The secret life of crime labs.

Houston TX experienced a widely known failure of its police forensic laboratory. This gave rise to the Houston Forensic Science Center (HFSC) as a separate entity to provide forensic services to the City of Houston. HFSC is a very large forensic laboratory and has made significant progress at remediating the past failures and improving public trust in forensic testing. HFSC has a large and robust blind testing program, which has provided many insights into the challenges forensic laboratories face. HFSC's journey from a notoriously failed lab to a model also gives perspective to the resource challenges faced by all labs in the country. Challenges for labs include the pervasive reality of poor-quality evidence. Also that forensic laboratories are necessarily part of a much wider system of interdependent functions in criminal justice making blind testing something in which all parts have a role. This interconnectedness also highlights the need for an array of oversight and regulatory frameworks to function properly. The major essential databases in forensics need to be a part of blind testing programs and work is needed to ensure that the results from these databases are indeed producing correct results and those results are being correctly used. Last, laboratory reports of "inconclusive" results are a significant challenge for laboratories and the system to better understand when these results are appropriate, necessary and most importantly correctly used by the rest of the system.

Hate crime supporters are found across age, gender, and income groups and are susceptible to violent political appeals.

Hate crime is a pervasive problem across societies. Though perpetrators represent a small share of the population, their actions continue in part because they enjoy community support. But we know very little about this wider community of support; existing surveys do not measure whether citizens approve of hate crime. Focusing on Germany, where antiminority violence is entrenched, this paper uses original surveys to provide systematic evidence on the nature and impacts of hate crime support. Employing direct and indirect measures, I find that significant shares of the population support antirefugee hate crime and that the profile of supporters is broad, going much beyond common perpetrator types. I next use a candidate choice experiment to show that this support has disturbing political consequences: among radical right voters, hate crime supporters prefer candidates who endorse using gun violence against refugees. I conclude that a significant number of citizens empower potential perpetrators from the bottom-up and further legitimize hate crime from the top-down by championing violence-promoting political elites.

Improving forensic perpetrator identification with Super-Recognizers.

About a decade ago, Super-Recognizers (SRs) were first described as individuals with exceptional face identity processing abilities. Since then, various tests have been developed or adapted to assess individuals' abilities and identify SRs. The extant literature suggests that SRs may be beneficial in police tasks requiring individual identification. However, in reality, the performance of SRs has never been examined using authentic forensic material. This not only limits the external validity of test procedures used to identify SRs, but also claims concerning their deployment in policing. Here, we report the first-ever investigation of SRs' ability to identify perpetrators using authentic case material. We report the data of 73 SRs and 45 control participants. These include (a) performance on three challenging tests of face identity processing recommended by Ramon (2021) for SR identification; (b) performance for perpetrator identification using four CCTV sequences depicting five perpetrators and police line-ups created for criminal investigation purposes. Our findings demonstrate that the face identity processing tests used here are valid in measuring such abilities and identifying SRs. Moreover, SRs excel at perpetrator identification relative to control participants, with more correct perpetrator identifications, the better their performance across lab tests. These results provide external validity for the recently proposed diagnostic framework and its tests used for SR identification (Ramon, 2021). This study provides the first empirical evidence that SRs identified using these measures can be beneficial for forensic perpetrator identification. We discuss theoretical and practical implications for law enforcement, whose procedures can be improved via a human-centric approach centered around individuals with superior abilities.

Activity-adjusted crime rates show that public safety worsened in 2020.

This paper argues that changes in human activity during the COVID-19 pandemic led to an unusual divergence between crime rates and victimization risk in US cities. Most violent crimes declined during the pandemic. However, analysis using data on activity shows that the risk of street crime victimization was elevated throughout 2020. People in public spaces were 15 to 30% more likely to be robbed or assaulted. This increase is unlikely to be explained by changes in crime reporting or selection into outdoor activities by potential victims. Traditional crime rates may present a misleading view of the recent changes in public safety.

Unexpected employee location is associated with injury during robberies.

