average number of fibres was between about one and 33 per sole. Fibres that had been transferred after normal activity only persisted for a few minutes after walking. A survey of the shoe soles of people about to leave their car showed that fibres were usually present. The majority of shoe soles surveyed had less than five fibres with the greatest number of fibres found being 14. The likelihood of finding a large number of fibres on such soles is rare. Fibre composition of automotive carpets showed a high degree of variation. Grey was seen to be a common colour irrespective of the colour of the vehicle body.     

The persistence of memory: Forensic identification and extraction of cryptographic keys

The increasing popularity of cryptography poses a great challenge in the field of digital forensics. Digital evidence protected by strong encryption may be impossible to decrypt without the correct key. We propose novel methods for cryptographic key identification and present a new proof of concept tool named Interrogate that searches through volatile memory and recovers cryptographic keys used by the ciphers AES, Serpent and Twofish. By using the tool in a virtual digital crime scene, we simulate and examine the different states of systems where well known and popular cryptosystems are installed. Our experiments show that the chances of uncovering cryptographic keys are high when the digital crime scene are in certain well-defined states. Finally, we argue that the consequence of this and other recent results regarding memory acquisition require that the current practices of digital forensics should be guided towards a more forensically sound way of handling live analysis in a digital crime scene.     

The detection and persistence of Cannabis sativa DNA on skin

The presence of Cannabis sativa DNA was detected on the skin of persons who have recently handled both leaf and resinous material. The persistence of C. sativa DNA was examined on the skin. The subjects were asked to either repeatedly rub their hands on their trousers, place their hands repeatedly into their pockets or wash their hands in soap and water. After rubbing the hands on trousers or placing them in pockets C. sativa DNA could still be detected. No DNA could be detected after washing the hands.