Geomatic techniques in forensic science: A review

The purpose of this review paper is to highlight various geomatic techniques that crime scene reconstructionists or forensic practitioners can use to document different kinds of scenes, highlighting the advantages, disadvantages, and when best to use each technology. This paper explores geomatic techniques such as a total station, photogrammetry, laser scanners and structured light scanners and how they can be used to reconstruct crime scenes. The goal of this paper is not to discredit manual methods, as they are long standing and reliable, but instead to shed light on alternative methods that may produce equally or more accurate results with a more visually appealing final product. It is important for law enforcement and forensic professionals to understand the advantages and disadvantages of each technique, knowing when certain techniques should be used (and when they should not), and being able to revert to traditional methods if required.

The effect of attitudes towards individuals with sexual convictions on professional and student risk judgments

Attitudes towards individuals with sexual convictions is an area with growing research interest, but the effects of such attitudes on professional judgments is largely unexplored. What is known from the existing literature is that attitudes guide the interpretation of sexual crime related information, which cascade into potential biased or heuristically driven judgments. In this study we recruited samples of both students (n = 341) and forensic professionals (n = 186) to explore whether attitudes towards individuals with sexual convictions predicted risk judgments of hypothetical sexual offense scenarios, and whether this relationship is moderated by professional status or perpetrator characteristics. Forensic professionals expressed more positive attitudes overall, but the significant effect of attitudes on risk judgments was consistent between participant groups and was not moderated by perpetrator age or sex. We suggest that relying on attitudes as a basis for risk judgments opens the door to incorrect (and potentially dangerous) decision-making and discuss our data in terms of their potential clinical implications.

Mastery learning of toxicology life support skills by nurses and doctors, utilizing simulation technology in Nepal

Modern Medicine has been at the forefront in the use of patient simulation for research, training and performance assessment. With simulation, no patients are at risk for exposure to novice caregivers or unproven technologies. It becomes very important in field of toxicological emergencies, due to its acute onset of presentation, rapid progression of symptoms, and early deterioration of vitals and adverse outcomes in morbidity and mortality of patients in extremes of ages. Our observational study suggests that Emergency, Forensic Medicine and Toxicology (FMT) residents and Nurses have limited exposure to critically ill patients of trauma and toxicology and the budding forensic professionals lack the skills to manage them. Simulation has the potential to fill this educational void in managing clinical forensic and toxicological emergencies. The following review will attempt to answer this call by quantifying the effect of simulation-based educational interventions on retention of knowledge and clinical performance, as applied to acute care toxicology.

Evaluation of the dismissed forensic medicine specialists and other forensic professionals in Turkey

The right to work, one of the fundamental human rights, expresses the right of all individuals to maintain a dignified life by having an income, earned through work (UDHR, 1948). Following the coup attempt on 15 July 2016, the Turkish government declared a state of emergency on 20 July 2016. This lasted 730 days until 20 July 2018. During this period, 32 decrees were issued by the Turkish government. With these decrees, 150,348 public officials including judges, pros- ecutors, civil servants, teachers, bureaucrats, medical doctors and academics were dismissed without any investigation (Turkey Purge, 2019). With regard to the group of forensic professional experts, many have been dismissed following decrees issued by the Turkish government.

Death Penalty

Chapter 26 describes the cases that have defined the evolution of the United States’ relationship with the death penalty. Over time, the country has gradually narrowed the pool of those eligible to be executed, prohibiting the infliction of death on individuals the mental retardation, mental illness, and most, recently, adolescents. These cases are important for forensic professionals who may be involved in the evaluation or treatment of capital defendants. The cases in this chapter are Estelle v. Smith, Ake v. Oklahoma, Ford v. Wainwright, Payne v. Tennessee, State v. Perry, Atkins v. Virginia, Roper v. Simmons and Panetti v. Quarterman. The new cases further refine issues related to intellectual disability standards and procedural protections. These include Ryan v. Gonzales, Hall v. Florida, Moore v. Texas and Mcwilliams v. Dunn.

The medico-legal assessment of asylum seeker victims in Italy

Introduction: Changing patterns of migration hasrequired states andgovernments to respond to the specific medical and legal needs of asylum seekers. Based on medical assessments undertaken at the University Institute of Legal Medicine, the present study aims to describe the cases of asylum applicants who have suffered from physical violence, including torture, and the variables involved. Methods: Over a 10-year period, 225 survivors were examined by clinical forensic professionals from the University Institute of Legal Medicine. Results:85% of asylum applicants came from Africa, 87% were male, and the most common age group was 26-40 years old. 46% of applicants fled their country for political reasons. Blunt force injuries were reported in 45% of cases, the trunk was the most affected area of the body (40%), and applicants presented with an average of two different mechanisms of lesions and an average of four lesions each. Discussion/conclusion:Assessment of physical violence on asylum seekers requires the cooperation of professionals with different skillsets and training.

Pathways to violent extremism and risk assessment of terror detainees

IntroductionViolent extremism has become an important challenge for forensic professionals in prisons. In Belgium, cities like Brussels and Antwerp saw the rise of recruitment hotspots for violent extremism and foreign fighters. Prisons are well-known places where radicalization occurs. Belgium has the most foreign fighters that left to fight in Syria in Europe. Subsequently, incarcerations of radicalized men and women rose for joining terrorists groups. These events have triggered a need to train psychosocial services in prisons into understanding radicalization and the risk assessment of terror detainees. Mental illness in contrast, is known to be rare amongst violent extremists, and risk assessment as well as advising on reintegration will need specific tools for psychosocial services to advise on reintegration.AimsThe current presentation aims at showing insight into pathways towards violent extremism and introduce risk assessment of terror detainees.MethodsWe assembled literature on follow-up and pathways that lead to radicalization and even to violence extremism. Radicalization is not new, whether it stems from religious, political or other motives. This resulted in important literature on different trajectories towards radicalization.ResultsWe will give an overview of the pathways towards violent extremism (Dean, Moghaddan, Bjorgo) and on risk assessment tools (VERA-2, Pressman)ConclusionsRadicalization happens stepwise in different ways and leads to different types of violent extremists. Pivotal points follow a cognitive opening in the minds of people that might push and pull people towards radicalization and violence. Cases will be used to describe the different types and pathways.Disclosure of interestThe author has not supplied his declaration of competing interest.

Innovative Motivational Profiling: Comparing Marketing Projective Techniques Versus Linguistic Forensic Techniques

Motivational profiling is commonly done in both marketing and forensic contexts. In an unabashed quest for creativity, many marketer s use projective psychological techniques to search for inspiration that leads to ad concepts that will, ultimately, sell more products. Forensic professionals also seek predictive information about motivation in search of facts that will effectively lead to the capture and handling of criminals by using the recent advances found in linguistic technology. Projective profiling techniques produce very soft, opinionated data that are open to interpretation and which has only random relevance to predicting customer behavior. In contrast, linguistic profiling techniques produce hard data that are reliable, valid and very powerful in predicting behavior. The differences in process and results between the creative versus linguistic profiling are compared. Linguistic profiling is clearly the superior approach if prediction of behavior is at issue.