Shared Flashcard Set

Details

Crim 355- Forensic Sciences
N/A
41
Criminology
Undergraduate 3
02/23/2011

Additional Criminology Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
Forensic Science
Definition

- the application of science to law

- the application of science to criminal and civil laws that are enforced by police agencies in the c.j.s

Term
Crime Lab Scientists
Definition

- work in labs, analyze specimens

- don't go to crime scenes

- are civilians with strong core scientific backgrounds who perform scientific analysis analysis on evidence

- testify as witnesses

Term
Crime Scene Investigators
Definition

- are specially trained police officers

- collect evidence at crime scenes

- are Identification officers at the RCMP

Term
Role of an Expert Witness
Definition

- didn't see the event happen, they analyse the evidence

- give their opinion of what the evidence indicates

- has specialist knowledge in a specific area (educated, trained, research)

- present the qualifications at court

- opposing council can cross-examine

- judge has final say

- must give their unbiased opinion 

Term
Physical/Trace Evidence
Definition

- can include hair, fibres, fingerprints, writing, etc

- people leave and pick up trace as they go

Term
Locard's Exchange Principal
Definition

- Dr. Edmond Locard, who founded the first forensic lab in France

- an all cases, the criminal will leave something at the scene and take something away from it

Term
Admissibility of Evidence
Definition

- Frye vs US

- court must question whether the procedure, technique or method is "generally accepted" by a meaningful segment of the scientific community

 

-Daubert

- trial judge decides amissibility

- suggested areas of inquiry:

  1. can it be tested?
  2. has it been subject to peer review?
  3. what is the potential rate of error?
  4. is there wide spread acceptance?
Term
Class Evidence
Definition

- can be associated with a group but not a single source

- its value depends on the probability of the evidence being found else where

-ex. white t-shirt fibres

Term
Individual Characteristics
Definition

- characteristics can be identified with just one source with a high degree of accuracy

- is very valuable and very significant

- ex. fingerprint, DNA

Term
Alphonse Bertillion
Definition

- adapted father's seriation system

- used 14 charactersitics and 5 ranks for each person so that everyone had a unique description

-caught repeat offenders

was called "Bertillionage" or "anthropometric indications"

-Flaw:

Thought each characteristic was seperate from the others.

We know this is wrong! Basic genetics indicates that characterisitics are often linked together genetically and so they are inheriated together.

- was adopted in France and used in prisons

-was the founder of mug shots and crime scene photos

Term
Why must we ID Victims?
Definition

-to determine there is a victim

- once id is determined, police can get info on when/where they were last seen, ask friends/fam is the vic had problems or suspicions

- without an id, chances of solving the case are low

Term
Tentative ID
Definition

- gives an idea of who the person was

method:

  1. use items on the body of the victim at the crime scene
  2. create a biological description
Term
Biological Description
Definition

Sex:

-Adult: pelvis and cranium

-Subadults: harder to determine because bones are not fully developed, not expressed until puberty

Age:

- teeth and ossifcation centers (epiphyseal fusion=young adults, pubis syhphysis remodelling= adults)

Race:

- cranium and dentition

Stature:

- use measurements of a single long bone

-use measurements in formulae to predict stature

- there are standards

- can only use on populations that have been analyzed

Term
Positive ID
Definition
-confirms the tentative id and proves the remains are a specific person
Term
Methods of Positive ID
Definition

- visual

=most common, least scientific, only when body is fresh

 

-fingerprints

=common method, only valuable if there are premortem records or latent prints, if skin has shrunk and wrinkled, need to re-hydrate

 

-dental/x-rays

=common method, each mouth unique, compare to antemortem records

 

-DNA

=collect DNA from personal property of the tentative id, nuclear DNA (both parents), mitochondrial DNA (mother)

 

Term
Methods to Estimate Time Since Death
Definition

- corporal evidence: stage of decomp

- environmental evidence: insect colonization or plant growth

- anamnestic evidence: a person's recall of a common activity that can be dated

- eyewitness evidence: someone who saw the death happen

 

Term
Algor Mortis
Definition

- the cooling of the body after death

 

- cooling rates can give tsd in the first few hours

- drop in body temp happens at a predictible rate

- only valuable up to 18 hour after death

-there are variables (original body temp, body size)

Term
Rigor Mortis
Definition

- the stiffening of the body after death

 

- results from chemical and physical changes in the body

-glycogen is muscles become a gel, gel thickens when there is a pH change, causes stiffening in muscles, will become flaccid again

- smaller muscles show the effects faster

 

face: 1-4h

limbs: 4-6 h

rigor complete: 6-12h

rigor leaves: 24-50h

 

variable: speeds up warm temp, cocaine, exercise more

slows in cool temp

Term
Livor Mortis
Definition

- settling and pooling of blood after death

 

- the blood falls downwards after death, drops to lowest points in the body

- skin develops a dark red colouration

- red colouration usually not visible till after 30min

- tod is based if lividity is visible, moveable, set

 

Term
Training Requirements for CSI
Definition

- min 3 years of basic police service

- 3 wk assessment that exposes them to aspects of the job

-judge aptitude and ability for job

-successful candidates take the basic ident course at Canadian Police College in Ottawa

