Assignment 1

Question 1

What is the role of forensic pathology

Answer 1

concerned with determining death
cause of death e.g. overdose, heart attack, car crash or shooting
manner of death e.g. natural, accidental, suicide or murder
postmortems and autopsies

Question 2

What is forensic anthropology

Answer 2

study of human remains
used in reconstructions and identification of victims in mass fatalities e.g. war crimes or plane crashes
facial reconstruction e.g. Harjit Singn Luther body found in field disfigured

Question 3

what is forensic ontology

Answer 3

comparison of dental records before and after death
postmortem dental profiling
comparison of bite mark

Question 4

what is forensic engineering

Answer 4

investigation of failure analysis of materials and constructions
examine road traffic accidents e.g. paths, speed, direction, driver and type of collision

Question 5

what is forensic toxicology

Answer 5

chemical analysis of bodily fluids e.g. bloods, urine, tissues for toxic substances
postmortem use to establish if a toxic substance is present
preformed on living to determine level of alcohol in breath or blood

Question 6

what is forensic psychiatry

Answer 6

behavioral sciences
concerned with mental disorders 
competency to stand trial
preparation of psychiatry  reports 
mental state at the time of the offense 
expert witness 
treatment

Question 7

what is forensic psychology

Answer 7

behavioral sciences 
applied discipline 
psychological theories of offending 
offender profiling 
FBI's behavioral science unit 
investigative psychology 
reliability of witness testimony 
behavior of juries

Question 8

what is forensic entomology

Answer 8

use of insects and other anthropods as forensic indicators
estimate time of death - postmortem interval
determine whether the body has been moved
determine whether drugs or toxins involved
indicator of abuse or neglect

Question 9

what is forensic palynology

Answer 9

pollen and spore as evidence
pollen rain and pollen fingerprint
whether a suspect was at crime scene e.g. Ian Huntley
whether a body has been moved from original crime scene e.g. Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman

Question 10

when is forensic science required

Answer 10

some crimes are obvious but scientific examinations are required
to support an offence of driving under the influence of alcohol and or drugs- blood/ alcohol concentration (80mg/100ml), breath (35mg/100ml) and urine (107mg/100ml)
evidence of drugs such as rohypnol may provide evidence of drug facilitated sexual assault or robbery

Question 11

finger prints

Answer 11

forensic information database service (FINDS)
finger prints can only be matched if it is in the database - good for catching suspects who have already been processed for a crime
United Kingdoms Central National Database - compares biometric information on those who come into contact with the police.
IDENTI 2010 - 8.3 million finger prints and 8.8 million palm prints

Question 12

DNA databases

Answer 12

National DNA Database (NDNAD) 2018 - 5.4 million individuals of which 80% are male
around 1% of crimes solved with help of DNA profiling - DNA must already be sampled in the national database

Question 13

is the suspect responsible

Answer 13

materials characteristic of the suspect left on the victim or at crime scene
blood, semen, saliva, fingerprints, hair and teeth
fibers from clothing, soles of the shoe impressions and material linked to assailants job
tyre prints, oil drips, paint, plastic and glass from vehicles
weapons and tools used
soil, pollen, fingerprint and vegetation

Question 14

forensic science in the UK

Answer 14

support with police services e.g. scene of crime department, fingerprint bureau, photographic service and chemical enhancement
pre 2012: forensic science service closed march 2012
overtaken by private independent forensic companies e.g. commercial entities and businesses fund them now e.g. Key Forensic Services LTD
concern include outsourcing and Randox scandal - tests results had been manipulated 10500 being reviewed and 2700 being reanalyzed for drug driving

Question 15

forensic science NI

Answer 15

within the PSNI the scientific support branch provides CSI, fingerprint bureau, photography and mapping and forensic advice
Forensic Service Northern Ireland - budget around £1 million and 20,000 exhibits annually - not including DNA and blood testing
NI DNA database custodian but works with FINDS

