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Forensic sketch art: dying off as technology takes over

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A forensic sketch artist is a trained individual who interviews witness from a crime scene or the victims themselves in order to gather information about the physical appearance of the offender, after which he proceeds to draw his portrait.  These portraits have often been invaluable to law enforcement efforts worldwide, helping identify hardened criminals and putting them to justice before they had the chance to commit yet another crime.

During the past few years however, the skill and art of forensic sketch artists has slowly, but steadily been replaced by technology in the form of 3D face recognition software and the likes. Today, only 200 forensic sketch artists remain the in US, of these just a handful are employed on a permanent basis.

Facial software programs such as “Identi-Kit Solutions” and “Faces 4.0.” have a database filled with thousands of patterns, facial types, clothing, hair style and so on, that it makes it easy almost for anyone with no art background to come up with a sketch of the individual breaking the law. Critics, however, argue that these softwares are flawed and prone to error – far from accurate.  Lois Gibson, a sketch artist long employed by the Houston Police Department, said the software isn’t as detailed or accurate and can impede interview techniques a trained artist employs to help a witness remember.

“I’ve had it where the crook liked (the sketch) so much they later gave it to him to hang in his cell,” Gibson said, who along her career has helped in the apprehension or identification of 1,266 people.

Paul Wright, president and owner of the Arizona-based Identi-Kit Solutions, said the company’s software is used by as many as 1,000 police agencies and criminal justice education programs nationwide.

The hands-on artist is “irreplaceable,” he said — but computer software is the next best thing.

“The key is that every single feature can be modified, resized, removed, or pulled horizontally to change the way it looks,” Wright said. “It really does have quite a bit of horsepower and is pretty limitless for what it can do.”

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History of Forensic Pathology

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In the past, we’ve written rather extensively on what forensic pathology entails and what requirements should a individual looking to become a forensic pathologist fulfill. Like any field of science, however, many times it’s advised to turn to its roots, see how it was first described and what we can learn from its history.

Painting depicting the death of Julius Caesar, by C.l. Doughty. Painting depicting the death of Julius Caesar, by C.l. Doughty.

Forensic pathology is probably the most important field of forensic science today. A forensic pathologist must determine the cause of an unexpected death, whether it be a homicide (murder); suicide; accidental or natural causes. To establish the cause of death, a forensic pathologist has an array of tools and techniques at his disposal, the most common and effective being an autopsy. Technical terms include: lacerations; incised wound; puncture; abrasion; construsion; gunshot wound (then if it was a contact, close range, intermediate range, or distant range).

The advance of technology has greatly helped forensic pathology become more accurate, most notably DNA tests absolutely revolutionized the field when they were first introduced. But this is a bit far away – to review the history of forensic pathology, we need to dwell far deeper.

Some historians have regarded Imhotep (2650-2600 BC) as the first medicolegal expert because he was both chief justice and personal physician to pharaoh Zoser. In ancient Egypt, juridicial inquiries, aided by postmortem examinations, were required as far as some unexpected deaths were concerned, for high levels members of the clique.

In 44 BC, on of the first historical account of a forensic pathology examination occurred immediately after the sleighing of Julius Caesar by his collaborators. The examiner of that time concluded that of the the 23 wounds found on the body only one was fatal. Senators didn’t have that much of a skill with daggers and knives, maybe Brutus, a distinguished military, was the one that struck the fatal blow?

The first forensic medicine book was written in 1247 by Song Ci, an outstanding forensic scientist in the Southern Song Dynasty, who is now remembered as the father of forensic medicine. The five-volume masterpiece is titled Xiyuanjilu, and was written from Song Ci’s experience with forensic medicine during his life time.

In Europe, the first written records concerning forensic pathology appeared in 1507, when a volume titled the Bamberg Code appeared. Interesting enough a few years after the book came out, Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire changed the penal code in an very extensive manner, dubbing it Constitutio Criminalis Carolina, in which, among other, forensic pathology in trial was given a high importance. Thus, medical testimony was required during a trial, such that the manner of death had to be concluded, whether it was infanticide, homicide, abortion or poisoning.

