Rape Forensics. Sex crimes

Rape is a horrific experience for a person to experience but we are fortunate today in that 

forensic science has many tools at its disposal to process rape evidence. In turn, accurate and timely processing can help to identify a suspect and lead to a criminal conviction in court.


New Ways Of Processing Evidence

Recent work by a researcher in the United States has led to a new, more efficient approach to processing rape evidence. With this new method, the time needed to handle evidence in a rape kit has now been significantly lowered.Instead of 24 hours being spent to process the DNA and perform an analysis, the time needed is now as little as half an hour to an hour. Not only that, but the ability to recover Sperm Cells has also been dramatically improved.


After A Sexual Assault

For a woman who has been sexually assaulted, collection of evidence typically involves using a cotton swab to take a sample from her vagina. A forensic laboratory then processes the sample. When a case is particularly well publicised in the media, there might be a 'rush' to have the sample processed more rapidly – often in cases where the accused is a public figure. For other cases, however, it can take months for processing to occur.
In fact, a sample might be stored for up to a year before it is analysed. Alternately, it may only be analysed nearer to a court date. Unfortunately, the storage can lead to degradation of the sample, which means that the results may be less accurate or difficult to interpret.


Laboratory Testing

To actually analyse the sample, female and male cells need to be identified and isolated from the swab. A unique detergent is used for this aspect of DNA processing. Technicians have to basically 'soak' cells in an enzyme that makes the female cells ready for DNA analysis.Afterwards, an even more potent detergent is used to access DNA in sperm cells. The process itself takes a great deal of time, which not only compromises the trial but also means that the process drags on for the victim of the crime.
A swab has to also be taken from a suspect to determine if the DNA is a match for the DNA that was taken from the victim. The new method makes the process far more efficient because it means that the soaking process that is usually done for the duration of a night is no longer needed. Better still, sperm cells are more accurately recovered.


Challenges In New Methods For Rape Evidence

The biggest hurdle is probably getting laboratories to actually adopt this new method. That alone is a time-consuming process because changing procedures is far from being an overnight process. Still, it is hoped that the new method is examined by forensic laboratories because it could make a great deal of difference in getting better quality samples and results in a very efficient, timely manner.



Improved Methods Help Victims Of Rape

If this new method does end up being embraced by forensic science laboratories, the waiting times for the processing of rape evidence could possibly be reduced by several months. For people who have been raped, this can mean a quicker end to a very painful and distressing experience.

Different Areas in Forensic Science

Forensic science applies to numerous sciences involving the legal system for both civil and criminal investigations. Most often, the term forensics is used instead of forensic science because there are various fields or studies in the forensic sciences such as crime scene investigation, accounting, economics, laboratory work, psychology and anthropology.




Crime Scene Investigation


Crime scene investigation in forensics collects, identifies, documents and preserves evidence left at a crime scene. Crime scene investigators use this information or evidence to present to courts during trials. Crime scene investigators are required to understand different topics such as science, math and law and must apply their knowledge at the field investigation site. There are different positions in this part of forensics such as crime scene technician, crime scene analyst, and evidence technician.
Forensics in the Laboratory


There are different areas of forensics science to include biology, entomology, pathology, toxicology, odontology, meteorology, and geology. Forensic biology deals with DNA analysis of bodily fluids. Forensic entomologists determine time and location of death by examining insects found at the scene and in the body. Forensic pathologists determine the cause of injury or death, forensic toxicologists investigate and identify poisons, chemicals or drugs found in the body. Forensic odontologists examine teeth. Forensic geologists investigate evidence found in soil or minerals and forensic meteorologists analyze weather patterns or conditions at the investigating site.

Forensic Accounting and Economics


Forensic accounting and economics deals with evaluating accounting evidence and interpreting evidence related to any financial damage. Examples can include benefits, business losses, household values and medical costs. Specialist in this field compile information to effectively communicate to courtroom. In addition, these specialist are trained to look apply the financial situation to the reality of the investigation.
Criminalistics

Criminalistics

Criminalistics are forensic specialists who gather, analyze and interpret evidence. For instance they gather and identify physical evidence such as fingerprints, footwear, tire tracks, weapons and trace evidence to recreate a crime scene and link a suspect to a victim. This evidence is then gathered in reports or presentations for trials and hearings of an investigation.
Forensic Psychology and Psychiatry

Forensic psychologists and psychiatrists

Forensic psychologists and psychiatrists evaluate suspects for possible mental illnesses for the purpose of presenting this evidence to court. It also involves understanding the applicable laws and jurisdictions to make legal evaluations or diagnoses. In addition, forensic psychologists and psychiatrists testify in court about their findings during criminal investigations.
Forensic Anthropology

Forensic anthropologists

Forensic anthropologists recover and identify human skeletal remains for use in a criminal investigation. Forensic anthropologists work together with other forensic scientists such as pathologists and odontologists, as well as homicide investigators to identify remains and determine foul play and the time span of death.