Question 16

key actions in relation to crime scene

Answer 16

preserving evidence e.g. protect from elements such as rain and wind
recording the scene
logging of actions at the scene
searching the scene and gathering evidence
protecting evidence for future processing
assessing the scene

Question 17

duties of the first officer

Answer 17

carry out initial assessment
deal with emergencies such as bomb disposal, fire service and toxic chemicals
call for assistance if necessary
preserve the scene
make appropriate record of their assessment and actions
communicate this assessment and actions to whoever takes over
provide appropriate info about the processing of the case to those members of the public involved
first officer on the scene may not be in a position to determine whether a crime is in fact been committed

Question 18

first aid considerations

Answer 18

original position and posture of the person being treated
original direction of flow of any bodily fluids
location, condition and orientation of any objects
presence of any objects in the hands or foreign material under the fingernails

Question 19

common approach path

Answer 19

accepted practice in the UK
runs from point of police cordon to the focal point of the scene
is chosen in order to avoid contaminating or destroying possible evidence

Question 20

why record the crime scene

Answer 20

provide permanent record of the crime scene in its untouched state
provide an account of the steps taken during the investigation during the processing of the crime scene
record fragile physical evidence before its recovered in case it is destroyed during the recovery process

Question 21

resource issues

Answer 21

serious and violent crimes are prioritized
volume crimes such as car theft tent to receive less attention
routine volume crimes can be major in some circumstances e.g. Fiona Pilkington

Question 22

importance of photographers

Answer 22

damilola taylor
real cases show the importance of photographing objects
if the blood stain on the shoe hadnt have been photographed it would have been harder to establish it later on

Question 23

commonly collected physical evidence

Answer 23

victims clothing 
fingernail scrapings 
head and pubic hairs 
blood - dna typing 
vaginal, anal and oral swobs - sex related crime 
hand swobs, gun shot residue testing 
recovered bullets from body

Question 24

preservation of evidence

Answer 24

each different item must be placed in a different container
chain of custody must be established to ensure continuity and integrity
chronological documentation of chain of custody includes record of paper trail, custody, transfer, analysis and disposal

Question 25

materials/substances that can be used as evidence

Answer 25

blood, semen, saliva
hair
organs, physiological fluids
drugs
explosives
fibers
fingerprints
firearms, ammunition
glass
serial numbers 
soils and minerals
paint
petroleum products
plastic bags 
plastic, rubber, other polymers
powder residue 
vehicle lights 
wood, other vegetative matter 
impressions
tool marks
documents

Question 26

types of evidence

Answer 26

trace- small amounts of material e.g. textile, fibers, glass and paint
biological- blood and other bodily fluids and their stains
toxicological- poison, alcohol or drug presence e.g. some of these may only be taken after death
prints and marks

Question 27

identification

Answer 27

process of determining a substances physical or chemical identity
chemical composition
nature of explosives

Question 28

comparison

Answer 28

comparative analysis is undertaken to determine whether or not a subject specimen and a standard/reference specimen have a common origin
both of these are subject to the same test

Question 29

fibers

Answer 29

2 categories- natural and synthetic
can be transferred to and from crime scenes and from person to person
volume of fibers transferred is related to the frequency and force of contact and the nature of materials concerned

Question 30

what is used in the laboratory

Answer 30

microscopy
microspectrophotometry (MSP)
thin layer chromatography (TLC)
infrared spectroscopy (IR)

Question 31

what can hair tell us

Answer 31

colour, length and diameter
size, shape and distribution of pigment granules
damage to hair
presence or absence of nits
when hair was shed e.g. anagen, catagen, telogen

Question 32

process of analysing glass

Answer 32

speed at which glass refracts light varies
known as refractive index of glass
glass refractive index measurement (GRIM) - fragments are put in silicon oil and heated until the glass disappears which helps to individualise the glass trace evidence

Question 33

blood patterns analysis

Answer 33

shape, sizes, location and distribution of blood stains can be used in various ways
prove or refute eyewitness accounts
reconstruct a crime
tell us the how of a crime