Pathology was branched as an integral part of medicine into the investigation of deaths in the latter part of the nineteenth century, in America at least, when in 1890 in Baltimore a city ordinance authorized the Board of Health to appoint two physicians with the titles of medical examiner and assign them the duty of performing all autopsies requested by the coroner.

Finally, after pathology and toxicology were applied in solving thousands of crime cases in the world, forensic pathology was first recognized in the USA by the in 1959. Canada came a bit late to officialese the field, as it was formally recognized in 2003.

Forensics confused by false confessions, new study says

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Police interrogation Confessions are considered a highly important piece of evidence in any court of law in the world, however, in the US at least, it’s not enough to grant a conviction. If someone admits to a crime, you’d think that would be enough – it’s not. Independent evidence which corroborates the confessions are required, for a sound verdict to be announced.

Apparently however, confessions aren’t all about pointing fingers, and can have some dramatic effects to defendents who are actually innocent. A new study found that in cases where suspects confess to a crime, heavily influence forensic examinations that then tend to lean towards finding by all means evidence to support the guilty verdict – even if the confession is coerced or false.

Saul Kassin, Daniel Bogart and Jacqueline Kerner analyzed 241 cases from the , which uses DNA tests to try to exonerate prisoners who are in fact not guilty. Most of these wrongful conviction involve bad eyewitness testimonials, proven to be mistaken. A quarter of the bad verdicts, however, involved false confessions.

These false confessions were soon followed, usually, by a botch of forensic evidence. Too fast, too soon, out of nowhere. This certain sequence of events has lead the researchers to believe that the investigators’ scientific conclusions were corrupted by belief in the defendant’s guilt.

The study throws doubt on a critical legal concept designed to safeguard the innocent: corroboration. Appeals courts uphold a conviction even if a false confession is discovered, as long as other evidence—say, forensics or other witness testimony—independently shows guilt.  “What these findings suggest is that there may well be the appearance of corroboration,” says Kassin, “but it is false evidence that was corrupted by the confession—not independent at all.”

The study was published in the journal .

Forensic taphonomy

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Forensic taphonomy is a new, emerging field, which originated as a subfield of forensic anthropology. The word ‘taphonomy’ derives from ancient Greek, where ‘tapho’ is ‘burial’ and ‘nomos’ is ‘laws’ – so it is the study of the laws of burial, or to be more precise, it is the study of burials applied in a legal context.

It emerged as a science in the 1940s, as a support for paleontology to explain how and why animals become preserved and fossilized in their environment. Due to this need, taphonomy expanded as the study of processes which affect decomposition, fossilization, burial and erosion; so far so good, but what has this got to do with forensics? Well, forensic taphonomy investigates the factors which decompose the bodies and alter evidence which is subject to a medico-legal investigation. Currently, the two major branches of forensic taphonomy are biotaphonomy and geotaphonomy.

Biotaphonomy

Biotaphonomy analyzes the biological remains in order to see how they have been affected and by what processes. It has to find out how decomposition, destruction, or the lack of these two came to be. The main factors which intervene in this analysis have been classified into three categories:

– Individual factors; these are the factors of the body itself, such as age, body size, etc.
– Environmental factors; these are the external variables which have to be taken into consideration. They two can be classified into two categories: biotic (living factors) and abiotic.
– Cultural factors; these are more specific factors which generally refer to activities which characterize the human mortuaries.

Geotaphonomy

Geotaphonomy analyzes how the buried body affects the surrounding environment, in shallow geological and botanical terms. There are several areas of interest here:

– The disturbance of soil, such as mixing of the layers, compaction or aeration or any other disturbance.
– Footprints or any other type of prints on the bottom of the grave.
– Alteration of erosion or of natural water flow.
– Acceleration or retardation of the growth of surrounding plants.
– Alteration of the soil’s pH.
– Tool marks on the walls or in the soil.

