Accuracy of comparison decisions by forensic firearms examiners

This black box study assessed the performance of forensic firearms examiners in the United States. It involved three different types of firearms and 173 volunteers who performed a total of 8640 comparisons of both bullets and cartridge cases. The overall false-positive error rate was estimated as 0.656% and 0.933% for bullets and cartridge cases, respectively, while the rate of false negatives was estimated as 2.87% and 1.87% for bullets and cartridge cases, respectively. The majority of errors were made by a limited number of examiners. Because chi-square tests of independence strongly suggest that error probabilities are not the same for each examiner, these are maximum-likelihood estimates based on the beta-binomial probability model and do not depend on an assumption of equal examiner-specific error rates. Corresponding 95% confidence intervals are (0.305%, 1.42%) and (0.548%, 1.57%) for false positives for bullets and cartridge cases, respectively, and (1.89%, 4.26%) and (1.16%, 2.99%) for false negatives for bullets and cartridge cases, respectively. The results of this study are consistent with prior studies, despite its comprehensive design and challenging specimens.     

Reuniting families: an online database to aid in the identification of undocumented immigrant remains

The Reuniting Families project attempts to aid federal, state and local agencies currently working towards the identification of deceased undocumented immigrants. This initiative has created a distributed on-line database, accessible by public officials and private citizens interested in searching for missing individuals based on both phenotypic and genotypic characteristics. This broad effort includes the exhumation of individuals from geographically disparate pauper graves, the classification of their physical characteristics, and the cataloging of observed metric traits in a local relational database, to include associated articles of possession and related metadata. Concurrent with the documentation of physical forensic evidence is the analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequences. Computational techniques and scoring parameters are applied to automate the process of discovery and identification as well at to preserve information on the missing. The result is a prototype knowledge base that may serve as a model for future efforts in international forensic science collaborations.     

Umweltrechtliche Treuhandklage

Der Jubilar ist nicht nur für die Information und Diskussion in Bezug auf alles, was die Begriffe Natur und Recht umfassen, eingetreten. Vielmehr lag ihm vor allem auch die Durchsetzung der Belange des Naturschutzes und der Landschaftspflege, nicht zuletzt vor Gericht am Herzen. Der Autor hofft, dass die Erweiterung der einschl?gigen Thematik über den Bereich des Naturschutzes hinaus den Jubilar interessiert, geht diese Erweiterung doch auch mit einer entsprechenden ?ffnung von „Natur und Recht“ einher.     

Rezension

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

International cooperation in the field of international political terrorism

Political terrorism is defined. The various forms of international terrorism are enumerated. Types and manifestations of terrorism are discussed as well as their differentiation according to objectives and means. The necessity of international cooperation to deal with the problem is discussed, and five fields of possible cooperation are listed. The following existing multilateral conventions are dealt with: the Tokyo Convention of 1963, the Hague Convention of 1970, and the Montreal Convention of 1971. It is stressed that there is a need for a general convention of cooperation or, at least, border agreements, treaties of extradition, and mutual judicial assistance. The European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism (1977) is discussed as an agreement meant to “deprivilege poltical offenses.”     

Dieter Engelhardt, Walter Brenner, Peter Fischer-Hüftle und Margit Egner: Naturschutzrecht in Bayern

Ohne Zusammenfassung