PubMed Health⌕ Search

SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 487 records · Page 27Linked to original sources
PubMed2001

Practical and legal aspects of forensic autopsy expert team operations.

Finnish forensic experts have investigated remains of the victims of alleged mass violence in the former Yugoslavia in 1996 under the mandate of the United Nations, and in 1998 and 1999 under the mandate of the European Union. The investigative documents later were surrendered to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The indictments issued by the ICTY include charges even against the highest authorities of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. This study describes the experience gained in organising forensic expert team operations in a foreign state by the Finnish team. The establishment and operation of a forensic expert team in a foreign state involve, among other things, legal issues, often related to differing legal systems. From an independent forensic expert team, great objectivity and self-constraint are expected. Moreover, a clear and sufficiently detailed agreement on the mandate of the team and on the possibility for unhindered and safe access of the experts to the alleged mass graves, as well as the assembling and briefing of the team members and provision of the necessary equipment should be completed before the beginning of the mission. Furthermore, the application of adequate and internationally recognised methods for processing and documenting the examination is essential for team's credibility.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2002

Duty of care in immunisation against biological warfare agents.

In peacetime, the Crown owes a duty of care to members of the Armed Forces to provide adequate medical support. This includes the provision of safe and effective vaccines. A Serviceman who considers himself harmed by immunisation against biological warfare (BW) agents would have access to legal action in the tort of negligence. However, the outcome would be uncertain because of the absence of clear precedent in respect of the Crown's duty of care in the period of transition between peace and war and the statutory right of the Government to bar proceedings against the Crown for alleged negligence during time of war. Moreover, no claimant has yet succeeded in any common law action in the United Kingdom for vaccine damage because of the difficulty of proving causation. The Serviceman would not be covered by the Criminal Injuries Compensation (Overseas) Scheme. Likewise, he would not be eligible for payment under the Vaccine Damage Payments Act 1979 unless the Act was amended. The Serviceman would therefore have to rely on the current pension system that is accessible, relatively generous and, until recently, independent of the Ministry of Defence.

Biological Warfare↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Forensic medicine experiences in Kosovo].

In summer 1999, a German forensic team of CID officers and forensic pathologists was sent to Kosovo on request of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to investigate possible war crimes. For this purpose, witnesses had to be found and interrogated and graves of victims had to be located and the bodies exhumed and examined forensically. Roughly 200 bodies have been found and examined during the campaign that were predominantly of male sex and showed mainly gunshot wounds. A high percentage of all bodies could be identified. The article deals with different forensic-pathologic aspects of such an investigation.

Autopsy↗
PubMed2001

[Psychosocial survey of drunken drivers within the KAPUBRA project. A new interview technique suitable for matching the right treatment with the right client].

Three different programs for individuals convicted of drunken driving are being evaluated in a randomized design in collaboration between researchers at the Karolinska Institute and the Prison and Probation Service in Sweden. In the years 1996-1998, 912 clients were interviewed by means of a structured interview, the Addiction Severity Index (ASI), which covers seven problem areas (medical status, alcohol use, employment status, drug use, legal status, family/social and psychiatric status). So far about half of the subjects have been re-investigated two years after leave. Initially, the group being investigated had problems particularly in the areas of criminality and alcohol use. Two years later a positive trend in most of the problem areas could be observed for clients in follow-up.

Alcohol Drinking↗
PubMed2004

The rarity of "unusual" [corrected] dispositions of victim bodies: staging and posing.

