电子数据鉴定标准体系研究

结合电子数据鉴定实务与实验室管理体系建设的需求,在分析国内外电子数据鉴定标准化现状的基础上,提出了电子数据鉴定标准体系的整体框架及其组成,并分析了标准研制的关键技术问题。     

微信电子证据的收集和审查判断

在刑事诉讼领域,微信电子证据被越来越广泛地运用,有些微信电子证据甚至成为认定案件事实的关键证据。目前,司法实践中对于微信电子证据适用存在诸多疑难问题。在法治层面上进一步完善微信电子证据收集程序,健全微信电子证据的审查判断标准,需要结合立法和司法实践进行深入探讨,从而实现微信电子证据审查判断的规范化。     

A multidisciplinary investigation of chronic animal abuse: Collaboration between veterinary forensics and forensic anthropology

An unknown juvenile female mixed breed dog was found non‐ambulatory on a dead‐end street in an urban setting adjacent to a public park. During initial veterinary examination, she was assessed to have untreatable injuries and was humanely euthanized. The forensic veterinarian requested consultation from a forensic anthropologist to assist with documenting antemortem skeletal trauma. Analyses of skeletal tissues indicated numerous injuries in various stages of healing diagnostic of non‐accidental injuries. Veterinary forensic cases may benefit from collaborative analysis of bony remains by forensic anthropologists.     

The Microbiome Forensics Database UZH

Microbial communities in biological stains can provide valuable information to assist forensic scientists identify the body fluid/tissue present in these. As these microbial communities are characteristic of body habitats, DNA sequencing of microbes can be used to predict bodily origin. Promising predictive results have been obtained with supervised machine learning algorithms trained on bacterial abundance data from human body sites. Importantly, prediction accuracy is dependent on the training dataset, yet compiling a large and comprehensive training reference is a non-trivial issue requiring substantial efforts. Here we present a new online database and associated data-mining platform which is, to our knowledge, the first one customised for forensic scientists investigating body fluids/tissues. Our database features samples originating from ten human body sites, with selection options through an online platform. Users can download bacterial abundance as well as taxonomic data, which can then be used to train predictive models and test their accuracy. Future stages of the development of the platform will include curation of the samples to decrease potential errors in sample labelling, as well as access to an online tool to conduct exploratory analyses.     

Humans Are Animals,Too: Critical Commonalities and Differences Between Human and Wildlife Forensic Genetics

Wildlife forensics has recently been recognized among the wide variety of forensic science disciplines. This review compares human and wildlife DNA forensics, which use the same genetic tools, but often for far different purposes. Human forensic genetics almost invariably attempts to identify individual perpetrators involved in a given crime. Wildlife forensics often determines whether a crime has occurred. In addition to techniques familiar in human laboratories, like individual matching with STRs, wildlife analysts may be asked to determine the taxonomic identity, geographic source, or sex of evidence items, or the familial relationships or minimum number of individuals among a group of samples. This review highlights the common questions, legal framework, databases, and similar validation requirements to foster understanding between disciplines. Based on this understanding, human and wildlife DNA practitioners may work together and learn from each other in order to elevate the discipline of forensic genetics.     

Trust in digital records: An increasingly cloudy legal area

Trust has been defined in many ways, but at its core it involves acting without the knowledge needed to act. Trust in records depends on four types of knowledge about the creator or custodian of the records: reputation, past performance, competence, and the assurance of confidence in future performance. For over half a century society has been developing and adopting new computer technologies for business and communications in both the public and private realm. Frameworks for establishing trust have developed as technology has progressed. Today, individuals and organizations are increasingly saving and accessing records in cloud computing infrastructures, where we cannot assess our trust in records solely on the four types of knowledge used in the past. Drawing on research conducted at the University of British Columbia into the nature of digital records and their trustworthiness, this article presents the conceptual archival and digital forensic frameworks of trust in records and data, and explores the common law legal framework within which questions of trust in documentary evidence are being tested. Issues and challenges specific to cloud computing are introduced.     

论公共视频监控中公民隐私权的保护

公共视频监控是当前公安机关确保城市公共安全的主要技术手段,是技术防范手段在公安工作中的具体体现。但公共视频监控如果运用不当,则会侵犯公民的隐私权。应从以下几个方面采取措施对公民隐私权予以保护：1.健全相关法律法规;2.制定统一的视频监控标志;3.规范视频监控部门的管理制度;4.提高公众保护自我和尊重他人隐私权的意识。     

Validation of LAB color mode as a nondestructive method to differentiate black ballpoint pen inks

Nondestructive digital processing methods such as lab color mode (available in Adobe Photoshop) are emerging as alternative methods for forensic document examiners to use when attempting to differentiate writing instrument inks. Although these techniques appear to be viable, little data currently exists regarding the known or potential error rates associated with these techniques. Without adequate data, the validity and reliability of these techniques, including lab color, can not be established. In an attempt to begin to address these issues, 44 black ballpoint ink pens were obtained and used to create 990 pen-pair samples for analysis using established lab color mode techniques. No erroneous findings of "different" were reported following the examination of the known pen-pair combinations in which the same pen was used to create the samples (n = 44). Of the remaining 946 samples, 737 pen-pair samples were differentiated using the lab color mode method, while 209 samples were unable to be differentiated and were recorded as either being "similar" (n = 153) or "unsure" (n = 56). Comparison of the lab color mode results with the results obtained through additional testing using traditional infrared reflectance and infrared luminescence test methods showed that lab color differentiated 102 pen-pair samples (11%; 102/946) that were not differentiated using a VSC-4C.     

Validation of the barcoding gene COI for use in forensic genetic species identification

The application of forensics to wildlife crime investigation routinely involves genetic species identification based on DNA sequence similarity. This work can be hindered by a lack of authenticated reference DNA sequence data resulting in weak matches between evidence and reference samples. The introduction of DNA barcoding has highlighted the expanding use of the mtDNA gene, cytochrome c oxidase I (COI), as a genetic marker for species identification. Here, we assess the COI gene for use in forensic analysis following published human validation guidelines. Validation experiments investigated reproducibility, heteroplasmy, mixed DNA, DNA template concentration, chemical treatments, substrate variation, environmental conditions and thermocycling parameters. Sequence similarity searches using both GenBank BLASTn and BOLD search engines indicated that the COI gene consistently identifies species where authenticated reference sequence data exists. Where misidentification occurred the cause was attributable to either erroneous reference sequences from published data, or lack of primer specificity. Although amplification failure was observed under certain sample treatments, there was no evidence of environmentally induced sequence mutation in those sequences that were generated. A simulated case study compared the performance of COI and cytochrome b mtDNA genes. Findings are discussed in relation to the utility of the COI gene in forensic species identification.     

Identification of mammal species using species-specific DNA pyrosequencing

In forensic casework it is highly relevant to be able to deduce the species origin of an unknown biological sample. For such a purpose we have designed and developed an assay for species identification based on DNA sequencing of two short mitochondrial DNA amplicons. In short, partial 12S rRNA and partial 16S rRNA fragments (approximately 100bp) are amplified by PCR followed by direct sequencing using pyrosequencing technique. Due to properties of the chosen targets, the same PCR conditions and primers were used irrespective of the true species of an unknown sample. A total of 28 different mammals present in the European fauna were sequenced both for the partial 12S rRNA and the partial 16S rRNA sequences for accuracy verification. Together the two sequences showed to have a high divergence factor, discriminating almost all mammals. Furthermore, the human reference nucleotide sequences were always at least nine nucleotides different compared to the other sequenced species both at the partial 12S rRNA and the partial 16S rRNA sequences.