History of Forensics

Term definition

Forensic science (often shortened to forensics) is the application of a broad spectrum of sciences and technologies to investigate and establish facts of interest in relation to criminal or civil law. The word forensic comes from the Latin forēnsis, meaning "of or before the forum."In Roman times, a criminal charge meant presenting the case before a group of public individuals in the forum. Both the person accused of the crime and the accuser would give speeches based on their sides of the story. The individual with the best argument and delivery would determine the outcome of the case. This origin is the source of the two modern usages of the word forensic – as a form of legal evidence and as a category of public presentation.

In modern use, the term "forensics" in the place of "forensic science" can be considered correct as the term "forensic" is effectively a synonym for "legal" or "related to courts". However the term is now so closely associated with the scientific field that many dictionaries include the meaning that equates the word "forensics" with "forensic science".





Antiquity and the Middle Age




The ancient world lacked standardized forensic practices, which aided criminals in escaping punishment. Criminal investigations and trials relied on forced confessions and witness testimony. However ancient sources contain several accounts of techniques that foreshadow the concepts of forensic science that is developed centuries later, such as the "Eureka" legend told of Archimedes (287–212 BC). The account about Archimedes tells of how he invented a method for determining the volume of an object with an irregular shape. According to Vitruvius, a votive crown for a temple had been made for King Hiero II, who had supplied the pure gold to be used, and Archimedes was asked to determine whether some silver had been substituted by the dishonest goldsmith. Archimedes had to solve the problem without damaging the crown, so he could not melt it down into a regularly shaped body in order to calculate its density.

The first written account of using medicine and entomology to solve (separate) criminal cases is attributed to the book of Xi Yuan Lu (translated as "Washing Away of Wrongs"), written in Song Dynasty China by Song Ci (宋慈, 1186–1249) in 1248. In one of the accounts, the case of a person murdered with a sickle was solved by a death investigator who instructed everyone to bring his sickle to one location. (He realized it was a sickle by testing various blades on an animal carcass and comparing the wound.) Flies, attracted by the smell of blood, eventually gathered on a single sickle. In light of this, the murderer confessed. The book also offered advice on how to distinguish between a drowning (water in the lungs) and strangulation(broken neck cartilage), along with other evidence from examining corpses on determining if a death was caused by murder, suicide or an accident.

Methods from around the world involved saliva and examination of the mouth and tongue to determine innocence or guilt. In ancient Chinese cultures, sometimes suspects were made to fill their mouths with dried rice and spit it back out. In ancient middle-eastern cultures the accused were made to lick hot metal rods briefly. Both of these test had some validity since a guilty person would produce less saliva and thus have a drier mouth. The accused were considered guilty if rice was sticking to their mouth in abundance or if their tongues were severely burned due to lack of shielding from saliva.





Modern history




In the 16th-century Europe medical practitioners in army and university settings began to gather information on cause and manner of death. Ambroise Paré, a French army surgeon, systematically studied the effects of violent death on internal organs. Two Italian surgeons, Fortunato Fidelis andPaolo Zacchia, laid the foundation of modern pathology by studying changes that occurred in the structure of the body as the result of disease. In the late 18th century, writings on these topics began to appear. These included A Treatise on Forensic Medicine and Public Health by the French physician Fodéré and The Complete System of Police Medicine by the German medical expert Johann Peter Franck.

In 1773 a Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele devised a way of detecting arsenous oxide, simple arsenic, in corpses, although only in large quantities. This investigation was expanded, in 1806, by German chemist Valentin Ross, who learned to detect the poison in the walls of a victim's stomach, and by English chemist James Marsh, who used chemical processes to confirm arsenic as the cause of death in an 1836 murder trial.

Two early examples of English forensic science in individual legal proceedings demonstrate the increasing use of logic and procedure in criminal investigations. In 1784, in Lancaster, John Toms was tried and convicted for murdering Edward Culshaw with a pistol. When the dead body of Culshaw was examined, a pistol wad (crushed paper used to secure powder and balls in the muzzle) found in his head wound matched perfectly with a torn newspaper found in Toms' pocket. In Warwick in 1816, a farm labourer was tried and convicted of the murder of a young maidservant. She had been drowned in a shallow pool and bore the marks of violent assault. The police found footprints and an impression from corduroy cloth with a sewn patch in the damp earth near the pool. There were also scattered grains of wheat and chaff. The breeches of a farm labourer who had been threshing wheat nearby were examined and corresponded exactly to the impression in the earth near the pool. Police started using fingerprints for evidence when Juan Vucetich solved a murder case in Argentina by cutting off a piece of door with a bloody fingerprint on it. Later in the 20th century several British pathologists, Bernard Spilsbury, Francis Camps, Sydney Smith and Keith Simpson pioneered new forensic science methods in Britain. In 1909 Rodolphe Archibald Reiss founded the first school of forensic science in the world: the "Institut de police scientifique" at the University of Lausanne (UNIL).

Forensic science has been fostered by a number of national forensic science learned bodies including the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (founded 1948; publishers of the Journal of Forensic Sciences), the Canadian Society of Forensic Science (founded 1953; publishers of the Journal of the Canadian Society of Forensic Science), The British Academy of Forensic Sciences (founded 1960; publishers of Medicine,science and the law (journal)), and theAustralian Academy of Forensic Sciences (founded 1967; publishers of the Australian Journal of Forensic Sciences).