Millions of employees are victims of violent crimes at work every year, particularly those in the retail industry, who are frequent targets of robbery. Why are some employees injured while others escape from these incidents physically unharmed? Departing from prevailing models of workplace violence, which focus on the static characteristics of perpetrators, victims, and work environments, we examine why and when injuries during robberies occur. Our multimethod investigation of convenience-store robberies sought evidence from detailed coding of surveillance videos and matched archival data, preregistered experiments with formerly incarcerated individuals and customer service personnel, and a 3-y longitudinal intervention study in the field. While standard retail-industry safety protocols encourage employees to be out from behind the cash register area to be safer, we find that robbers are significantly more likely to injure or kill employees who are located there (versus behind the cash register area) when a robbery begins. A 3-y field study demonstrates that changing the safety training protocol-through providing employees with a behavioral script to follow should a robbery begin when they are on the sales floor-was associated with a significantly lower rate of injury during these robberies. Our research establishes the importance of understanding the interactive dynamics of workplace violence, crime, and conflict.

Preferences predict who commits crime among young men.

Understanding who commits crime and why is a key topic in social science and important for the design of crime prevention policy. In theory, people who commit crime face different social and economic incentives for criminal activity than other people, or they evaluate the costs and benefits of crime differently because they have different preferences. Empirical evidence on the role of preferences is scarce. Theoretically, risk-tolerant, impatient, and self-interested people are more prone to commit crime than risk-averse, patient, and altruistic people. We test these predictions with a unique combination of data where we use incentivized experiments to elicit the preferences of young men and link these experimental data to their criminal records. In addition, our data allow us to control extensively for other characteristics such as cognitive skills, socioeconomic background, and self-control problems. We find that preferences are strongly associated with actual criminal behavior. Impatience and, in particular, risk tolerance are still strong predictors when we include the full battery of controls. Crime propensities are 8 to 10 percentage points higher for the most risk-tolerant individuals compared to the most risk averse. This effect is half the size of the effect of cognitive skills, which is known to be a very strong predictor of criminal behavior. Looking into different types of crime, we find that preferences significantly predict property offenses, while self-control problems significantly predict violent, drug, and sexual offenses.

Different concepts of neighborhood safety and child internalizing and externalizing behaviors.

Neighborhood safety is defined inconsistently across epidemiologic studies - a conceptual problem that results in incomparable measurements, hampering the design of health interventions. Using child behavior problems (measured via the Child Behavior Checklist) as the outcome of interest, this study directly compared four measures of neighborhood safety: two of experienced safety and two of perceived safety, with each one measured at family and community levels. These included children's direct experience of harm, parental perceptions, community crime statistics, and community perceptions. In a sample of 3291 ten-year-olds from the Generation R cohort (living in municipal Rotterdam, Netherlands, 2013), all four measures were correlated (χ2 ≥ 9.2, P < 0.002 in pairwise chi-square comparisons), but ultimately identified different levels of risk for behavioral health. Direct experiences of harm, parental perceptions, and community crime statistics were all associated with increased child internalizing behaviors (ß = 3.12, ß = 2.10, and ß = 1.77, respectively), while only experiences of harm and parental perceptions were associated with increased externalizing behaviors (ß = 2.75 and ß = 1.31, respectively). These results provide novel evidence that the conceptual distinctions underlying different measures of neighborhood safety are meaningful for child mental health and should be considered in intervention design.

Identification and support of autistic individuals within the UK Criminal Justice System: a practical approach based upon professional consensus with input from lived experience.

BACKGROUND: Autism spectrum disorder (hereafter referred to as autism) is characterised by difficulties with (i) social communication, social interaction, and (ii) restricted and repetitive interests and behaviours. Estimates of autism prevalence within the criminal justice system (CJS) vary considerably, but there is evidence to suggest that the condition can be missed or misidentified within this population. Autism has implications for an individual's journey through the CJS, from police questioning and engagement in court proceedings through to risk assessment, formulation, therapeutic approaches, engagement with support services, and long-term social and legal outcomes. METHODS: This consensus based on professional opinion with input from lived experience aims to provide general principles for consideration by United Kingdom (UK) CJS personnel when working with autistic individuals, focusing on autistic offenders and those suspected of offences. Principles may be transferable to countries beyond the UK. Multidisciplinary professionals and two service users were approached for their input to address the effective identification and support strategies for autistic individuals within the CJS. RESULTS: The authors provide a consensus statement including recommendations on the general principles of effective identification, and support strategies for autistic individuals across different levels of the CJS. CONCLUSION: Greater attention needs to be given to this population as they navigate the CJS.

