Constructing Police Abuse after Rodney King: How Skid Row Residents and the Los Angeles Police Department Contest Video Evidence

This ethnographic article explores the manner in which the Los Angeles Community Action Network (LACAN), a grassroots organization made up of homeless and low‐income Skid Row residents, generates video evidence for use in lawsuits against the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). For marginalized communities fighting police abuse, the 1992 acquittal of four LAPD officers charged with the beating of Rodney King demonstrated that even the most “obvious” and condemning video evidence is subject to reinterpretation and reframing by skilled legal professionals. In response, LACAN has developed interactional filming strategies designed to constrain officers' ability to offer alternative explanations, while alleviating disparities in court‐recognized authority. In the tradition of legal consciousness scholarship, this article “de‐centers” the law by shifting emphasis from formal judicial decisions in the courtroom to citizen groups in their own communities, as they learn to use legal norms and conventions in social justice campaigns.     

Chemical enhancement of footwear impressions in blood on fabric – Part 1: Protein stains

A range of protein stains were utilised for the enhancement of footwear impressions on a variety of fabric types of different colours with blood as a contaminant. A semi-automated stamping device was used to deliver test impressions at a set force to minimise the variability between impressions; multiple impressions were produced and enhanced by each reagent to determine the repeatability of the enhancement. Results indicated that while most protein stains used in this study successfully enhanced impressions in blood on light coloured fabrics, background staining caused interference on natural fabrics. Enhancement on dark coloured fabrics was only achieved using fluorescent protein stains, as non-fluorescent protein stains provided poor contrast.A further comparison was performed with commercially available protein staining solutions and solutions prepared within the laboratory from the appropriate chemicals. Both solutions performed equally well, though it is recommended to use freshly prepared solutions whenever possible.     

Investigation of a typology of alcohol‐related violence defined by ultimate goals

Purpose. Alcohol‐related violence is a serious problem and treatments for high‐risk individuals need to be developed. Classification helps to route people into appropriate treatments. Drawing on animal research, we define alcohol‐related violence in relation to ultimate goals. We propose three types of violence: (1) violence in the pursuit of material goals, (2) violence in pursuit of social dominance goals, and (3) violence as defence in response to threat. The aim is to explore factors that we expect to relate to this tripartite typology, with the aim of providing a preliminary validation. Method. Participants were 149 young male prisoners who had committed an offence of violence that was alcohol related. Semi‐structured interviews elicited information about the offence that enabled classification into one of the three types. Differences between groups were examined at the event level – level of violence during the offence and alcohol consumption before the offence – and at group level – trait aggression, trait anxiety, anger control, and alcohol–aggression outcome expectancies. Results. No differences were found in levels of violence or alcohol consumption. Those whose violence was in the pursuit of material goals were high on trait aggression, trait anger, trait anxiety, and anger suppression. Those who used violence in the pursuit of social dominance showed high trait aggression and trait anger. Those whose violence was a defence in response to threat showed lower trait aggression and trait anger. Conclusion. The findings are discussed in relation to differential group profiles and treatment needs.     

Analysis of Pigmented Inkjet Printer Inks and Printed Documents by Laser Desorption/Mass Spectrometry*,†

Abstract: Anyone with a computer, scanner, and color printer has the capability for creating documents such as identification cards, passports, and counterfeit currency. Laser desorption mass spectrometry (LDMS) has been demonstrated as a powerful tool for colorant analysis. Inkjet printers are now moving largely toward the use of pigments as colorants; their insolubility makes analysis by simpler methods such as thin‐layer chromatography no longer an option. Recent developments in pigmented inkjet printer inks, such as gloss optimizers that coat pigment particles, may prohibit colorant analysis by LDMS. We demonstrate here that pigments used in inks from two Epson printers can be detected and analyzed by LDMS. Also, LDMS spectra of various colors created using a 4‐cartridge (cyan/magenta/yellow/black, CMYK) inkset are evaluated, to begin to develop an approach for unraveling LDMS data from real samples, to determine the number of inks used by a printer, and the chemical composition of the colorants.     