So, what’s the utility of forensic taphonomy? The main purpose is to create what is called a taphonomic profile, accurately describing the perimortem and postmortem evolution of the body. This concept generally revolves around the circumstances of death, which include: time of death, location, assailant or victim details, original position, etc.

There are three main interactions which work together, as stated above: the environment, the individual and the surrounding and cultural factors, but these are mostly subtle and hard to track, so being a forensic taphonomist is no easy job, and there is nothing that can prepare you from A to Z in this field, as it requires a sum of related knowledge from various fields. But anyway, it’s not a job for everybody – forensic taphonomists are known to have a strong stomach.

Phoenix Jones, Seattle crimefighting superhero loses day job

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If you’d look at today’s movies, you’d be tempted to think that every big city has at least one superhero taking care of it and fighting of bad guys. But if you look at the facts, there really aren’t any heroes to go around; except for Seattle. Seattle has its own self proclaimed super hero: Phoenix Jones.

Phoenix Jones doesn’t have any super powers, but is equipped with a bulletproof vest, pepper spray, stab plating, hand cuffs, a stun baton and a first aid kit. Jones said he wanted to take care of things in his own way, after being disappointed several times by the Seattle police, and seeing many people in dire need of help – your average superhero story so far. He didn’t save the world, and he didn’t even save Seattle, but according to several reports, he did prevent a series of crimes taking place, such as stopping a bus jacking and several car thefts and helping several people who were beaten up.

However, on October 9th something intriguing happened. Phoenix Jones was arrested for questionable use of pepper spray, after some night club patrons claimed they were attacked by the masked man. However, video recordings showed that this was not the case and that Phoenix Jones indeed stopped a fight in progress; charges was dropped and he was released just hours later.

However, following his arrest, he was forced to unmask and his true identity was revealed – which we won’t discuss here, because, well, you just don’t do that. The bad thing is that the was fired from his day job – a teacher for autistic kids. Does being a superhero in your spare time make you unfit to teach autistic children? If anything, it makes you more likely to be able to bond with them. He hasn’t posed any danger to civilians and he did really good at his job – his heroic attitude seems to make him suitable for this kind of job. What do you think? Is this fair?

Forensic Meteorology

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As climate change events intensify, leading to an increase of flooding, hurricanes and other cataclysmic related phenomena, the industry of forensic meteorology has slowly started to develop in the past few years – it’s only logical that we start taking a look at it as well.

Forensic meteorology is the process of reconstructing weather events that occurred at a certain time and location. This is achieved by retrieving and analyzing archived meteorological data (local reports, radio and satellite imaging, etc) as well as eye-witness reports and re-creating a time line of meteorological events. Attorneys and insurance companies often require the services of a professional meteorologist to investigate, report on, and provide expert testimony regarding past weather conditions that are pertinent to civil lawsuits, criminal trials, and insurance claims.

Naturally, it’s very rarely that this type of research is important in crimes, but it can happen; still, it’s much more common in insurance and properly loss cases.

Frank Lombardo is a forensic meteorologist, and when Irene struck the East coast less than a few week ago, he was one of the first to be called out to investigate.

“As soon as something happens…whether there’s a catastrophic event or a minor localized event, forensic meteorologists understand things will quiet down, but in a few years from now, it will get into the courts,” says Lombardo, president of , Inc. The Hackettstown, N.J.–based company provides meteorological expertise to public and private sector organizations, including the media.

However, it’s not all about flooding or other major natural disasters, it can also be applied to any kind of event caused (or affected) by the weather or a weather-dependent factor. A forensic meteorologist might be asked to assess whether a lightning sprung a fire, or if a given property is to blame for the injury of a person who slipped down ice and so on.

