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$7.50 U.S./$9.50 CAN

Titles for Summer 2012

MEDIA0212EX

NEW! Forensic Toxicology Expert Witness

By Dr. James Jones Dr. Jones worked in the federal government for 53 years. His duties included: Director of the Forensic Toxicology Laboratory; Expert Witness for Forensic Toxicology Drug Testing Program; Chief of Laboratory Services for the D.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner; and working with the Pretrial Services Agency/ Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency. Dr. Jones is a member of The American College of Forensic Examiners Institute, American Society of Clinical Pathology, Society of Forensic Toxicology, American Academy of Forensic Sciences, and The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists. Paperback.

9780983260172 | 31 pages | $9.99

NEW

NEW! Psychogenic Polydipsia

Treatment Strategies & Housing Options

By Dr. Donald Hutcheon

NEW

This textbook attempts to “fill the gap” regarding treatment strategies and housing options for clients diagnosed with psychogenic polydipsia. This potentially lethal affliction of over-consuming any/all fluids is usually identified as a cooccurrent disorder. It has been estimated that 80% of clients diagnosed with psychogenic polydipsia have schizophrenia. The prevalence ofhabituated overconsumption of any/all fluids in state psychiatric hospitals in the United States has been estimated between 7%-18% and about half of this population suffer from complications of self induced water intoxication (SIWI). Hardcover 9780983260141 | 222 pages | $39.95

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• Campbell, Andrea & Ralph C. Ohm—LEGAL EASE: A Guide to Criminal Law, Evidence, and Procedure. (3rd Ed.) '12, 286 pp. (8 x 10), 29 il.

• Garner, Gerald W.—NEWS MEDIA RELATIONS FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT LEADERS. '12, 214 pp. (7 x 10).

• Helsloot, Ira, Arjen Boin, Brian Jacobs & Louise K. Comfort—MEGA-CRISES: Understanding the Prospects, Nature, Characteristics, and the Effects of Cataclysmic Events. '12, 384 pp. (8 x 10), 19 il., 23 tables.

• Coleman, John L.—OPERATIONAL MID-LEVEL MANAGEMENT FOR POLICE. (4th Ed.) '12, 468 pp. (7 x l0), 31 il., $84.95, hard, $64.95, paper.

• Marvasti, Jamshid A.—WAR TRAUMA IN VETERANS AND THEIR FAMILIES: Diagnosis and Management of PTSD, TBI and Comorbidities of Combat Trauma - From Pharmacotherapy to a 12-Step Self-Help Program for Combat Veterans. '12 356 pp. (7 x 10), $69.95.

• Hendricks, James E.—A CULTURAL COMPETENCY EDUCATION AND TRAINING PROGRAM FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS AND SUPERVISORS. '12, 11 modules, $99.95, (DVD).

• McDevitt, Daniel S.—MANAGING THE INVESTIGATIVE UNIT. (2nd Ed.) '12, 242 pp. (7 x 10), 2 tables.

• Mijares, Tomas C. & Marcus L. “Sandy” Wall— TRAINING THE SWAT TRAINER: Legal Mandates and Practical Suggestions for Improving Police Tactical Performance. '12, 168 pp. (7 x l0), 8 il.

• Miller, Laurence—CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY: Nature, Nurture, Culture-A Textbook and Practical Reference Guide for Students and Working Professionals in the Fields of Law Enforcement, Criminal Justice, Mental Health, and Forensic Psychology. '12, 798 pp. (7 x 10), 15 tables, $74.95, hard.

Who, When, Where, What, and Why comes last

• Olson, Dean T.—TACTICAL COUNTERTERRORISM: The Law Enforcement Manual of Terrorism Prevention. '12, 308 pp. (8 1/2 x 11) 101 il, $65.95, hard.

Julia a. Mayo, PH.D.

Stuck on Me Missing You... Getting Past Self-Absorption to Find Love

Culture Notes: Essays on Sane Living

By Larry A. Bugen, Ph.D.

By Irene Rosenberg Javors

Sometimes our love for others becomes blurred by a preoccupation with oneself. Carried too far, this self-absorption jeopardizes the love bonds we need to survive. Bugen critiques the pervasive narcissism of our contemporary culture, reveals the true nature of love, and presents Six Gifts that ensure its survival among the fittest. Paperback.

9780982212134 | 307 pages | $19.95

Have we all lost our minds? It’s a question we have all asked ourselves as we ponder such modern occurrences as “reality” TV, road rage, and terrorism. Javors’ collection of her columns from the Annals of the American Psychotherapy Association offers prescriptions for “sane living” in the face of life’s challenges. Paperback.