- assigned to ident section to do an understudy to a senior ident specialist

-must do 5 research projects and gradually take cases under their mentors until they can do indiv work

- at end of understudy period and final fingerprint exam, are presented to certification board

- takes 6h exam

->250-350 oral qs asked rapidly, need 90% min

->mock trail, presents fingerprint individualization from one of their cases

- must keep certification by continued studies and participate in recognized professional organization

 

FATAL MISTAKE: one mistake will end career

Term
Sequence of Events at Crime Scene
Definition

1) crime reported

2) first respondants attend scene. Must determine if crime has been committed

3) if there's a crime police take scene

1st duty: police safety

2nd duty: protect the public

3rd duty: protect the scene and evidence

4)first responders notify various support services (coroner, f.ident.serv, serious crime section)

** ident processes the crime, not responsible for the investigation

*** serious crime section actually persue the crime

Term
Processing a Crime Scene: Police
Definition

- if vic alive, try to save them

- post guards at appropriate points at the scene

- install barricade (crime tape)

- evidence not touched yet unless perishable

 

Term
Ident Specialists Legal Requirements
Definition

- id each piece of evidence

- describe exactly where it was found

- prove the continuity of the evidence from the scene until it is presented to court (chain of custody)

- describe any changes to the evidence that may occur

Term
 Processing a Crime Scene: Ident
Definition

- must get as much info before entering scene

- will speak to first responder (what scene contains, disturbances)

- witness statements

- cover clothing, hair, shoes with bunny suits

- fingerprints, DNA boot prints collected from first responders

- mark out safety zone (1m wide from boundry of scene)

- evidence sketched, catalogued, photographed and seized

 

responsibility:

-protecting/preserving evidence

- taking photos, stills, video

-taking detailed notes

- searching scene

- sketching measuring, and drawing

- collecting recording evidecne

Term
Principle of Fingerprints
Definition
  1. are individual characteristics
  2. remain unchanged through life
  3. have general ridge patterns that allow them to be identified
Term
Loops
Definition

- have one or more ridge entering from one side of the print

- curve around to exit from the same side of the pattern

->ulnar loop

->radial loop

Term
Whorls
Definition

-ridge patterns are genrally rounded or circular in shape and have two deltas

- 4 groups: plain, central pocket, double, accidental

Term
Arches
Definition

- ridge lines enter the print from one side and flow out from the other side

- tends to rise in the center of the pattern, forming a wave-like pattern

- 2 groups: tented, plain

Term
Fingerprints
Definition

- any print has 150 indiv ridge characteristics

- there must be no charateristics that don't match

- no min # of required characterisitics for a match, depends on examiner

- examiner will look at 3 levels of detail:

 

- pattern

- ridge characteristic

- sweat pores (if visible)

Term
Coroner
Definition

- responsible for overseeing the investigation into a sudden death under the criteria of each provinces Coroner Act

-medical or investigative background

- do training and understudy before taking own cases

- are on call and attend all sudden deaths

- help police investigations in homicides

- have legal jurisdication over deceased

- don't preform autopsies

= have juducal power

Term
Medical Examiner
Definition

- used in Alberta, Manitoba, Newfoundland, Nove Scotia

- medical doctors

- chief/deputy med examiners are forensic pathologists and conduct autopsies

- have Fataality Inquiry Act

- can authorize external autopsy if full autopsy not reuqired

Term
Role of Coroner: Coroner's Act
Definition

- determine cause and means of death

- all sudden and unexplained deaths

 

Coroner's Act: if death occured by..

- unfair means

- result of violence, misadventure, negligence, misconduct, suicide

-pregnancy or following pregnancy

- from disease, sickness, unknown cause

- any cause other than disease

- correnction center, penitentary

Term
4 Coroner Roles
Definition

- investigative: involves technical aspects of death scene

- preventive: determining cause of death and ensure a similar doesn't occur again

- administrative: providing death certificate and writing reports related to death

- judicial: powers/authority to conduct inquests

Term
5 Q's at a Death Scene
Definition

- who: who is the deceased

- how: cause of death

- where: ehere did the victim die

-when: when did they die

- by what means: what is the mechanism or mode of death

Term
Classification of Death
Definition

- accident: death casued by unintentional/unexpected factors

-natural: death caused by disease and is not the result of injury or abnormal environment factors

-homicide: the taking of one's life at the hands of another

-suicide: the intentional taking of one's life

-undetermined: no obvious reason why they died

Term
Coroner's Investigation
Definition

- history: medical, social, psychiatric, and what this tells us about the death... habits, lifestyle, talk to fam

-scene: tells us about the scene and the circumstances surrounding it. ex. drugs

- body: moved, trauma, trace evidence, position

Term
Cause of Death
Definition
- medical cause of death
Term
Mode of Death
Definition

- instrument of death

-ex. rope, bullet, hands

Term
Who does the Coroner Service
Definition
  1. deceased and family/friends
  2. society as a whole
  3. other government agencies and organizations
Supporting users have an ad free experience!