For their investigation purposes, forensic meteorologists gather data from various sources, but most often, the most reliable are their own measurements. For instance, in a particular case, Lombardo recalls he dealt with a case in which a construction worker was injured by a crane that collapsed – that particular model of the crane could withstand wind velocities of up to approximately 48 to 56 kilometers per hour. Using an anemometer and a few simple vector computations, Lombardo was able to assess that the wind speed near the crane was around 29 to 48 kilometers per hour, enough for it to break. This sealed the case.

“I secured information that supported the case that the [worker] shouldn’t have been operating the crane,” Lombardo says. “It wasn’t his fault. It was a function of the wind converging on the wall, which increased the wind pressure on the crane, causing it to collapse.”

However, data sometimes escapes forensic meteorologists, since most often a major calamity, like the Katrina hurricane, disables weather stations. This is where weather models come in, like the massive computer model called “ADvanced CIRCulation” (ADCIRC), which predicts tidal and storm surge elevations and velocities over large areas. As computer processing advances more and more, there are more and more tools available for this type of research.

Of course, forensic meteorology is also used for crime fighting. There are numerous accounts where a forensic meteorologist’s testimony has provided evidence for a defendant’s alibi or, on the contrary, for an accused’s guilt. Is there any science that doesn’t apply to forensics, really?

 

 

The 3D crime scene: AI2-3D forensic animations

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is a Canadian firm which specializes in crime scene reconstructions and 3D forensic animated visualization. Using modern technology like laser scanning and photogrammetry, the company has helped forensic scientists, crime scene investigators, lawyers or detectives to visually piece together information for over 60 cases worldwide.

If you’re a fan of the popular TV shows CSI or Law and Order, than chances are you’ve come across the infamous graphic reconstructions often depicted episode after episode. In reality, behind the scenes, these kind of reconstructions involve a long and tedious process, usually lasting at least 8 weeks. Every piece has to be accurately placed, and this takes time, otherwise the point of recreating a situation as faithfully as possible becomes flawed.  Ai2-3D is the real deal when virtual crime scene reconstruction is concerned, and recently we’ve managed to reach the company’s CEO, Eugene Liscio, who was kind enough to answer some of ITSGOV’s questions.

Ai2-3D Ai23-D

Ballistic trajectory passing through a body in a reconstructed crime scene environment. (C) AI2-3D

ITSGOV: Video animations and scene reconstructions have been around for quite a while. What does AI2-3D bring new to the table?

Eugene Liscio, AI2-3D: Many people involved in providing animation services come from an artistic background and do not approach a 3D Reconstruction in quite the same manner. My background is in Engineering (Aerospace Engineer) and there are 3 main components to my work. The first is Measurement/Mapping which is the foundation of any reconstruction. I use either laser scanners, total stations, photogrammetry or direct/hand measurements to create highly detailed models or to document a scene. The second component is the analysis. Where many people might jump right to the visualization, my interests are in the analysis of the data and trying to determine what pieces of information I can extract or pull from the scene model that might have an impact on the case. Finally, the visualization is the presentation of the data and the analysis either as a plan drawing, still image (3D Render), animation or a Forensic Virtual Model (i.e. interactive model). So, what AI2-3D brings to the table is a full documentation, analysis and visualization service.


Car accident reconstruction

ITSGOV: How accurate are the facts you depict in the AI2-3D animations (i.e.the position of the bicycle rider with respect to the car on the moment of impact) and how do you come about this information?

Eugene Liscio, AI2-3D:This is a great question. The physical evidence that comes from a scene is really what defines positions. Things like scrape marks, tire marks, vehicle crush, bloodstains, bullet trajectories, patterned injuries…etc. are physical evidence that can be interpreted by an experienced reconstructionist, bloodstain pattern analysis, pathologist or ballistics expert to tell you how some things contacted each other or how they were positioned.

In some cases, the amount of information is very limited and you have to start looking at many possibilities and scenarios about the events of the crime or accident. This is often useful in the investigation as it can provide some insight into other areas where investigators need to look for evidence. However, the legal “weight” of these reconstructions is limited due to their lack of physical measurements taken at the scene. So, you use these reconstructions as tools to aid the investigation, but not as substantive evidence.