ADHD medication adherence reduces risk of committing minor offenses in adolescents.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the association between adolescents' adherence to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication and their risk of committing minor offenses. METHODS: Using two Dutch databases, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) and the Foundation for Pharmaceutical Statistics (SFK), we aimed to investigate the association between adherence to ADHD medication and registered minor offenses between 2005 and 2019 of 18,234 adolescents (12-18 years). We used Cox regression analyses to compare the rate of committing minor offenses of adolescents during periods of high ADHD medication adherence compared to periods of low adherence (i.e., periods with or without sufficient amounts of dispensed medication). We additionally tested associations with adherence to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) as control medication and analyzed potential reverse causation. RESULTS: High ADHD medication adherence was associated with a reduced risk of committing a minor offense of between 33% and 38% compared to low adherence periods of ≥3 months (hazard ratio [HR] 0.67, confidence interval [CI] 0.64-0.71) or ≥6 months (HR 0.62, CI 0.59-0.65). The reduction in risk can likely be attributed to ADHD medication, given the absence of effects of SSRIs and no reverse causation. The reduction rate remained between 16% and 55% per sex, stimulant versus non-stimulant medication, different offense categories and further sensitivity analyses. CONCLUSIONS: Among adolescents using ADHD medication, rates of criminality were lower during periods of high medication adherence, suggesting that adherence to ADHD medication may contribute to prevention of minor offenses in adolescents.

Recovery Services for Interpersonal Violence Victims on Healthcare Use at a Trauma Center.

INTRODUCTION: Treatment of interpersonal violence (IPV) patients is often complicated by social and mental health comorbidities. New American College of Surgeons (ACS) requirements include provision of psychosocial support services for recovery after injury. We aim to describe utilization and patient outcomes after provision of Trauma Recovery Services (TRS) at our institution for the IPV population. These services include assistance with food, housing, criminal justice, and advocacy. METHODS: IPV patients were identified between September 6, 2018 and December 20, 2020. Demographic information was collected. TRS utilization and specific services rendered were identified. Primary outcome measures included initial length of stay (LOS), number of subsequent emergency department (ED) visits, and outpatient visits within 1 y after the initial injury. Statistical analyses included t-tests, Chi-squared tests, and multivariate regression analyses. RESULTS: A total of 502 patients were included in the final cohort, and 394 patients (78.5%) accepted the utilization of TRS services after initial interaction. Patients were on average 33.4 y old, and 59.4% were females. Patients who were older (P < 0.001) and homeless (P = 0.004) were more likely to use TRS, while victims of sexual assault (P < 0.001) and single patients (P = 0.041) were less likely. Patients who utilized TRS had longer initial LOS (P < 0.001), more ED visits (P < 0.001), and more outpatient visits (P = 0.01) related to the initial complaint, independent of potential confounders on multivariate linear regression. Food and housing service utilization associated with LOS (P = 0.01), ED visits (P < 0.001), and outpatient visits (P < 0.001). Additionally, transportation services were associated with longer LOS (P = 0.01) while patient advocacy services were associated with more ED visits (P = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: TRS was extensively utilized by IPV patients, and associated with more follow-up appointments, ED visits, and longer LOS. Emphasis on injury mechanisms, baseline demographics, and social features may further characterize patients in need who tend toward utilization.

Spatial relationships among offender, knife, and victim during slashing attacks: implications for crime scene reconstruction.

