The DNA field experiment: a randomized trial of the cost-effectiveness of using DNA to solve property crimes

We report the results of a prospective, randomized study of the impact and cost-effectiveness of DNA evidence in investigating property crimes, mainly residential burglary. Biological evidence was collected at up to 500 crime scenes in five U.S. cities between 2005 and 2007, and cases were randomly assigned to the treatment and control groups in equal numbers. DNA processing was added to traditional investigation in the treatment group. A suspect was identified in 31% of treatment cases and 13% of control cases. A suspect was arrested in 22% of treatment cases and 10% of control cases. Across the five sites, each additional arrest—an arrest that would not have occurred without DNA processing—cost slightly more than US14,000. In the most cost-effective sites, an additional arrest cost less than US14,000. In the most cost-effective sites, an additional arrest cost less than US4,000. Expanding the use of DNA as an investigative tool has profound implications. Since DNA-led investigations are more costly than business-as-usual, substantial investments will be required to expand the capacity of crime laboratories, police, and prosecutors to use this investigative tool efficiently. In time, such a change may also impact the types of crimes of cases processed in the criminal justice system.     

A dimension of private life in Wallachia: violence between parents and children (1830–1860)

Violence was present and had different forms in every family during nineteenth-century Wallachia, either rich or poor, in rural or urban areas. Remaining in the shadow, almost never discussed between its members or even in public, this social act shocked the penal courts when it reached a critical point. But, during the century, violence between parents and children knew a constant evolution, visible in normative texts and in any written evidence left behind by the contemporaries. Thus, violence became a dynamic element in defining childhood and parent–child relationships.     

The protection of the contractor in public works contracts in the Roman Republic and Early Empire

The use of contractors to build and maintain public works in Rome and the provinces is a common feature of Roman building practice in the Republic and early Principate. It reflects a general tendency in Roman republican administration (also found in other sectors such as tax-farming) to let out state business to private entrepreneurs. While the extant sources frequently mention the use of contractors in public works contracts, most references do not describe the internal working of these contracts or (to use the terminology of Roman private law) the rights and duties of the parties involved. This article examines selected references to public works contracts in legal and literary sources in an attempt to clarify a single aspect of the contractual relationship between the state and an individual. The purpose of this survey is to establish whether the sources allude to any form of legal protection available to a contractor in his dealings with Roman magistrates in the context of public works contracts.     

Forensic utility of carbon isotope ratio variations in PVC tape backings

Forensic interest in adhesive tapes with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) backings (electrical tape) derives from their use in a variety of illicit activities. Due to the range of physical characteristics, chemical compositions, and homogeneity within a single roll of tape, traditional microscopic and chemical analyses can offer a high degree of discrimination between tapes, permitting the assessment of potential associations between evidentiary tape samples. The carbon isotope ratios of tapes could provide additional discrimination among tape samples. To evaluate whether carbon isotope ratios may be able to increase discrimination of electrical tapes, particularly with regards to different rolls of tape of the same product, we assessed the δ(13)C values of backings from 87 rolls of PVC-based black electrical tape (~20 brands, >60 products) Prior to analysis, adhesives were removed to prevent contamination by adhering debris, and plasticizers were extracted because of concern over their potential mobility. This result is consistent with each of these tapes having approximately the same plasticizer δ(13)C value and proportion of carbon in these plasticizers. The δ(13)C values of the 87 PVC tape backings ranged between -23.5 and -41.3 (‰, V-PDB), with negligible carbon isotopic variation within single rolls of tape, yet large variations among tape brands and tape products. Within this tape population, carbon isotope ratios permitted an average exclusion power of 93.7%, using a window of +/-0.3‰; the combination of carbon isotope ratio measurement with additional chemical and physical analyses raises the discrimination power to over 98.9%, with only 41 out of a possible 3741 pairs of tape samples being indistinguishable. There was a linear relationship between the δ(13)C value of tape backings and the change in δ(13)C value with the extraction of plasticizers. Analyses of pre- and post-blast tape sample pairs show that carbon isotope signatures are within 0.3‰ of pre-blast values, indicating that carbon isotope values are largely preserved during an explosion.     

Practice of forensic entomology--usability of insect fragments in the estimation of the time of death

Forensic entomology analyzes and evaluates the presence of necrophagous or necrophilic insects on human corpses to estimate the post-mortem interval. The three cases presented are good examples illustrating that not only the various stages of development of the necrophagous insects from egg via larva to pupa are useful for forensic assessment. Depending on the situation in the individual case, even inconspicuous remains of past insect activity such as empty pupal cases or larval skins may supply important entomological information. For this purpose it is indispensable to preserve such evidence, which may appear only as fragments or pieces at first sight, for proper entomological assessment.     

Genetic data on 19 STR loci in south-east Poland

Allele frequencies for the 19 STRs loci, D3S1358, D5S818, D7S820, D8S1179, D13S317, D16S539, D18S51, D21S11, CSF1PO, F13A01, F13B, FESFPS, FGA, LPL, Penta D, Penta E, TH01, TPOX and VWA were obtained from a sample of 203-1188 unrelated individuals living in the area of south-east Poland.     

Death during transforaminal epidural steroid nerve root block (C7) due to perforation of the left vertebral artery

Treatment for individuals suffering from migraines and pain due to an inflammation or impingement of a nerve range from noninvasive methods such as massage, physical therapy, and medications to invasive methods such as epidural steroid injections and surgery. Each method of treatment has an associated level of risk. While minor to moderate complications from such procedures do occur, deaths are very rare. We report the first cited case of a death associated with the pain management procedure called nerve root block, also referred to as a transforaminal epidural steroid injection. We present the medical history and autopsy findings of a 44-year-old white female who died of massive cerebral edema secondary to the dissection of the left vertebral artery and subsequent thrombosis due to the perforation of that artery by a 25-gauge spinal needle during a C-7 nerve root block.