Articles Related to Crime
Effect of Killing Methods on the Insect Fauna and Succession on African Giant Rat Cricetomys gambianus
The rise in insecurity and criminal activities remains one of the major challenges facing Nigeria. This has resulted in loss of lives in violent crimes, in addition to the deaths occurring naturally and from suicide deaths using chemicals. Collecting evidences at a crime scene requires that the evidences are accurately interpreted for proper investigation and use in court of law.
Palynological and Lithological Investigation of Forensic Materials at the University of Lagos, Nigeria: First Experimental Palynological Approach in Nigeria
Security agencies are always saddled with huge responsibilities of trying to establish evidences to link a suspect to a particular crime. But in most cases, there are always very limited physical evidences due to the complexity of the crime. However, forensic palynology provides a very good option, because pollen and spores from plants are very minute, ubiquitous in distribution and are seldom useful in recovery of vegetation of a certain locality. This present study aims to assess the feasibility of pollen, spores, and sand grains as associative evidences recovered from a suspect linked with a crime scene. Forensic materials including soil samples from foot wear, dirt from clothes, earlobes and nostrils were retrieved from the body of a suspect at a particular location in Nigeria. The retrieved materials were subjected to standard laboratory palynological, biochemical and lithological procedures. The dionex analysis (anion) and atomic absorption spectrometry (cation) shows great similarity in the results obtained with an exception to Zinc. A considerable similarity was observed in the potential of hydrogen and salinity values of soil samples from both the suspect and crime scene. The lithological data reveals a great correlation in the colour, grain size, grain sorting, and grain texture and grain shape of these two different soil samples. The palynological analysis yielded a recovery of palynomorphs including pollen of Elaeis guineensis, Alchornea cordifoliia, Cassia fistula, Syzygium guineense, Cyperus papyrus, Pteris species and Nephrolepis biserrata were also recovered. This reveals the potential of retrieved materials from the body of a suspect as good sources of pollen and spores. It is however important to corroborate the use of palynomorphs and sand grains with other lines of evidences in solving crime-related disputes.
A Preliminary Evaluation Study to Determine the Effectiveness of Infra-Red Photography for the Rapid Visualisation of Gun Shot Residue on Fabric
Infrared (IR) photography has been shown to be a proficient technique for the examination of documents, blood traces and ageing of skin injuries. However, its application in relation to the visualisation of latent Gunshot Residue (GSR) deposits has, until now, been significantly under researched. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of IR photography as a rapid technique for GSR visualisation on different fabric types.
Wildlife Forensic: Current Techniques and their limitations
The wildlife includes undomesticated and diverse forms of floral and faunal species, which is essential for ecological balance and human survival. The poaching and illegal trade has resulted in sharp decline of many wild species of flora and fauna around the world. The need of the time therefore is to utterly focus on wildlife protection for the sustainable development of biosphere and future viability of human beings. In this review we have focused on different techniques being utilized in wildlife forensic science for identification of wildlife species as well as their geographical origin. These techniques can be employed to control the wildlife crimes and convict the criminals involved in illegal trade of wildlife flora, fauna and their products. These techniques include footprints analyses, morphological and anatomical studies,
The Homeless with Jail Experiences: An Exploratory Study
Twenty homeless people were interviewed about the nature and frequency of their victimization experiences and fear of crime along with their past and current criminal justice involvement. Although this is an exploratory project we have preliminary results which form the basis for more rigorous evaluative studies in the future.
Addressing the Risk of Product Fraud: A Case Study of the Nigerian Combating Counterfeiting and Sub-Standard Medicines Initiatives
Combating counterfeit medicines requires a new and unique crime scene investigation and forensic science approach. The “crime scene” is both at the production of the counterfeit product anywhere in the world and simultaneously at the packaged product in a consumer’s hand.
Police Chiefs/Sheriffs’ Views on Varying Forensic Response
Police Chiefs/Sheriffs’ Views on Varying Forensic Response: An investigation into Florida agencies methodologies of Forensic Response and evidence collection.
Study on Hair Morphology to Distinguish the Dominant Races in Malaysia for Forensic Investigation
Hair evidence is one of the most common types of evidence encountered in criminal investigations. The present preliminary study is aimed to investigate the racial discrimination through hair morphology viz. inner cuticle margin, cuticle thickness and medulla pattern among Malay, Chinese and Indian in Malaysia.
The Forensic Science Effect
As a criminal defense attorney and criminology professor, I am amazed and excited that so many Americans have an interest in forensic science. When striking juries, I used to ask how many jurors watched television shows like CSI, Law and Order, and Forensic Files.
Latent Fingerprints of Insufficient Value Can be Used as an Investigative Lead
The evidential and investigative value of a latent fingerprint with insufficient characteristics to identify can sometimes be an issue of debate. In this report the authors present the case of a latent fingerprint bearing details in agreement with no visible discrepancies, but with insufficient information to identify.
Relationship between Sociodemographic Characteristics, Psychiatric Burden and Violent Offence in a Maximum Security Prison in North-Central Nigeria
Violent offenders are individuals who are incarcerated due to any criminal charge for a violent offence against another individual-armed robbery, murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, assault which results in bodily harm and forcible confinement.
Unfolding Tragedy in Ukraine
In bold contrast with most other countries in the Eurasian region, Ukraine legalized opioid substitution therapy (OST) for
injection drug users in 2004. OST provides addicts with drugs that safely substitute for heroin and ease dependence, all under the
supervision of trained support staff.
Fingerprint Recovery from Human Skin by Finger Powder
An examination experiment has been carried out to investigate whether fingerprint powder and lifting technique can recover and transfer latent fingerprints from human skin surfaces of dead bodies. For recovery Swedish Black powder and for transfer White Fingerprint Gelatine were used.
A Reintegration Program for Elderly Prisoners Reduces Reoffending
Harsh sentences have resulted in many prisoners being elderly at the time of their release. However, the longer individuals have been incarcerated and the older they are, the more difficult it may be for them to re-enter free society. We developed a reintegration program to promote their successful adjustment to society and to prevent their reoffending, and evaluated its effectiveness. Participants were 25 older prisoners in Japan; all were homeless and more than 65 years old.
Tame to Torture: Psychosexual Correlations of Sex, Violence and Torture
This paper discusses the psychosexual correlations and psychological consequences related to torture and behavioral acts that are fundamentally torturous. The influence of participation by learning and the relationship of acts to thought and thought to acts are further discussed to raise awareness to the effects of torture on the torturer. Theories from multiple disciplines are presented in an integrated context to examine the correlation between fundamental psychological principles associated with acts that are torturous in nature and, therefore, innately evil.
Characteristic Human Scent Compounds Trapped on Natural and Synthetic Fabrics as analyzed by SPME-GC/MS
The collection of human odor volatiles is of interest to forensic applications as a path to investigate canine scent discriminations in
legal investigations. A study using a selected array of previously identified human odor compounds has been conducted to determine
the retention and release capabilities of five (5) natural and synthetic fabric types, cotton (mercerized fabric and gauze matrix),
polyester, rayon and wool.
Editorial Board Members Related to Crime
Lee M Wade
Assistant Professor
Criminal Justice Administration
Middle Tennessee State University
USA
Criminal Justice Administration
Middle Tennessee State University
USA
RONALD R. THRASHER
Assistant Professor
School of Forensic Sciences
Oklahoma State University
United States
School of Forensic Sciences
Oklahoma State University
United States