Crime scene reconstruction with photogrammetry

ITSGOV: Do you have close ties with local authorities/forensic institutions?

Eugene Liscio, AI2-3D: Absolutely. I have done training for local and international police agencies and am currently doing some research with a local police force about measurement of bullet trajectories. I also believe it’s important to keep close ties with students and academic institutions and I currently have 3 students doing research at the University of Toronto (Forensic Sciences Program). By the end of this year, I will have been to conferences and speaking engagements in Germany, Holland, Canada, USA and Brazil.

ITSGOV: How often are you called about?

Eugene Liscio, AI2-3D: I travel about once a month, usually to “local” places, but a few times to the US to work on homicide cases. With all the communication tools available today, it’s quite easy to keep updated and speak with colleagues from all over the world so sometimes travel is not required, especially when evidence can be shipped to your doorstep.

ITSGOV: I understand AI2-3D reconstructions are sometimes used in court. What are their impact? Do they sometime account as evidence?

Eugene Liscio, AI2-3D: Once accepted in court, the evidence is either demonstrative evidence or substantive evidence. My work has been accepted in court either on its own or in many cases as part of another experts report. It’s difficult to quantify exactly how an animation helped so you have to rely on feedback from lawyers, investigators and scientists who are my clients. Lawyers and attorneys like the fact that they can have something visual to present that might make a complex subject a bit simpler to understand. On the other hand, many of the forensic experts I work with appreciate the scenario testing we can do to qualify a certain hypothesis about a crime.

Forensic anthropology schools

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As I already explained in a previous post, forensic anthropology is one of the most interesting fields in all forensic sciences, and if you’re on this post, the odds are you already want to find out which schools offer programs which can prepare you for this branch of anthropology. However, it is practically impossible to be a major in forensic anthropology, so the best you can do is study physical anthropology or something related and then focus on this during your master’s program. Bear in mind that this is by no means an exhaustive list, but just a starting one to get the ball rolling; if you can add anything else, then please do and we’ll get right on it.

This MS in Forensic Anthropology is designed specially to train students in both theory and practice, giving them a firm grasp on the principles currently and commonly applied by forensic anthropologists in investigations. Graduates will be qualified enough to apply for a doctoral program and a job in the field.

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The forensic anthropology center in Tennesse offers a lot of great information about what forensic anthropologists do and don’t, a lot of hands-on practice, and they focus a lot on hypothetical case scenarios, which is of course a great thing for any aspiring student.

“The Biological Anthropology Program is concerned with modern human biological diversity and the past evolutionary history which has laid the foundations for that diversity. Integral portions of this concern include modern human population genetics and physiological adaptations, past human skeletal biology, bioarchaeology and the associated taphonomy of human skeletal remains, forensic anthropology, and human paleontology. As background to the study of human evolutionary biology, non-human primate behavior, bio-geography, and evolution are also studied.”

You should know that the US isn’t the only country with good forensic anthropology schools. The UK also has a strong tradition and this MSc offers students the chance to focus on evidence and human remains processing, analysis, and identification. The courses provide a lot of strong, hard info on human anatomy as well as osteology, forensic anthropology methods and theory, forensic taphonomy in theory and practice. It is basically a sum of lectures, practical experience, and self study.

This is one of only few forensic anthropology schools which offers an undergrad programme. They have a really great laboratory in which skeletons discovered in unmarked graves in the State of North Dakota are analyzed, so the students get to do a lot of good work starting in the early days; this is perhaps one of the most promising places to start studying in this field.

Now, a forensic anthropology salary isn’t all that matters, science plays a very important role too – and that’s exactly what the people at the University of Florida believe. Now only can you study physical anthropology and forensic issues here, but also take courses in biostatistics, zooarchaeology, water and soil sciences, human gross and functional anatomy, biomechanics, radiology, osteology, as well as human evolution and genetic variation, which are extremely interesting and might be useful later on in your career.