978098221141 | 144 pages | $14.95

Mayo’s Way Who, When, Where, What, and Why Comes Last

Psychological Autopsy of Elvis Presley

By Julia A. Mayo, Ph.D.

By William J. Ronan

Julia A. Mayo, Ph.D., is a Master Therapist and Diplomate of the American Psychotherapy Association. Her book of remedies and recipes for life are brought together by her own personal experiences as a wife, mother, and therapist. Dr. Mayo believes strongly in full pursuit of life, liberty, and laughter. Paperback.

9780983260134 | 112 pages | $12.99

Ronan examines the facts of Elvis Presley to reveal the truths of the legendary rocker’s life—and the root causes of his death. It is pragmatic, highly logical, exhaustively researched and well worth your attention. Hardcover.

9780983260103 | 349 pages | $24.95

In the Practice of Health Care The Search for Satisfaction

By Ronald Hixson Hixson, a psychotherapist, provides applicable insight into all aspects of practice management, from economics to ethics. Paperback.

9780983260110 | 190 pages | $14.95

Go to www.Amazon.com to order your copy today! w w w. Ac f e i M e d i a . c o m

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• Bowker, Art—THE CYBERCRIME HANDBOOK FOR COMMUNITY CORRECTIONS: Managing Offender Risk in the 21st Century.

'12, 258 pp. (7 x 10), 29 il., 8 tables, $54.95, hard.

• Siljander, Raymond P. & Lance W. Juusola— CLANDESTINE PHOTOGRAPHY: Basic to Advanced Daytime and Nighttime Manual Surveillance Photography Techniques—For Military Special Operations Forces, Law Enforcement, Intelligence Agencies, and Investigators. '11, 672 pp. (7 x 10), 556 il., 5 tables, $99.95, hard.

• Urbina, Martin Guevara—HISPANICS IN THE U.S. CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM: The New American Demography. '12, 316 pp. (7 x 10), 3 il., 6 tables.

5

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• Mendell, Ronald L.—HOW TO DO FINANCIAL ASSET INVESTIGATIONS: A Practical Guide for Private Investigators, Collections Personnel, and Asset Recovery Specialists. (4th Ed.) '11, 292 pp. (7 x 10), 13 il., 13 tables, $59.95, hard, $39.95, paper.

• Rengert, George F. & Elizabeth Groff—RESIDENTIAL BURGLARY: How the Urban Environment and Our Lifestyles Play a Contributing Role. (3rd Ed.) '11, 254 pp. (7 x 10), 32 il., 12 tables, $56.95, hard, $36.95, paper.

• Hendricks, James—A QUESTION AND ANSW ER BANK FOR A CULTURAL COMPETENCY EDUCATION AND TRAINING PROGRAM FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS AND SUPERVISORS: A CD-ROM for Instructors, $29.95, (CD-ROM).

• Rivers, R.W.—TRAFFIC CRASH INVESTIGATORS’ MANUAL: A Levels 1 and 2 Reference, Training and Investigation Manual. (3rd Ed.) '11, 260 pp. (7 x 10), 144 il., 7 tables, $57.95, hard, $37.95, paper.

• More, Harry W. & Terry L. More— TEAMS-GROUPS-TASK FORCES IN LAW ENFORCEMENT: The Wave of the Future. '12, 336 pp.

(7 x 10), 69 il., $64.95, hard, $44.95, paper.

• Voris, Steven J.—DEVOTIONS AND PRAYERS FOR POLICE OFFICERS: Providing Meaningful Guidance in a Variety of Situations. (2nd Ed.) '11, 226 pp. (7 x 10), 1 il., $29.95, paper.

• Morrison, Kevin M.—THE COMPLETE BOOK ON SPEED ENFORCEMENT: A Practical Guide to Understanding Speed Enforcement Concepts and Devices. '12, 182 pp. (7 x 10), 24 il., 8 tables, $29.95, paper.

• Yereance, Robert A, & Todd Kerkhoff —ELECTRICAL FIRE ANALYSIS. (3rd Ed.) '10, 300 pp. (7 x 10), 14 il., 4 tables, $66.95, hard, $46.95, paper.

• Hendricks, James E., Bryan D. Byers & Kiesha Warren-Gordon—MULTICULTURAL PERSPECTIVES IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND CRIMINOLOGY. (3rd Ed.) '11, 228 pp.

(7 x 10), $56.95, hard, $36.95, paper.

• Tobias, Marc Weber—LOCKS, SAFES, AND SECURITY: An International Police Reference. (2nd Ed.) '00, 1440 pp. Two Volumes (6 3/4 x 9 3/4), 569 il., $219.95, cloth.