The act of leaving a victim's body in an unusual position is a conscious criminal action by an offender to thwart an investigation, shock the finder and investigators of the crime scene, or give perverted pleasure to the killer. The unusual position concepts of posing and staging a murder victim have been documented thoroughly and have been accepted by the courts as a definable phenomenon. One staging case and one posing case are outlined and reveal characteristics of those homicides. From the Washington State Attorney General's Homicide Investigation and Tracking System's database on murder covering the years 1981-2000 (a total of 5,224 cases), the relative frequency of unusual body dispositions is revealed as a very rare occurrence. Only 1.3% of victims are left in an unusual position, with 0.3% being posed and 0.1% being staged. The characteristics of these types of murders also set them apart: compared to all other murders, in staged murders the victims and killers are, on average, older. All victims and offenders in the staged murders are white, with victims being disproportionately white in murders with any kind of unusual body disposition. Likewise, females stand out as victims when the body is posed, staged, or left in other unusual positions. Whereas posed bodies are more likely to include sexual assault, often in serial murders, there is no evidence of either in the staged cases. Lastly, when a body is left in an unusual position, binding is more likely, as well as the use of more "hands on" means of killing the victim, such as stabbing or cutting weapons, bludgeons, ligatures, or hands and feet.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

[Evaluation of unusual band patterns in immunochemophoresis].

The occurrence of unusual band patterns in the protein systems Gc, F XIII B and PLG is described. During the routine investigation of these systems in paternity, identity and criminal cases, several examples of alterations or additions to the normal band patterns have been observed. This was particularly noticeable in post mortem samples, stored liquid blood samples and blood stains. A connection between alterations in the form due to charge changes and changes to the isoelectric point from ageing of blood samples is demonstrated.

Blood Protein Electrophoresis↗
PubMed2003

The short- and long-term effects of adolescent violent victimization experienced within the family and community.

Adolescents face high rates of victimization, yet little is known regarding the criminal consequences of these experiences. Using data from the National Youth Survey, this investigation compared the relative and combined effects of adolescent violent victimization perpetrated by family and nonfamily members on self-reported criminal offending from adolescence to early adulthood. The results demonstrate that both types of violence have an immediate and sustained impact on criminal involvement, although the effect is somewhat stronger for nonfamily victimization, and for both types, the relationship tends to weaken over time. In addition, those experiencing both types of victimization report a higher frequency of offending compared to those experiencing only one type. The findings indicate the need for prevention programs aimed at decreasing the prevalence of adolescent victimization, as well as intervention efforts to help victims from becoming offenders.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2007

Adolescent girls and criminal activity: role of MAOA-LPR genotype and psychosocial factors.

Recent findings among boys show that interactions between a polymorphism in the monoamine oxidase A gene promoter region (MAOA-LPR) and psychosocial factors predict criminal activity. The objective of this study was to investigate whether this finding could be extended to adolescent girls. One hundred nineteen female adolescents were recruited among respondents to a cross-sectional study of the total population of 16- and 19-year old girls. These girls constituted a randomly selected sub-sample from groups representing different degrees of risk behavior. The subjects filled in a questionnaire and were interviewed and genotyped with regard to MAOA-LPR. The results indicate that the long, (4-repeat) allele confer an increased risk for criminal behavior in the presence of psychosocial risk. Among girls without social risk, MAOA-LPR genotype was of no importance for criminal behavior. The present results suggest that previous observations on adolescent males, which demonstrate that the short MAOA-LPR genotype and psychosocial adversity interact to predict criminal activity, may not be applicable to females.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Personality traits and platelet monoamine oxidase activity in a Swedish male criminal population.

