The effective use of asset recovery

Asset forfeiture is a relatively new and innovative way of fighting crime through civil litigation. In this article the author deals with the South African experience of best practice in the use of asset forfeiture to fight crime and corruption. He advocates the use of a combination of conviction-based and non-conviction-based forfeiture to make maximum impact. In particular, the paper deals with the many advantages of the UK conviction-based model, which is value-based rather than focused on the proceeds of crime. It also deals with the advantages of non-conviction forfeiture as an important tool.     

Books in review

She has written widely on sociological and cultural aspects of psychoanalysis. Her most recent book, Feminists and Freudians: A Comparative Perspective,has just been published in German and is forthcoming in English.     

Reciprocal relationship of social capital and microfinance activities in Nyanga,Zimbabwe

This article investigates the interactive reciprocal relationship of microfinance activities and social capital among members of the Kufusa Mari microfinance scheme in Nyanga, Zimbabwe. It reports on a study conducted among 146 randomly selected respondents, plus other participants selected for focus group discussions and key informant interviews. A reciprocal relationship between microfinance activities and social capital existed in this case study, but was found to be three-pronged, also involving developmental goals. The community should be encouraged to join the Kufusa Mari group scheme to promote self-initiated grassroots community development and advancement.     

An integrated technique for the analysis of skin bite marks

The high number of murder, rape, and child abuse cases in South Africa has led to increased numbers of bite mark cases being heard in high courts. Objective analysis to match perpetrators to bite marks at crime scenes must be able to withstand vigorous cross-examination to be of value in conviction of perpetrators. An analysis technique is described in four stages, namely determination of the mark to be a human bite mark, pattern association analysis, metric analysis and comparison with the population data, and illustrated by a real case study. New and accepted techniques are combined to determine the likelihood ratio of guilt expressed as one of a range of conclusions described in the paper. Each stage of the analysis adds to the confirmation (or rejection) of concordance between the dental features present on the victim and the dentition of the suspect. The results illustrate identification to a high degree of certainty.     

Book note

William Beinart and Peter Coates: Environment and History: The Taming of Nature in the USA and South Africa. New York: Routledge, 1995.     

A technique to capture, analyze, and quantify anterior teeth rotations for application in court cases involving tooth marks

Anterior teeth within the human dentition have a specific numerical rotation value. Bite marks show an array of angled indentations, abrasions, microlacerations, and contusions. These marks generally represent the incisal surfaces of the suspect's dentition reflecting the rotation values of the teeth in the dental arch. This study described a method for capturing and analyzing anterior dental rotations. The rotations of individual anterior teeth within the study population were categorized as common, uncommon, and very uncommon according to Allen's classification. In the absence of a large number of incisal patterns present in a bite mark, a single but heavily weighted tooth rotation could be of equal discriminatory potential to several common rotation values. No prevalence studies quantifying individual tooth rotations are available. The measurement of each individual tooth rotation together with its individual discrimination potential will enhance the evaluation of the concordant features observed in bite marks.