EMAIL:

MAIL: Charles C Thomas • Publisher, Ltd. P.O. Box 19265 or (217) 789-8980 Web: www.ccthomas.com Springfield, IL 62794-9265 Complete catalog available at ccthomas.com • books@ccthomas.com

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when ordering, please refer to promotional code FoeX0212 to receive your discount.

Summer 2012 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER®

03

TABLE OF CONTENTS

WWW.ACFEI.COM • (800) 592-1399

CONTENTS

VOLUME 21 • NUMBER 2 • SUMMER 2012

FEATURES 54

Neal Baer

Clinical Judgement vs. Data Analysis: Improving on Tradition

by Mark Safarik, MS, VSM and Katherine Ramsland, PhD, CMI-V

38

Interview with a Forensic Entomologist Interview with Dr. Byrd

by Senior Editor Julie Brooks

54

Neal Baer & Jonathan Greene: An Interview with Two Gifted Writers

by Senior Editor Julie Brooks

70

The FBI & DNA: A look at the nationwide system that helps solve crimes

jonathan greene

Neal Baer & Jonathan Greene:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

An Interview wih Two Gited Wriers

33

IN THIS ISSUE

20

08 09 12

NEW MEMBERS

33 41 73 74

ES-21 LAS VEGAS

60 64 72 CE ARTICLES 22

42 04

COLUMNS

THE FORENSIC EXAMINER® Summer 2012

42

MATHEMATICAL AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF BLOODSTAIN PATTERN EVIDENCE, PART II

by Martin Matisoff, MSc, MS, BA, and Larry Barksdale, AA, BS, MA

IPREDATOR— 2012 Cyber Bullying Tactics: An Introduction

by Michael Nuccitelli, PsyD, CFC PROFILE— Locard’s Vision

by Katherine Ramsland, PhD, CMI-V FICTION— Hero Worship Eyes

by Shelly Reuben FALSELY ACCUSED— The West Memphis Three: A Death-Row Inmate Freed

by Jenny Leigh Davis

73

60

ACFEI NEWS Forensics In the News

Cage Code PRODUCT REVIEWS LOGO PRODUCTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

14

38

PSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATIONS IN FEDERAL IMMIGRATION COURTS: 15 YEARS IN THE MAKINGLessons Learned

by Reuben Vaisman-Tzachor, PhD, FACFEI, DABPS, FAPA Summer 2012 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER®

05

BOARDS

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ACFEI EXECUTIVE ADVISORY BOARDS

Nicholas G. Apostolou, DBA, DABFA, CPA, Cr.FA Donna Bader, MA, MSN, CFN, DABFN Larry Barksdale, BS, MA E. Robert Bertolli, OD, FACFEI, CHS-V, CMI-V Kenneth E. Blackstone, BA, MS, CFC, DABFE David T. Boyd, DBA, CPA, Cr.FA, CMA Jules Brayman, CPA, CVA, DABFA, FACFEI John Brick, PhD, MA, DABFM, FACFEI Dennis L. Caputo, MS, DABFET, CHMM, FACFEI Dennis H. Chevalier, BS, MSM, DM, CMI-I David F. Ciampi, PhD, FACFEI, DABPS Andrew N. Dentino, MD, FACFEI, DABFE, DABFM James A. DiGabriele, PhD/DPS, CPA, Cr.FA, FACFEI John Shelby DuPont Jr., DDS, DABFD Per Freitag, PhD, MD, FACFEI, DABFM L. Sue Gabriel, MSN, MFS, EdD, RN Ron Grassi, DC, FACFEI, DABFM, DABFE Richard C. W. Hall, MD, FACFEI, DABFM, DABFE John J. Haberströh, DC, CFC, CMI-V, FACFEI Raymond F. Hanbury, PhD, ABPP, FACFEI, DABFE David L. Holmes, EdD, FACFEI, DABFE, DABPS Leo L. Holzenthal Jr., PE, DABFET, FACFEI Linda Hopkins, PhD, CFC, DABPS, DABRE Matthew Howard, PhD Edward J. Hyman, PhD Zafar M. Iqbal, PhD Nursine S. Jackson, MSN, RN, DABFN Robert S. Kassoff, PhD, DABPS, DABFM, FACFEI Philip Kaushall, PhD, DABFE, DABPS, FACFEI Eric Kreuter, PhD, CPA, DABFA, FACFEI Ronald G. Lanfranchi, DC, PhD, CMI-IV, FACFEI Richard Levenson, Jr., PsyD, DABFE, DABPS, FACFEI Monique Levermore, PhD, FACFEI, DABPS Jonathan Lipman, PhD, FACFEI, DABFE, DABPS Judith Logue, PhD, FACFEI, DABFSW, DABPS Mike Meacham, PhD, LCSW, DABFSW, FACFEI