BACKGROUND: A Swedish male criminal population was grouped into personality disorder subgroups and investigated with regard to personality traits and platelet monoamine oxidase (MAO) activity. The main aim of the study was to examine the possibility of a risk factor combination by having low platelet MAO activity as well as belonging to a certain diagnostic DSM-IV axis I (drug abuse in the present series) and/or II subgroup. METHODS: Personality disorders were grouped into clusters according to the cluster system used in DSM-IV axis II. The prisoners were grouped into five subgroups and each subject completed the Karolinska Scales of Personality self-report questionnaire. The comparison group for the personality data comprised 51 non-criminal males from a longitudinal Swedish project. Platelet MAO activity was assessed for the criminals as well as for a control group including 60 non-criminal healthy male Caucasians. For testing the existence of syndromes, a configuration frequency analysis (CFA) was used. RESULTS: The results showed low scores on the socialisation and high scores on the sensation seeking-related traits impulsiveness and monotony avoidance, and the somatic anxiety-related muscular tension in the criminals with any DSM-IV mental disorder, however most markedly in cluster AB and cluster B subjects. In addition, cluster AB subjects had significantly lower platelet MAO activity than controls. Two significant 'types' were found among the criminals: one was characterised by low platelet MAO activity, cluster B personality diagnosis as well as drug abuse disorder diagnosis; and the other by a pattern of normal platelet MAO activity, no cluster B personality disorder and no drug abuse disorder diagnosis. CONCLUSION: The aggregation of certain risk factors in the same individual has been shown to contribute to the development of criminal behaviour.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Mobile autopsy teams in the investigation of war crimes in Kosovo 1999.

On request of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the Danish-Swedish forensic teams worked in Kosovo during the summer and the fall of 1999. The teams worked mainly as "mobile teams" at sites with few graves. Only two larger sites were examined. Most of the bodies were buried separately. A few "multiple burial" graves were examined, but no mass graves were encountered. The main purpose of the autopsies was to establish the cause and manner of death. Identification was of less importance, but a majority of the bodies had been identified prior to the autopsy. A total of 308 bodies, mainly males, were examined. The age varied greatly with a mean age of 47 years. The most common cause of death was gun shot wounds and the most common manner of death was homicide.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Commonwealth initiatives in the tracing, seizing, freezing and forfeiture of drug proceeds.

Commonwealth Law Ministers have recognized that improved domestic measures for tracing, seizing, freezing and forfeiting illegally acquired assets, including the proceeds of drug trafficking, should be complemented by international initiatives. To this end, the Commonwealth Secretariat is formulating a Commonwealth scheme for mutual judicial assistance in criminal matters to strengthen the ability of national authorities to investigate, prosecute and convict international drug traffickers. Work is also being done to develop model legislation governing the attachment of assets believed to have been illegally acquired. In addition, the Commonwealth Commercial Crime Unit has for the past three years been developing intelligence on illicit money operations relating to drug traffickers and other organized criminals. The Commonwealth Secretariat considers that the fight against organized drug crimes requires a wide-ranged response, including improved laws, greater training and education and increased international cooperation.

Drug and Narcotic Control↗
PubMed1987

A statistical model examining repetitive criminal behavior in acts of violence.

A simple statistical model for examining repetitive criminal behavior in acts of violence is described. The units, called "parameters," are nonquestionable data concerning environment of the crime, personal properties, and postmortem findings of the victim, obtained by double-blind investigation performed by two forensic pathologists. Parameters shared by two or more criminal acts allegedly committed by the same assailant were compared with the same parameters recorded from 50 or 100 other mutually independent criminal acts committed by other known assailants. This allowed an evaluation of the probability (p) of a crime pattern expressed as a parameter score to recur in mutually independent cases. The distribution of the score, when plotted on a logarithmic scale in all examples, showed an approximately normal distribution. The relation between probability (p), the estimated mean (means), and standard deviation (SD) yielded a normal curve. Different patterns of action by different perpetrators and patterns indicating repetitive behavior could be obtained. The method is applicable during investigation of crimes in which the perpetrator acts in a repetitive manner, as in serial murders.

Crime↗
PubMed2002

Eyewitness testimony.

The criminal justice system relies heavily on eyewitness identification for investigating and prosecuting crimes. Psychology has built the only scientific literature on eyewitness identification and has warned the justice system of problems with eyewitness identification evidence. Recent DNA exoneration cases have corroborated the warnings of eyewitness identification researchers by showing that mistaken eyewitness identification was the largest single factor contributing to the conviction of these innocent people. We review major developments in the experimental literature concerning the way that various factors relate to the accuracy of eyewitness identification. These factors include characteristics of the witness, characteristics of the witnessed event, characteristics of testimony, lineup content, lineup instructions, and methods of testing. Problems with the literature are noted with respect to both the relative paucity of theory and the scarcity of base-rate information from actual cases.

