Havasupai Case Highlights Risks in DNA Research

The article “Havasupai Case Highlights Risks in DNA Research” in the April 21 edition of the New York Times highlights another debate over the use of donated DNA. However, in this case, 41 members of the Havasupai Indian tribe are refusing to donate their DNA for genetic research because there is no absolute guarantee that it will not be used for anything else. This distrust has started recently, when parents in Texas sued the state health agency when they learned that blood taken from their babies for disorder screening was made available to scientists without authorization. Unfortunately, this poses a problems for researchers, for they cannot give an absolute guarantee, but the also cannot do their research if people can’t trust them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/22/us/22dnaside.html

XBOX Forensics

A forensics toolkit for the Xbox gaming console is described by US researchers in the International Journal of Electronic Security and Digital Forensics. The toolkit could allow law enforcement agencies to scour the inbuilt hard disk of such devices and find illicit hidden materials easily. computer scientist David Collins has probably spent more time messing around with the Microsoft XBox, other gaming consoles, and PDAs in the name of forensic science than anyone else. He is a digital forensics expert at Sam Houston State University, and is working hard to replicate "mods" - both hardware and software for the Xbox and other devices. Criminals often hide illicit data on the XBox in the hope that a gaming console will not be seen as a likely evidence target especially when conventional personal computers are present in the same premises, for instance. The toolkit developed by Collins will allow police and other investigators the chance to lay bare the contents of XBox hard disks. Cell phones, smart phones, PDAs, game consoles and other devices provide a convenient means to store data of all kinds, including images, video, audio and text files. But they also provide a simple way for criminals to possess and hide illegal material too. Collins' XFT utility can mount an image of the FATX file system used by the XBox, allowing the user to explore in detail the directory structure. Collins points out that unlike the standard FAT32, NTFS, and similar systems used by the hard disks in personal computers, there is little documentation on the proprietary FATX system. However, it is possible nevertheless to acquire an image of a FATX hard disk and to mount it on another device. "Once the Xbox file system is mounted, the analyst can use shell commands to browse the directory tree, open files, view files in hex editor mode, list the contents of the current directory in short or long mode and expand the current directory to list all associated subdirectories and files," explains Collins. Importantly, from the legal perspective, XFT can also record such investigative sessions for playback in a court of law, which protects the defendant from falsified as well as providing more solid evidence for the prosecution. Collins explains how future work on XFT will involve making the toolkit into a fully functional forensic operating system (OS). This OS will be packaged as both a bootable operating system from a hard disk and a "live" bootable compact disk. "This implementation will be open source, verbosely commented and designed from the ground up as a forensic OS," says Collins, "This will remove any and all proprietary operating system dependencies, making the forensic process as transparent as possible."

Japan Clears Man Imprisoned for 17 Years

The article “Japan Clears Man Imprisoned for 17 Years” is about a Japanese man who was wrongfully convicted of a murder. In 1993, Toshikazu Sugaya was sentenced to life in prison for murdering a four-year-old girl. Mr. Sugaya was a kindergarten bus driver when the murder occurred and was the perfect “candidate,” as we know now, for corrupt prosecutors.

The prosecutors working Toshikazu Sugaya’s case forced, in ways that aren’t exactly known, Mr. Sugaya to make false confessions. In addition, the forensic scientists working the case flawed the DNA that was used to convict Mr. Sugaya and ensure a severe sentence. The corruption within the Japanese criminal justice system is something that judges recognize as a problem that needs to be addressed.

The DNA that was used to convict Toshikazu was falsified in order to connect him to the murder of the little girl. DNA falsification is something that most people never think of, but when people are placed in desperate situations you never know what they will do. Fortunately, a fresh DNA analysis was conducted at the request of Toshikazu Sugaya’s lawyers. With the true DNA of Mr. Sugaya available, Mr. Sugaya was released in June of 2009.

Experimental Validation Tool for Cell Phone Forensics Developed

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) researchers have developed a new technique aimed at improving the validation of a crime lab's cell phone forensics tools. Cell phones reveal much about our daily communications, such as calls and texts. A small chip card within most phones, called an identity module, stores this and other data for a subscriber. A subscriber identity module (SIM) accommodates phonebook entries, recently dialed numbers, text messages and cellular carrier information. Forensic examiners use off-the-shelf software tools to extract the data, allowing them to "connect the dots" in a criminal case such as identifying affiliations or detecting mobile phone activity around the time of an event.

But for this information to be used as evidence in court or other formal proceedings, the software tools that forensic teams employ are normally validated to determine suitability for use. Currently, preparing test materials for assessing cell phone tools is labor intensive and may require learning new command languages to perform the process.

NIST scientists detail their proof-of-concept research in a NIST Interagency Report, Mobile Forensic Reference Materials: A Methodology and Reification. They also developed an experimental application, called SIMfill, and a preliminary test dataset that follows the methodology described in the report. SIMfill can be used to automatically upload cell phone data such as phone numbers and text messages to "populate" test SIMs that can then be recovered by forensic cell phone tools. In this way, examiners can use SIMfill as one method to assess the quality of their off-the-shelf tool.