Question 34

firearms analysis

Answer 34

type of weapon used
distance between the victim and the weapon
direction of impact
type of ammunition
sequence of shots
whether discharge was accidental or intentional
internal, external and terminal ballistics examination

Question 35

class to individual

Answer 35

class characteristics - evidence associated only with a group e.g. a red dress from mark and spencer 
individual characteristics- evidence associated with a common source with an extremely high degree of probability

Question 36

blood

Answer 36

7.7% of a person’s body weight
55% of blood is plasma
Almost clear liquid- Serum albumin, globulins and enzymes
45% of blood is cells- Red cells erythrocyte, Biochemical markers, White cells leucocyte
Protein DNA = chromatin

Question 37

blood testing

Answer 37

Presumptive tests:
Leucomalachite green (LMG)
Phenolphthalein test (KM or Kastle Meyer)

Other tests:
Luminol test- Good for scenes where an attempt has been made to clean up
Precipitin serological test- Human or animal blood

Question 38

blood types

Answer 38

Development of the ABO system
More typing systems including Rhesus, Kell , Duffy, Lewis, Km and Gm
Discovery of protein variants known as electrophoresis
No. of typing can improve discrimination

Question 39

saliva

Answer 39

99% water
Produced by three main glands- Parotid, submaxillary and sublingual
Also contains digestive enzyme salivary amylase
Produce 1.5 litres every day
Presumptive test using reagent iodine

Question 40

role of the forensic medical examiner at crime scene

Answer 40

In cases of suspicious or unexplained deaths, s/he will:
pronounce that life is extinct
make a preliminary examination
record impressions of the condition of the body
inform police of any observations which may help their investigation

Question 41

preserving evidence

Answer 41

Standard rules apply to all medical examiners.
They must wear protective clothing, make contemporaneous notes and take photographs.
If the FME has to examine both victims and suspects, s/he must be able to demonstrate that no cross contamination could have taken place.

Question 42

deoxyribonucleic acid

Answer 42

Individual (apart from identical twins, triplets etc.)
Double stranded molecule
Two forms of DNA
nuclear
mitochondrial ( mtDNA)
mtDNA is inherited from the mother: it is less useful forensically

Question 43

DNA - scientifically

Answer 43

The two long chains of the ladder are sugar and phosphates
The rungs of the ladder are nitrogenous bases: adenine (A), thymine (T), guanine (G) and cytosine (C).
It is the sequence of As, Ts , Gs and Cs running along the DNA molecule that forms the genetic cipher.

Question 44

identifying an individual from DNA

Answer 44

Dr Alec Jeffreys in 1984 discovered DNA fingerprinting
Initially used in immigration cases
Within DNA there are detectable patterns thus the number of repeats varies between different people and can be used to produce their genetic fingerprint
Chances of getting a DNA profile from
40% saliva
70% semen
>80% blood

Question 45

DNA breakthrough

Answer 45

First used in a criminal investigation in 1986.
Used DNA fingerprinting techniques to link semen stain samples, collected from two rapes/murders (1983, 1986) in a small village in Leicestershire
Confession for one murder from Richard Buckland exonerated by DNA profile
1987 1st mass DNA screening
1988 Colin Pitchfork convicted of the murders life imprisonment

Question 46

new techniques

Answer 46

Standard DNA test (SGM+)
C. 50 - 100 cells
Copied 28 times
Analyses 11 areas

Low Copy Number (LCN) test
C. 5 - 10 cells
Copied 34 times
Very sensitive process

Question 47

concerns of analysing DNA

Answer 47

Working with such tiny fragments means that the reliability may be compromised.
There have also been concerns that the ‘amplified’ samples are more likely to be contaminated: by the person analysing the sample for example.
Justice Weir, acquitting Sean Hoey, accused of the Omagh bombing, was critical of the technique and the safeguards.

Question 48

caddy review

Answer 48

The use of Low Copy Number (LCN) test was suspended
Reinstated following a review by Professor Brian Caddy, who
concluded that the technique was fundamentally safe
but that it had not been used as effectively as it might have been.
As the techniques used become more complex, can non scientists use them effectively?