BACKGROUND: The offender-victim spatial relationship is crucial in reconstructing a crime scene. The study aims to evaluate the spatial relationship of performing slashing attacks on a dummy using a Chinese kitchen knife, and thus to establish a scientific basis for crime scene reconstruction. METHODS: Twenty-four participants (12 males and 12 females) slashed a dummy's neck or chest using a kitchen knife, and the kinematic data were obtained using a three-dimensional motion capture system. The spatial relationships among offender, knife, and victim during slashing attacks were analyzed. RESULTS: Slashing distance and occupancy area are significantly influenced by gender (all P < 0.05), with males having higher values than females. Body parts significantly influence bevel angle, offender and victim azimuth angles, slashing distance, relative slashing distance, and occupancy area (all P < 0.01), with slashing the chest resulting in larger values than slashing the neck. CONCLUSION: Gender and body position significantly influence the spatial relationships of slashing action. Our data indicate that males stand farther away and occupy a larger area during slashing attacks. When the chest is slashed, the wound orientation is more diagonal, the offender's standing position and slashing distance are farther, and the occupancy area is larger compared to the neck. The findings could help identify the spatial relationships among offender, knife, and victim, providing a scientific basis for criminal investigations and court trials.

Pro-active drug-facilitated crimes (DFC): a study in the Department of Forensic Medicine of Paris, France.

INTRODUCTION: Proactive drug facilitated crime (DFC) is the administration of psychoactive substances (PAS) for criminal purposes without the victim's knowledge or by force. In Paris, France, patients who report suspected proactive DFC to the police are examined at the Department of Forensic Medicine (DFM) of the Hôtel-Dieu Hospital. Preventively blood and urine samples are collected but not systematically analyzed by the judicial authority. We aimed to assess the proportion of probable proactive DFC in patients examined at the Hôtel-Dieu DFM following a police report for suspected proactive DFC. METHOD: Blood and urine samples were collected from 100 patients. Toxicological analyses were performed by the toxicology laboratory of the Lariboisière Hospital. The results were correlated with the clinical data collected at the initial and follow-up consultations. RESULTS: At least one PAS was detected in 86% of the cases (voluntary or involuntary intake). After correlation with clinical data, 32% of the cases were classified as probable proactive DFC. In these cases, 49% of the substances identified were illicit substances (amphetamines, MDMA, etc.); 16% were benzodiazepines and related substances; 16% were antihistamines and sedatives; 14% were opioids; and 5% were antidepressants and anti-epileptics. In 90% of the cases, patients reported a voluntary ethanol consumption in the hours prior to the suspected proactive DFC. CONCLUSION: Toxicological analyses revealed a high proportion of both probable proactive DFC and probable opportunistic DFC. Our results indicate the need to perform systematical toxicological analysis in cases of suspected DFC.

Skin surface debris as an archive of environmental traces: an investigation through the naked eye, episcopic microscope, ED-XRF, and SEM-EDX.

Traces from bodies can be of various nature, for example of biological or inorganic origin. Some of these historically have received more consideration than others in forensic practice. Samplings of gunshot residues or biological fluid traces are commonly standardized, whereas macroscopically invisible environmental traces are usually ignored. This paper simulated the interaction between a cadaver and a crime scene by placing skin samples on the ground of five different workplaces and inside the trunk of a car. Traces on samples were then investigated through different approaches: the naked eye, episcopic microscope, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) with Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence (ED-XRF). The purpose is to provide the forensic scientist with the awareness of the value of debris on skin and then to highlight implications for forensic investigations. Results demonstrated that even naked eye observation can reveal useful trace materials, for defining the possible surrounding environment. As a next step, the episcopic microscope can increase the number of visible particulates and their analysis. In parallel, the ED-XRF spectroscopy can be useful to add a first chemical composition to the morphological data. Finally, the SEM-EDX analysis on small samples can provide the greatest morphological detail and the most complete chemical analysis, although limited, like the previous technique, to inorganic matrices. The analysis of debris on the skin, even with the difficulties due to the presence of contaminants, can provide information on the environments involved in criminal events that can add to the investigation framework.

Forensic species identification: practical guide for animal and plant DNA analysis.