You can get a bachelor in anthropology and minor in forensic anthropology here, as well as take some extremely interesting related courses.

Dundee is another great University located in the UK which offers an undergraduate program, acknowledging the ‘pivotal role in both UK and international investigations being core to issues of repatriation, mass disasters and war crimes’.

This program will allow you to study osteology in a legal context, thus focusing on your main areas of activity.

Be sure to check the articles in the Forensic Anthropology series:
Forensic anthropology explained
The salary, education and requirements for a forensic anthropologist
Forensic anthropology videos
How forensic anthropologists find out information from bones
Forensic Anthropology Jobs: where and job description

Forensic Psychology

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Forensic psychology is the branch of psychology that is applied to the criminal justice sector. It is basically a bridge between the study of psychology and law, as a forensic psychologist will often be asked to testify in a courtroom and provide assessment of the defendant’s sanity or insanity. In a way forensic psychology is all about translating scientific psychological information into useful legal information.

Most people think that forensic psychologists are involved in crime scene analysis and profiling like the shows on TV – however maybe only a handful engage in this kind of work. For that matter, the portrait profile of a forensic psychologist in popular media is distorted and far from the real image – I blame series and movies here.

What does a forensic psychologist do?

A forensic psychologist is concerned with collecting, examining and ultimately presenting evidence for judicial purposes – psychological data, of course. This occurs when an attorney or a judge requests that a professional psychologist testifies in court to help assess a defendant’s competency and/or any relevant traits.

The process of forensic psychological analysis is typically applied through an evaluation. However, take note, that it’s significantly different from clinical psychological analysis, which often involves seeing the situation from the client’s point of view or “empathizing”, and which doesn’t enter in the scope of forensic psychology. This is because the traditional psychology analysis is flawed when put in a forensic setting.

A forensic psychology needs to assess  the consistency of factual information across multiple source, and provide the source on which any information is based. It’s common for a defendant to plead insanity, as a general mental state or at the time the crime in question was made, and as such a forensic psychologist needs to tell a malingering or feigning illness apart from the genuine cases.

Probably, the most important part on a forensic psychologist’s agenda is courtroom testimonial. This is actually the segment of the job where it becomes most demanding, and most evidently apart from other forms of traditional branches of psychology. A forensic psychologists needs to have a firm grasp of the law and the legal situation at issue in the courtroom.

A forensic psychologist may act as an expert witness in the setting of a family court (Child Custody Evaluations, Visitation Risk Assessments, Grandparent Visitation Evaluations,  Mediation of Parental Conflicts about Children, Child Abuse Evaluations, Adoption Readiness Evaluations, Development of Family Reunification Plans, and Evaluations to Assess Termination of Parental Rights), civil court (Personal Injury Evaluations, IME Second Opinion Evaluations, Assessment of Emotional Factors in Sexual Harassment and Discrimination, Worker’s Compensation Evaluations, Civil Competency Evaluations, and Psychological Autopsies) or criminal court (Evaluations of Juveniles accused of criminal acts, Juvenile Pre-sentencing Evaluations, Juvenile Probation Evaluations, Juvenile Waiver Evaluations, Evaluating the Credibility of Child Witnesses, Assessment of Juvenile and Adult Sexual Offenders, Competency and Diminished Capacity Evaluations, and Adult Pre-sentencing Evaluations.).

Forensic psychology is also the basis for behavioral analysis, which serves to provide law enforcement with a profile of an unknown criminal subject. Real life criminal profilers specialize assisting in the quick capture of criminals by providing psychological profiles. This is why a forensic psychologist is often contacted by law enforcement agencies to provide training on criminal behavior and victim identification.

Working as a forensic psychologist is both a rewarding and a challenging field of practice for licensed psychologists.

Forensic Psychology Resources