David Miller, DDS, FACFEI, DABFE, DABFD Leonard I. Morgenbesser, PhD, FACFEI Jacques Ama Okonji, PhD, FACFEI, DABFE, DABPS Norva E. Osborne, OD, CMI-III George Palermo, MD, PhD, FACFEI, DABFM Ronald J. Panunto, PE, CFC, CFEI, DABFET Larry H. Pastor, MD, FACFEI, DABFE, DABFM Theodore G. Phelps, CPA, DABFA Marc Rabinoff, EdD, FACFEI, DABFE, CFC Jerald H. Ratner, MD, CFP, PA Harold F. Risk, PhD, DABPS, FACFEI Susan P. Robbins, PhD, LCSW, DABFSW Walter A. Robbins, DBA, CPA/CFF, Cr.FA Jane R. Rosen-Grandon, PhD, DABFC, FACFEI Douglas Ruben, PhD, FACFEI, DABFE, DABPS J. Bradley Sargent, CPA, Cr.FA, DABFA, FACFEI William Sawyer, PhD, FACFEI, DABFE, DABFM Howard A. Shaw, MD, DABFM, FACFEI Ivan Sosa, MD Henry A. Spiller, MS, DABFE, FACFEI Marilyn J. Stagno, PsyD, RN, FACFEI Richard I. Sternberg, PhD, DABPS James R. Stone, MD, MBA, CHS-III, CMI-IV George S. Swan, JD William A. Tobin, MA, DABFET, DABLEE, FACFEI Robert Tovar, BS, MA, DABFE, DABPS, CHS-III Brett C. Trowbridge, PhD, JD, DABPS, FACFEI Richard A. Vera II, PI, MBA, CPA Patricia A. Wallace, PhD, FACFEI, DABFE, DABFM, CFC Raymond Webster, PhD, FACFEI, DABFE, DABFM Dean A. Wideman, MSc, MBA, CFC, CMI-III *Note: For spacing and consistency considerations, the number of designations listed has been limited to four.

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ACFEI EXECUTIVE ADVISORY BOARD CHAIR Cyril H. Wecht, MD, JD, FACFEI, CFP, Chair, American Board of Forensic Medicine MEMBERS Robert K. Minniti, CPA, MBA, Cr.FA, Chair, American Board of Forensic Accounting Marilyn J. Nolan, MS, FACFEI, DABFC, DABCIP, Chair, American Board of Forensic Counselors James H. Hutson, DDS, CMI-V, Chair, American Board of Forensic Dentistry Kevin Theriault, BS, FACFEI, CFC, Chair, American Board of Forensic Examiners Ben Venktash, Peng (UK), FSE, DABFET, DABFE, Chair, American of Engineering and Technology L. Sue Gabriel, EdD, MSN, RN, CFN, Chair, American Board of Forensic Nursing Douglas E. Fountain, PhD, LCSW, DABFE, DABFSW, Chair, American Board of Forensic Social Workers Raymond H. Hamden, PhD, FACFEI, CFC, CMI-V, Chair, American Board of Psychological Specialties Gregg M. Stuchman, Chair, American Board of Recorded Evidence

CONTINUING EDUCATION ACFEI provides continuing education credits for accountants, nurses, physicians, dentists, psychologists, counselors, social workers, and marriage and family therapists.

The American College of Forensic Examiners International (ACFEI) does not endorse, guarantee, or warrant the credentials, work, or opinions of any individual member. Membership in ACFEI does not constitute the grant of a license or other licensing authority by or on behalf of the organization as to a member’s qualifications, abilities, or expertise. The publications and activities of ACFEI are solely for informative and educational purposes with respect to its members. The opinions and views expressed by the authors, publishers, or presenters are their sole and separate views and opinions and do not necessarily reflect those of ACFEI, nor does ACFEI adopt such opinions or views as its own. The American College of Forensic Examiners International disclaims and does not assume any responsibility or liability with respect to the opinions, views, and factual statements of such authors, publishers, or presenters, nor with respect to any actions, qualifications, or representations of its members or subscriber’s efforts in connection with the application or use of any information, suggestions, or recommendations made by ACFEI or any of its boards, committees, publications, resources, or activities thereof.

