Archive for August, 2009
Monday, August 31st, 2009
The National Museum of Crime and Punishment recently had a guest speaker from the Washington humane society talk about the link between cruelty to animals and violence towards humans. The importance of this issue is underscored by the fact that the museum has dedicated a page on its websiteto raise awareness of the topic.
Why is awareness of animal abuse so important? For one, animal abuse is abjectly wrong. Beyond that, it has been shown that animal abuse is indicative of domestic violence. One study showed that almost 80% of abused women in violent domestic relationships reported that their abusers also abused or killed the family pet; another study suggests that 80% of all child abusers have a history of animal abuse as well. The link is not surprising given that animals and children have vulnerability in common, both are unlikely to be able to fight back and are easily hurt.
The tragic truth is that children who witness animal abuse are then more inclined to be cruel or violent towards animals and people in the future.
There is also a very strong link between cruelty towards animals by children and future propensity for violence. If we look at some of the school shootings in this nation we see that a number of the perpetrators also abused animals. The 1997 Pearl High School shooter tortured his own dog to death, the 1982 Thurston High School shooter had a history of torturing and killing cats and cows, one of the shooters in the 1998 Westside Middle School shootings shot dogs, including his own pet, before moving up to shooting people. Many psychologists believe that cruelty toward animals in children is a predictor not only for potential psychopathy but also for future violence towards people. In fact, many serial killers have also been shown to have tortured and killed animals in their youth.
Animal abuse must be stopped not just because it is wrong but because it also breeds violence in the community, violence that effects us all.
Tags: animal abuse, Crime, Law Enforcement, shootings, Tragedy
Posted in Editorial, Museum Events | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, August 26th, 2009
Nineteen year old Adam Cooper decided to make some extra money on the side when he got hired to clean the vents of a grocery store. Cooper, after an honest day’s work cleaning, snuck back into the vent system at night with the hopes of robbing the store. Unfortunately for Cooper the vents seemed smaller at night and he ended up stuck, unable to move, in the vent system of the store. After about an hour of being wedged in the vents he decided he could not free himself and started yelling for help. Once police arrived on the scene they had to grab a bottle of vegetable oil from a shelf and douse him with it in order to wiggle Cooper loose. Although it’s unclear whether Cooper had to pay for the bottle of vegetable oil he did have to pay his $10,000 bail for burglary and criminal mischief.
Tags: Add new tag, Crime, Law Enforcement, Punishment, Scandal, Story
Posted in Forensics in The News, Fun Facts, Senseless Crimes, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Thursday, August 13th, 2009
When a bitemark is left behind during the commission of a crime it is called bitemark evidence. The bite mark may be left in food, an inanimate object, or on a human being. Bite mark evidence has been used many times in the past in court cases; one of the most famous cases involving bitemark evidence involved the trial of Ted Bundy. Ted Bundy’s teeth were compared to bite marks left on one of his victims and a positive ID was made from the bitemark to Bundy.
The big question today is how reliable is bitemark evidence? Bitemark evidence has been used to convict a number of people, but has, with the advent of DNA, been proven to do so wrongly in a number of cases. Many cases have surfaced in which people have been convicted of a crime using bite mark evidence and have been exonerated, unfortunately years later, using DNA. In fact, a 1999 study found a 63% rate of false identification using bitemark evidence.
Bitemark analysis works much like shoe impression or fingerprint analysis, both class and individual characters are examined in order to make a positive ID. The class characteristics for bitemarks, which narrow down evidence as belonging to a small group, include size, shape, and bite of the teeth. Individualizing characteristics of bitemarks, accidental traits that make the bitemark impression unique to one person, include fractures, wear, and congenital malformations of teeth as left behind in the bitemark impression. So why is bitemark evidence proving to be so unreliable?
Bitemark evidence is mainly at issue when it involves the human skin. Most of the problems come from some of the basic characteristics of skin. Skin shifts when it is bitten, skin also stretches in different ways when a person is in different positions, so if the victim was moving and the skin was shifting during the bite incident how accurate of a pattern can the bitemark leave behind for comparison? Another factor that can influence the bite mark and its examination is time. One must consider how much time elapsed between the infliction of the bite mark and when it is to be examined for comparison. The natural healing and bruising process changes the skin and the wound over time, changing the pattern as it heals.
Given these uncertainties, many agree that bitemark evidence, particularly on skin, is mainly helpful in excluding suspects but should not be used as an individualizing tool. Everyone one agrees that the most important tool for examining a bitemark is a DNA test. The saliva from a bitemark, more than anything else, can be used to make a positive match to a suspect.
Tags: bitemark, bitemark evidence, Evidence, Punishment, Science
Posted in Forensics in The News, Fun Facts, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Friday, August 7th, 2009
Although the United Nations placed an effective ban on all international trade in elephants and elephant products, illegal poaching is still decimating African elephant populations. Forensic tools are now being used to try to solve this tragic situation. To end the slaughter, enforcement agents need to target their operations to the place where the elephants are being killed for their tusks. The problem agents encounter is that ivory can be poached in one country, processed in a different country, and then shipped out of yet another country, convoluting the process of locating the source of the contraband.
Scientists have long been mapping the DNA fingerprints of elephant populations throughout the continent of Africa. It is this data that can now be used to try to ascertain where the illegal ivory is being poached from. When illegal shipments of ivory are confiscated they can be tested for DNA and the DNA fingerprint gathered can be compared to the known DNA fingerprints in a particular region. The technology to extract DNA from ivory is borrowed from forensic odontology while the DNA profiling is a technique long used in forensics.
Once a shipment of ivory can be traced back to its area of origin police can determine if poachers are targeting specific elephant populations in small areas, which would mean a need for increased law enforcement presence in those targeted areas. If the DNA data shows the ivory is being distributed from multiple dealers in separate areas of the continent, then law enforcement will have to target smaller groups of dealers.
To read more see this article
Tags: Add new tag, DNA fingerprinting, Forensic, Forensic Odontology, Forensic Science
Posted in Forensics in The News, Fun Facts | No Comments »
Monday, August 3rd, 2009
How far would you go to get out of paying your traffic ticket? Iowa judge William Price received a letter, in response to an issued traffic ticket, from Kimberly Du’s mother stating Kimberly could not face her traffic charges since she died in a terrible car accident; the official letter was accompanied by a death notice printed from the Des Moines registry. In light of the tragic news, the violation was thrown out. Curiously, a few weeks later Des Moines police stopped a woman, named none other than Kimberly Du, for speeding and driving with a suspended license. Suspicious police officers questioned Du’s mother, who knew nothing of the letter or her daughter’s supposed untimely demise. Equally surprised was the Des Moines Register, they confirmed that an obituary was never published. Kimberly Du may have gotten out of a traffic ticket but she did get herself two years of probation and a $500 fine instead. Not necessarily a winning trade.
Tags: Add new tag, Law Enforcement, Punishment, Story, Trivia
Posted in Fun Facts, Senseless Crimes | No Comments »
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