Criminal Law↗
PubMed1983

Criminal identification comparison: aural versus visual identifications resulting from a simulated crime.

This research was undertaken to investigate and contrast visual and aural/perceptual identifications of a previously unknown individual from a set of photographic and tape-recorded exemplars following a simulated crime. All participants were volunteers for the "criminal," the victim of an "assault," and all suspects drawn from a Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) class; the "witnesses" were 61 students in a law class. The student/witnesses were divided into four groups. Group A made three identifications (serially) one day, one week, and two weeks after the crime took place. Group B saw the photographs and heard the tapes only once a week after the incident, and Group C only after two weeks had elapsed. Witnesses in a fourth group (D) followed the same schedule as did Group A; however, they were presented with foils similar in appearance and speech to the criminal. Group D was presented both the foil and criminal in the photographic lineup at the final judging session. The results demonstrated that visual identification can be quite accurate although not consistently or predictably so. By contrast, aural/perceptual identifications were relatively poor. No strong trends for latencies were observed, either for repeated trials or for procedures involving different initiation latencies; nor did confidence levels appear to be related to accuracy of judgment. Finally, when a similar looking foil was included in the identification task, there was a weak trend for the foil to be chosen more often in subsequent trials. These results support the position that eyewitness--and especially earwitness--testimony should be viewed by judges and juries with greater caution than has been the case in the past; by appropriate instructions, juries should be given assistance in interpreting and in assigning appropriate weight to this kind of testimony.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Risk of juvenile justice systems referral among children in a public mental health system.

This study established the risk of police referral among a cohort of children who were recipients of public mental health services. Investigators used secondary data to calculate the incidence of criminal referral among 645 children, ages 10 to 17, who entered community-based public mental health programs in King County, Washington. Children receiving public mental health services were nearly three times more likely to be referred to the juvenile justice system compared to children of similar age and gender in the general population. Relative risks were particularly high for younger children (10-13 years) and for children of Hispanic, Native American, and Caucasian origin. Understanding the characteristics and experiences of children who use multiple-service systems has important implications for services delivery. In addressing the needs of youth who have both mental illness and criminal involvement, age- and culturally specific interventions and advocacy efforts are warranted.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Rapists' behaviour: a three aspect model as a basis for analysis and the identification of serial crime.

In this paper it is proposed that the behaviour of an offender during a sexual assault can be considered as consisting of three main groupings or 'aspects'. These have been termed 'Modus Operandi', 'Sexual and Personal Gratification' and 'Attitude and Intimacy'. Although an oversimplification, such a model facilitates a preliminary description of the offender which can be of direct assistance to an investigating officer. Various factors affect the consistency and variability of behaviour and the model has formed a basis for the development of a concept as to which behaviours might be the more useful for identifying linked offences. This more systematic approach to the investigative and intelligence processes is reliant on a victim's statement containing very detailed information about the offender's actions, together with a record of as much of his speech as can be recollected. The material required is described using the model and the text is illustrated with case examples. Instances are quoted of the possible inferences and their relevance to the investigation of sexual offences.

Criminal Psychology↗
PubMed2005

APS workers job requirements associated with elder abuse rates.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the relationship of required educational background of APS workers to the 1999 rates of domestic elder abuse. Data were obtained from APS related statutes and regulations and questions to the National Center for Elder Abuse list serve. Descriptive statistics and independent sample t-tests were used for analyses. Those states whose legislations required a social work degree for APS caseworkers did have higher elder abuse investigation rates. A lower substantiation ratio was found for those states requiring a social work degree or license. These findings suggest that social work education may lead to an emphasis on investigation and interventions and de-emphasis on the criminal aspects of elder abuse evaluation substantiations.

Adult↗