"Our research was a proof of concept," report author Wayne Jansen says. "Hopefully, forensic examiners will use our work to validate mobile forensics tools thoroughly before they employ them." The next step in the research is open. Scientists could expand the technique for mobile handsets and other types of identity modules, or the forensic community could decide to adopt this dataset and application as an open source project, according to Jansen.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091202091032.htm

"In 3rd Trial, Conviction in Murders From 1985" by John Schwartz

Twenty years ago a soldier, Master Sgt. Timothy B Hennis was tried in civilian court for 3 murders. Hennis was acquitted of the the murders. This month Hennis was recalled to face the military court at Fort Brag. Hennis was convicted of the same murders he was acquitted because of DNA tests that were not available during the first trial. Originally, he had been convicted of raping and murdering Kathryn Eastburn and killing her two daughters in 1985. Since then, the DNA identification technology and the field of forensic science has improved tremendously. The military jury was able to try him again this year. Forensic scientists were able to provide convicting evidence linking Hennis' DNA to Ms Eastburns DNA. Evidently, Forensic science has made many advances over the years and is extremely useful in solving crimes. These DNA tests were very helpful in solving this case.

Forensic Identification of Tattoos

The science of biometrics involves identification of people based on physical and behavioral characteristics. This includes facial recognition software, voice identification software and retina scanning. Biometrics is used commonly in forensic science with fingerprinting, handwriting analysis, hair analysis and blood identification.

Skin markings like scars, birthmarks and tattoos are considered soft biometrics, easily measurable physical characteristics that can change. Tattoos are becoming more common with estimates that approximately 36% of people between 18 and 29 have at least one tattoo. Most are specific to the individual, though many social groups adopt tattoos of similar design to designate membership. This is very common among gang members. Tattoos can give information on social characteristics such as time in prison, number of crimes committed and ethnic affiliations. Tattoos have been used for identifying bodies in mass disasters like 9/11 and homicides. This is often necessary when partial remains are found or other identifying biometrics like fingerprints are removed. Residual markings from tattoos remain in the skin even after burns or decomposition. Tattoos are also used to identify suspects in custody who may be using a false name. In the past, forensic investigators have kept large notebooks containing tattoo photos, which later gave way to searchable computer databases with tattoo characteristics. Both are unwieldy and require significant search time to find a match.

http://forensicscience.suite101.com/article.cfm/forensic-identification-of-tattoos

Murderous tale fascinates New Zealand

In 1995 in New Zealand a gruesome murder took the country by storm, and it was soon what everybody was talking about. In 1995, David Bain was found guilty of killing his brother, two sisters and his parents in the family's Dunedin home. There was speculation in the family about the father and incest between the two daughters. Many people believe that the father was tierd of living and took everyones life and his own as well, but kept the son alive to pin the murder on him. The only string of evidence is a tiny blood spatter and the time a "gurgling" noise was heard coming from one of the sister's bodies.

http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=2&did=1661588541&SrchMode=1&sid=3&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1271788525&clientId=7184

New Sensors for Chemical agents and Drugs

This will allow better, faster decisions to be made in response to terrorist threats.
The scanning instrument will use Raman Spectroscopy which involves shining a laser beam onto the suspected sample and measuring the energy of light that scatters from it to determine what chemical compound is present. It is so sophisticated it can measure particles of a miniscule scale making detection faster and more accurate.
Normally this type of spectroscopy is not sensitive enough to detect low concentrations of chemicals, so here the sample is mixed with nanoscale silver particles which amplify the signals of compounds allowing even the smallest trace to be detected.
Dr Steven Bell from Queen's University Belfast who is leading the research said:
"Although we are still in the middle of the project we have finished much of the preliminary work and are now at the exciting stage where we put the various strands together to produce the integrated sensor device. For the future, we hope to be able to capitalise on this research and expand the range of chemicals and drugs which these sensors are able to detect."
It is hoped the new sensors will also be the basis for developing 'breathalyzer' instruments that could be of particular use for roadside drugs testing in much the same way as the police take breathalyzer samples to detect alcohol.
At present, police officers are only able to use a Field Impairment Test to determine if a person is driving under the influence of drugs. The accuracy of this method has been questioned because of concerns that it is easy to cheat.
To ensure the technology is relevant, senior staff members from FSNI (Forensic Science Northern Ireland) will give significant input into the operational aspects of the technology and give feedback as to how it might be used in practice by the wider user community.
Stan Brown, Chief Executive of FSNI said:
"We consider the work being carried out by researchers at Queen's University extremely important and potentially very useful in driving forward the effectiveness, efficiency and speed of forensic science practice. The combination of leading edge research and hands-on experience of FSNI's practitioners has already proven very fruitful and is likely to lead to significant developments in forensic methodologies across a range of specialisms."


http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091005102708.htm

This article talked about a case west of Salt Lake City, Utah. Analysis of hair is a good way to tell what was going on in the body that it grew on. Now, it is being used more creatively than ever before in forensics science labs. Two scientists at the University of Utah, James Ehleringer and Thure Cerling, founders of Isoforensics Inc, which uses stable isotope analysis of forensic substances to find slight variations in chemical elements’ various isotopes. Ehleringer says, “Hair is a good trap for all those things flowing through the blood system.” Traces of things in and around the body can be found in the hair. This is interesting because by looking at the hair, one will be able to tell more about the life lived by the victim. The victim from Utah is unknown, but with these new methods, studying a few stands of her hair, looking at the various isotopes, scientists were able to determine that she had been living in the area for two years of her life. Hair also makes a good forensic tool because it tends to stick around at crime scenes and various places. “A single hair can determine a person’s location during the past weeks or even years,” says Cerling. This method can also help in proving or disproving alibis. It helps determine who was where at which times.