Die Geschichte in der Gegenwart sehen. Überlegungen zum Begriff der „kontaminierten Landschaften“ [Seeing History in the Present: Reflections on the Concept of “Contaminated Landscapes”]

Seeing History in the Present: Reflections on the Concept of “Contaminated Landscapes”The essay takes the 2014 book Kontaminierte Landschaften [Contaminated Landscapes] by the Austrian journalist and writer Martin Pollack as an opportunity to explore relationships between landscapes, (marked) places, and memory. In considering the relationship between the metaphorical (literary) image of contaminated landscapes and the actual crime scenes, I focus on the mass shootings of Jews by the German Nazis and their local supporters in the former Soviet Union. These specific crime scenes are used to explore the limits of Pollack’s metaphor and the problems it causes. The central arguments are presented using concrete examples provided by seven photographs.Widzieć historię w teraźniejszości. Refleksje nad pojęciem „skażonych krajobrazów”W artykule książka Skażone krajobrazy (2014) austriackiego dziennikarza i pisarza Martina Pollacka staje się punktem wyjścia do badania związków między krajobrazami, (naznaczonymi) miejscami i pamięcią. Relacje między metaforycznym (literackim) obrazem skażonych krajobrazów a realnymi miejscami zbrodni rozważam na przykładzie masowych rozstrzelań Żydów dokonanych w byłym Związku Radzieckim przez niemieckich nazistów i ich miejscowych stronników. Te konkretne miejsca zbrodni pomagają zbadać granice zastosowania metafory Pollacka i powodowane przez nią problemy. Najważniejsze wnioski zaprezentowałam na konkretnych przykładach siedmiu fotografii.

Die Geschichte in der Gegenwart sehen. Überlegungen zum Begriff der „kontaminierten Landschaften“ [Seeing History in the Present: Reflections on the Concept of “Contaminated Landscapes”]

Seeing History in the Present: Reflections on the Concept of “Contaminated Landscapes”The essay takes the 2014 book Kontaminierte Landschaften [Contaminated Landscapes] by the Austrian journalist and writer Martin Pollack as an opportunity to explore relationships between landscapes, (marked) places, and memory. In considering the relationship between the metaphorical (literary) image of contaminated landscapes and the actual crime scenes, I focus on the mass shootings of Jews by the German Nazis and their local supporters in the former Soviet Union. These specific crime scenes are used to explore the limits of Pollack’s metaphor and the problems it causes. The central arguments are presented using concrete examples provided by seven photographs. Widzieć historię w teraźniejszości. Refleksje nad pojęciem „skażonych krajobrazów”W artykule książka Skażone krajobrazy (2014) austriackiego dziennikarza i pisarza Martina Pollacka staje się punktem wyjścia do badania związków między krajobrazami, (naznaczonymi) miejscami i pamięcią. Relacje między metaforycznym (literackim) obrazem skażonych krajobrazów a realnymi miejscami zbrodni rozważam na przykładzie masowych rozstrzelań Żydów dokonanych w byłym Związku Radzieckim przez niemieckich nazistów i ich miejscowych stronników. Te konkretne miejsca zbrodni pomagają zbadać granice zastosowania metafory Pollacka i powodowane przez nią problemy. Najważniejsze wnioski zaprezentowałam na konkretnych przykładach siedmiu fotografii.

Finding Needle in the Haystack: “Kasur’s Bogeyman” Brought to Justice by Geographic Profiling and Mass DNA Screening

This article describes the application of the concept of geographic profiling in hunting a serial child rapist in Kasur, Pakistan. It also discusses, how DNA became the prime witness against the serial rapist in the court of law. In January 2018, the blind rape and murder case of Zainab Amin hit the headlines. Following autopsy and the subsequent forensic examination, the only piece of evidence, the agencies had, was the DNA profile of the perpetrator and the information that the source of DNA profile is a serial child rapist, involved in at least seven more cases. The analysis of all crime sites and the distance between them strongly suggested that the offender most likely was a local resident. Mass DNA screening in the target region was conducted by CSI teams of Punjab forensic science agency. The DNA matched with suspect number 814 who later confessed all his crimes. In Polygraph examination, the offender revealed his modus operandi which was in line with the hypotheses made during the geographic profiling of the crime scenes. Thus, geographic profiling proved to be a very useful investigative tool in predicting the probable location of the criminal involved in a series of crimes.

Virtual Crime Scene Investigation and Evidence Protection

This paper presents the recreation of crime scenes through Virtual Reality for crime investigation and evidence storage. 3D image capturing and processing techniques are used to render fully-immersive Virtual Reality environment for investigators to work with. Cloud database and Blockchain technology for evidence storage are explained. The different levels of views on such virtual crime scenes and evidence storage are also expounded.

Forensic Analysis of Social Networking Applications on an Android Smartphone

Smartphone users spend a substantial amount of time in browsing, emailing, and messaging through different social networking apps. The use of social networking apps on smartphones has become a dominating part of daily lives. This momentous usage has also resulted in a huge spike in cybercrimes such as social harassing, abusive messages, vicious threats, broadcasting of suicidal actions, and live coverage of violent attacks. Many of such crimes are carried out through social networking apps; therefore, the forensic analysis of allegedly involved digital devices in crime scenes and social apps installed on them can be helpful in resolving criminal investigations. This research is aimed at performing forensic investigation of five social networking apps, i.e., Instagram, LINE, Whisper, WeChat, and Wickr on Android smart phones. The essential motivation behind the examination and tests is to find whether the data resides within the internal storage of the device or not after using these social networking apps. Data extraction and analysis are carried out using three tools, i.e., Magnet AXIOM, XRY, and Autopsy. From the results of these experiments, a considerable amount of essential data was successfully extracted from the examined smartphone. This useful data can easily be recovered by forensic analysts for future examination of any crime situation. Finally, we analyzed the tools on the basis of their ability to extract digital evidences from the device and their performance are examined with respect to NIST standards.