Sex offender residence restriction laws: Parental perceptions and public policy

Despite a steady decline in sex crime over the past twenty years, new laws, such as residence restrictions, targeting such crime have proliferated. Some scholars have argued that public concern about sexual offending against young children has served as a catalyst for the emergence of these laws. Few studies, however, have empirically tested this claim. To address this gap and to contribute to scholarship on public opinion about crime and justice, this research tests a central implication flowing from prior work—namely, the notion that people with children will be more likely to endorse increased restrictions on where sex offenders can live. Analyses of public opinion data from a 2006 poll of Florida residents suggest that parents are indeed significantly more likely to support such restrictions. Implications of the study for research and policy are discussed.     

Chemical enhancement of footwear impressions in blood deposited on fabric — Evaluating the use of alginate casting materials followed by chemical enhancement

Most footwear marks made in blood on a surface such as fabric tend to be enhanced in situ rather than physically recovered using a lifting technique prior to enhancement. This work reports on the use of an alginate material to recover the impressed footwear marks made in blood and deposited on a range of fabric types and colours. The lifted marks were then enhanced using acid black 1 and leuco crystal violet with excellent results.This presents a new method for the lifting and recovery of blood impressions in situ from crime scene followed by subsequent mark enhancement of the lifted impression.     

The "last vestiges of life"

On 4 June 2010, Deputy State Coroner Schapel of the Coroner's Court of South Australia ruled that he had jurisdiction to conduct an inquest into the death of Tate Spencer-Koch, who was declared deceased following complications during her home-birth. Coroner Schapel considered he had jurisdiction on the basis that Tate was a "person in the eyes of the law" under the born alive rule, as she had completely left her mother's body and she could be shown to have been alive after birth, evident from the PEA detected in her heart 10 minutes following her delivery. Close consideration of this ruling, however, reveals issues with the application of the born alive rule in the case.     

The effect of mark enhancement techniques on the presumptive and confirmatory tests for blood

An investigation into the effects of physical and chemical enhancement on subsequent presumptive and confirmatory tests for human blood is presented. Human blood was deposited onto porous (white 80 gsm paper and brown envelope) and non-porous (tile and linoleum) substrates in a depletion series (30 depletions on non-porous and 20 on porous) and subjected to three ageing periods; 1, 7 and 28?days. A number of enhancement techniques were tested [fluorescence, black magnetic powder (BMP), iron-oxide black powder suspension (PS), cyanoacrylate (CA) fuming, acid violet 17 (AV17), acid yellow 7 (AY7), ninhydrin, DFO and Bluestar Forensic Magnum (BFM) luminol] to evaluate their potential effects on subsequent presumptive and confirmatory tests. AV17 and Bluestar provided the best enhancement and fully enhanced all depletions in the series. The sensitivity of the Kastle-Meyer (KM) (presumptive), Takayama and RSID-Blood tests (confirmatory) was initially investigated to determine the range of detectable depletions. The KM test detected all depletions, whereas the Takayama test detected up to depletion 6 and RSID-Blood detected up to depletion 20 (paper), 10 (envelope), 15 (tile) and 9 (lino). The abilities of these tests to detect blood after enhancement were then observed.A number of techniques resulted in little to no effect on any of the blood tests, whereas adverse effects were observed for others. Ninhydrin and CA fuming caused weak but instantaneous positive KM results whereas methanol-based AV17 and AY7 delayed the reaction by as much as 1?min. The Takayama test was not very sensitive, therefore, its performance was easily affected by enhancement and negative results were often observed. RSID-Blood tests were largely unaffected by chemical enhancement although a drop in positive results was observed for some of the techniques when compared to positive controls.Using a standard procedure for DNA extraction, all the tested blood samples (before and after enhancement) gave a detectable quantity of DNA and were successfully profiled. Out of the 45 samples processed for DNA profiling, 41 gave full profiles, while the remaining showed allele drop out in one or two loci.