The importance of non-human DNA in the forensic field has increased greatly in recent years, together with the type of applications. The molecular species identification of animal and botanical material may be crucial both for wildlife trafficking and crime scene investigation. However, especially for forensic botany, several challenges slow down the implementation of the discipline in the routine.Although the importance of molecular analysis of animal origin samples is widely recognized and the same value is acknowledged to the botanical counterpart, the latter does not find the same degree of application.The availability of molecular methods, especially useful in cases where the material is fragmented, scarce or spoiled preventing the morphological identification, is not well known. This work is intended to reaffirm the relevance of non-human forensic genetics (NHFG), highlighting differences, benefits and pitfalls of the current most common molecular analysis workflow for animal and botanical samples, giving a practical guide. A flowchart describing the analysis paths, divided in three major working areas (inspection and sampling, molecular analysis, data processing and interpretation), is provided. More real casework examples of the utility of non-human evidence in forensic investigations should be shared by the scientific community, especially for plants. Moreover, concrete efforts to encourage initiatives in order to promote quality and standardization in the NHFG field are also needed.

Detrimental effects of scene manipulations on temperature-based time since death estimation.

In forensic casework, time since death (TSD) estimations may play a crucial role to establish chains of events as well as for alibi assessment in homicide cases. Classical TSD estimation relies on reasonably stable ambient temperatures and a correct documentation of ambient and rectal temperatures. This constancy is in some cases disturbed by post-discovery alterations of the crime scene, e.g. opening a window. In order to develop a better understanding of this alteration-based detrimental impact on TSD estimation as well as to identify feasible recommendations for casework, the present pilot study examined ambient temperature effects of different window opening scenarios regarding various time intervals (5 to 360 min) in a furnished 10 m2 apartment during winter. In this context, in addition to the ambient temperature and thus the cooling rate of the room, re-approximation to initial room temperature, potential influences on a nomogram-based time since death estimation using a fictitious case, and the impact of the measurement height above the ground were investigated. Our data indicate a significant reduction of the mean temperature decrease rate after 15 min regardless of the remaining opening time and a correlation with the size of the respective opening surfaces. Re-approximation to initial room temperatures was observed with up to three times longer than the initial opening time. There was no evidence of a substantial advantage of temperature measurements above the level of the corpse (> 0.1 m). The limitations of the study and its applicability for forensic casework are critically reviewed.

Sexual dimorphism and topological variability in fingerprint ridge density in a north-west Indian population.

The science of fingerprints is very crucial in criminal investigation as it helps identify perpetrators or victims of a crime. Fingerprint ridge density (FPRD), which refers to the number of ridges within a specific area on the epidermal skin layer of the distal phalanges in humans, has been found to differ between males and females. This study attempts to estimate the sex from FPRD and evaluates the diversity in FPRD across several topological areas. The study involves 208 participants (120 males, 88 females) between the ages 18 to 25 years from a North-west Indian population. Fingerprints were collected, and FPRD was accessed in radial, ulnar, and proximal areas as recommended by Gutierrez-Redomero et al. (Forensic Sci Int 180(1):17-22, 2008). FPRD has been quantified using the techniques described by Acree (Forensic Sci Int 102(1):35-44, 1999). When evaluating FPRD in the lateral pocket loops and twin loops, the proximal-side core was considered. The study reveals that males have a mean fingerprint ridge density of 12.82 ridges/25 mm2 while females have 13.01 ridges/25 mm2. Females have higher fingerprint ridge density solely in the proximal area; males have higher fingerprint ridge density in both radial and ulnar areas. In conclusion, this research underscores the potential of fingerprint ridge density as a parameter for investigating population variations and individual identification. Future studies on fingerprint ridge density in India's diverse population will help establish reference ranges, allowing for sex and likely population group estimation, making it a valuable tool for preliminary examinations and exclusion criteria for sex estimation in crime scene investigations.

Exposure to Crime and Racial Birth Outcome Disparities.

