An Evaluation of Statistical Methods for the Determination of Age of Death Using Dental Root Translucency and Periodontosis

Abstract: Lamendin and colleagues (1992) proposed to assess age‐at‐death from root translucency and periodontosis. Several teeth from the same individual were included in their study. In our work, we evaluate the reliability of their formulas without introducing this bias. Our sample was constituted of 214 individuals (114 males and 100 women) selected from the Terry collection (U.S.A.). The R² between age and both indicators is equal to 0.33 and 0.08 (p < 0.001). Based on linear regression, the mean of standard error for individual age prediction was equal to 13.67 years, and the mean interval length is equal to 53.89 years. Multinomial logistic regression and Bayesian approach failed to give satisfactory results when classifying the individuals in age categories. Therefore, the use of root translucency and periodontosis may lead to incorrect age‐at‐death assessment, and it is thus necessary to complement this approach with other techniques to assess age‐at‐death.     

Bloodstains on Leather: Examination of False Negatives in Presumptive Test and Human Hemoglobin Test

Presumptive tests for blood are very simple and sensitive tests used in the search for evidence. They also provide initial information on the nature of stains. A second test can confirm their nature. However, these tests can present false–negative results for different reasons. Some of those reasons have been studied, while others, those caused by the substrate material that contains the stain, are less well known. This work studies the effect of one component of a leather substrate—quebracho extract—on presumptive and human hemoglobin blood tests. Assays were performed using samples of blood dilutions contaminated with quebracho extract and others formed on a substrate containing the contaminant. Results show an undoubted interference that causes false negatives and even visible to the naked eye stains and also indicate that some tests (phenolphthalein) are more affected than others. Examiners should be taken into account when working on this kind of substrates.     

Sudden Death by Spontaneous Epiglottic Hematoma Secondary to High Blood Levels of Warfarin

A 67‐year‐old man was found dead, at his home. On external examination, we found a voluminous purplish black ecchymosis of the anterior neck area. On internal examination, we found a voluminous epiglottis hematoma completely obstructing the upper airway. It was associated with other sites of intra‐abdominal hemorrhage. Toxicological studies revealed the presence of warfarin at a concentration of 8.4 mg/L in peripheral blood, which supposes an INR well above 4.5. To conclude, we supposed death was due to asphyxia secondary to a spontaneous epiglottic hematoma caused by a high blood concentration of warfarin. Hemorrhage in the epiglottis is very rare. To our knowledge, our patient is the only case of “sudden death” reported with spontaneous epiglottic hematoma due to high blood concentration of warfarin. In forensic practice, an anterior neck ecchymosis, without trauma, may suggest hemorrhage into soft airway tissues. Pathology findings make it possible to exclude exogenous trauma.     

Police students’ perceptions of professional competences: a comparative study of Catalonia and Sweden

This study is part of the European cooperation project, Recruitment, Education, and Career in the Police. The overall aim of this study is to compare how Swedish and Catalan police students perceive different competence dimensions in relation to their future profession, and how the perceptions of these competence dimensions change from the beginning to the end of the training program. The empirical data is based on identical questionnaires that were distributed to police students in Sweden and Catalonia. The results show different patterns in how Catalan and Swedish police students perceive the importance of the different competences at the beginning and at the end of their basic training programs. The implications of this study show that more knowledge is needed about the next step; that is, how the police students use these competencies in their professional work.     

Guilty Pleas in an Inquisitorial Setting – An Empirical Study of France

Anglo‐American guilty pleas have inspired criminal justice reformers in many inquisitorially based systems in recent years, in response to caseload pressures. In France, two different procedures based on the defendant's confession were introduced in 1999 and 2004 respectively: an out‐of‐court disposal (the composition pénale) and a prosecution pathway (the comparution sur reconnaissance préalable de culpabilité). Basing its analysis upon direct observations and interviews with French public prosecutors, this article examines the impact of these procedures on the French criminal justice system and its actors. Rather than a move from an inquisitorial to a more adversarial system, data collected for this study show a bureaucratization of the French criminal justice process. The role of public prosecutors is changing from that of judicial officers to caseload managers who have delegated part of their workload to less qualified staff for efficiency purposes.     

The role of Salvadorean NGOs in post-war reconstruction

The Peace Agreement signed recently between the Government and FMLN guerrillas in El Salvador marks the end of a decade of civil war. As both sides of the conflict and the international donor community begin to add up the financial costs of reconstruction, the human, social and psychological costs are carried mainly by the poor of El Salvador. Social organisations and NGOs who became strategists of survival now face the challenge of transforming their accumulated experience into alternative proposals for the building of a more just society and a prosperous nation. This article explores the practical complexities of transition from war to peace; and from emergency aid to sustainable development based on the participation of communities, social organisations, NGOs, and international agencies; and the challenges of building on their experience.     

Fetal visceral maturation: a useful contribution to gestational age estimation in human fetuses

With regard to the law, estimating fetal age is essential to assess viability (after 20 weeks according to the WHO) and the proposed methods generally use long bone measurements. Here, we evaluated the accuracy of soft tissue maturational stage and compared it with long bone measurements. First, eight kinds of tissues or organs from 448 fetuses with known medical history were studied (macroscopically or histologically). We clearly demonstrated that adrenal glands and skin were very good age indicators, because some characteristics appeared only after 20 weeks. We established a linear regression with a 95% confidence interval of +/- 2.9 weeks. Second, we applied our original formula using femur measurement and we combined soft tissues and bones in a multiparametric regression. The confidence interval was reduced to +/- 2.5 weeks. We conclude that the pathologist must use both histological and anthropometric data to determine fetal age as accurately as possible.     

Windows of detection of zolpidem in urine and hair: application to two drug facilitated sexual assaults

A LC-MS/MS method for the detection of zolpidem in hair was developed to detect this drug after a single dose in possible drug facilitated sexual assaults. To determine the window of detection of zolpidem in both urine and hair, three volunteers received a 10 mg dose. Urine specimens were collected each 12 h for 144 h. Hair was sampled 3-5 weeks after exposure. Hair and urine extracts were separated on a Xterra MS C18 column using a gradient of acetonitrile and formate buffer. For each compound, detection was related to two daughter ions. Zolpidem was detected for up to 60 h in urine with peak concentrations obtained at 12 h. A single exposure to zolpidem was detected in hair at concentrations ranging from 1.8 to 9.8 pg/mg. Hair analysis was applied to two possible criminal cases. In the first case, zolpidem tested positive in the corresponding hair segment at 4.4 pg/mg. In the other case, zolpidem was detected in all the segments analyzed, demonstrating likely previous drug use in addition to recent exposure associated with a positive blood result.     

Europäisierung regionalen Regierens: Mit Sinatra zum „autonomieorientierten Systemwechsel“ im deutschen Bundesstaat?

Within the last years integration theory is focusing on studies analysing the impact of Europeanization on national and regional governance. This contribution demonstrates that the German Länder till the mid 90’ies have developed and still follow a twofold strategy in representing their interests in the European interactive system: interest representation through the German federal system and direct interest representation at the European level. Since some years the guiding ideas of the Länder have changed. Thus, the further development of co-operative and interactive policy-making was no longer on top of the agenda. Despite, the Länder asked for a clear cut of competence within the multi-level system — what is called here Sinatra-strategy, according to the song “I did it my way …”. This discussion at the European level is linked with the demand for reforming German federalism in the sense of “competitive federalism”. The contribution asks whether the Sinatra-strategy at the European level could have an impact on the German co-operative federalism and could help to transform it towards a more “autonomy oriented system”.