Urban communities in the United States were transformed at the end of the twentieth century by a rapid decline in neighborhood crime and violence. We leverage that sharp decline in violence to estimate the relationship between violent crime rates and racial disparities in birth outcomes. Combining birth certificate data from US counties with the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting statistics from 1992 to 2002, we show that lower crime rates are associated with substantially smaller Black-White disparities in birth weight, low birth weight, and small for gestational age. These associations are stronger in more segregated counties, suggesting that the impacts of the crime decline may have been concentrated in places with larger disparities in exposure to crime. We also estimate birth outcome disparities under the counterfactual that the crime decline did not occur and show that reductions in crime statistically explain between one-fifth and one-half of the overall reduction in Black-White birth weight, LBW, and SGA disparities that occurred during the 1990s. Drawing on recent literature showing that exposure to violent crime has negative causal effects on birth outcomes, which in turn influence life-course outcomes, we argue that these results suggest that changes in national crime rates have implications for urban health inequality.

Situational and Victim Correlates of Increased Case Fatality Rates in Los Angeles Shootings, 2005-2021.

The gun assault case fatality rate measures the fraction of shooting victims who die from their wounds. Considerable debate has surrounded whether gun assault case fatality rates have changed over time and what factors may be involved. We use crime event data from Los Angeles to examine the victim and situational correlates of gun assault case fatality rates over time. We estimated log binomial regression models for the probability of death in each year from 2005 to 2021, conditioned on situational and victim characteristics of the crime. Case fatality rates increased by around 1.3% per year between 2005 and 2021 from around 15.9 to 19.7%. Baseline case fatality rates differed systematically by most situational and victim but followed similar temporal trends. Only victim age significantly covaried with the temporal trend in case fatality rates. An individual shot in Los Angeles in 2021 was 23.7% more likely to die than the equivalent victim in 2005. The steady increase in case fatality rates suggests that there were around 394 excess fatalities over what would have occurred if case fatality rates remained at the 2005 level. Increases in the average age of victims over time may contribute to the general temporal trend. We hypothesize that older victims are more likely to be shot indoors where lethal close-range wounds are more likely.

A Criminological Perspective on the Sexual Victimization of Older Adults.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This review presents recent research on the sexual abuse of older adults and examines this phenomenon from a criminological perspective. Much of the previous work has neglected to consider the entirety of the crime-commission process. Therefore, the work highlighted in this review showcases important information regarding the individual who committed the crime, the victim, and the criminal event as a whole. RECENT FINDINGS: Comparative studies suggest that the motivations of people who commit sexually victimize older adults are vast and can include those that are sexually and anger motivated, while the victims present with unique vulnerabilities, such as disabilities and spending most of their time at home, that make them more susceptible to excessive violence. People who commit sexual abuse against older adults are a heterogenous group, and the context of victim vulnerabilities is key to understanding why they are targeted. Specific prevention and investigative practices can be formed to better address this crime and protect older adults from future victimization.

Unveiling the efficacy of the feedback concealed information test in collaborative crime detection.

Collaborative crime poses severe social hazards. In collaborative crime scenarios, previous studies have indicated that perpetrators' collaborative encoding can impair the detection efficiency of P300-based complex trial protocols due to the collaborative encoding deficit. The feedback concealed information test (fCIT), a unique variation of the concealed information test, provides participants with feedback on how well they conceal information from memory. The fCIT, which has proven to be highly efficient, detects concealed information using recognition P300 along with feedback-related event-related potentials, and reflects the subject's motivation to conceal. However, no studies have examined the fCIT's effectiveness in identifying collaborative criminals. We propose that the fCIT's efficiency persists in cases of collaborative crime and test this hypothesis using a sample of 48 participants. The participants in the collaborative groups were instructed to have hushed conversations about theft to simulate the collaborative crime process. Subsequently, they completed the fCIT. The findings indicate a significant decline in recognition P300's detection efficiency when participants committed crimes collaboratively. Nevertheless, the detection efficiency of feedback P300 and feedback-related negativity remained high. This study's outcomes illustrate the capacity of the fCIT to detect perpetrators involved in collaborative crime.