The Forensic Examiner® (ISSN 1084-5569) is published quarterly by The American College of Forensic Examiners International, Inc. (ACFEI). Annual membership for a year in the American College of Forensic Examiners Institute is $165. Abstracts of articles published in The Forensic Examiner® appear in National Criminal Justice Reference Service, Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, Criminal Justice Abstracts, Gale Group Publishing’s InfoTrac Database, e-psyche database, and psycINFO database. Periodicals Postage Paid at Springfield, Missouri, and additional mailing offices. © Copyright 2012 by the American College of Forensic Examiners International. All rights reserved. No part of this work can be distributed or otherwise used without the express written permission of the American College of Forensic Examiners International. The views expressed in The Forensic Examiner® are those of the authors and may not reflect the official policies of the American College of Forensic Examiners International.

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FOUNDER AND PUBLISHER: Robert L. O’Block, MDiv, PhD, PsyD, DMin (rloblock@aol.com)

THE FORENSIC EXAMINER® Summer 2012

Approvals for continuing education activities are subject to change. For the most up-to-date status, please check the course catalog on our Web site, www.acfei.com, or contact the Registrar’s office toll-free at (800) 423-9737.

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The Ethics exam, Law exam, Evidence exam, Certified Medical Investigator®, Certified Forensic Accountant CrFA®, Certified in Homeland Security, Certified Forensic Nurse, and Certified Forensic Consultant® are all approved for G.I. Bill benefits.

American Board of Forensic Accounting Chair: Robert K. Minniti, CPA, MBA, Cr.FA Vice Chair: Stewart L. Appelrouth, CPA, CFLM, Cr.FA, FACFEI Gary Bloome, CPA, Cr.FA Alexander Lamar Casparis, CPA, CVA, MBA, Cr.FA, FACFEI Hugh M. Christensen, CPA, ABV, CFF, CVA, Cr.FA Suzanne D. Hillman, CPA, CFF, Cr.FA, CITP Michael G. Kessler, Cr.FA, CICA, FACFEI, DABFA Eric A. Kreuter, PhD, CPA, FACFEI, DABFA Robert B. Lechter, CPA, Cr.FA Joshua S. Rader, CPA, Cr.FA J. Bradley Sargent, CPA, CFS, Cr.FA, FACFEI Larry Settles, CPA, Cr.FA American Board of Forensic Counselors Chair: Marilyn J. Nolan, MS, FACFEI, DABFC, DABCIP Chair Emeritus: Dow R. Pursley, EdD, FACFEI, DABFC George Bishop, LPC, LAT, FACFEI, DABFE James B. Clarke, MA, LPC, NCC, MAC Rhiannon Condon, LPC, LCSW, LCDC, CADC Laura W. Kelley, PhD, LPC, DABFC, FACFEI William M. Sloane, JD, LLM, FACFEI, CHS-III American Board of Forensic Dentistry Chair: James H. Hutson, DDS, CMI-V Chair Emeritus: Brian Karasic, DMD, MBA, DABFD, CMI-V Bill B. Akpinar, DDS, CMI-V, FACFEI, DABFD Benjamin Antioquia, DDS Stephanie L. Anton-Bettey, DDS, CMI-V Robert Byrd, DDS Dennis Flanagan, DDS R. Gordon Klockow, DDS Chester B. Kulak, DMD, CMI-V, CFC, DABFD John Petkanas, DDS Kathryn Vitiello, DMD American Board of Forensic Examiners Chair: Kevin Theriault, BS, FACFEI, CFC Jess P. Armine, DC, FACFEI, DABFE, DABFM Ronna F. Dillon, PhD, DABFE, CMI-V, CHS-III Bruce H. Gross, PhD, JD, MBA, FACFEI Henry Hambel, PhD, CPP, CHS-V, DABLEE, DABPS, FACFEI, MEMS-M Brian Harte, PhD Darrell C. Hawkins, MS, JD, FACFEI, CMI-V Edward Heyden, EdD, FABFE Michael W. Homick, PhD, DABCHS, CHS-V Michael Fitting Karagiozis, DO, MBA, CFP, CMI-V Anthony Kemmerlin, CMI-IV Ronald G. Lanfranchi, DC, PhD, DABFE, DABFM, DABLEE, CMI-IV John L. Laseter, PhD, FACFEI, CMI-IV, CHS-III Lawrence Lavine, DO, MPH, CHS-V, CMI-V Leonard K. Lucenko, PhD, FACFEI, DABFE, CPSI Marc A. Rabinoff, EdD, FACFEI, DABFE, CFC Luis Rivera, CPA James A Williams, PhD, CFC, DABFE American Board of Engineering and Technology Chair: Ben Venktash, Peng (UK), FSE, DABFET, DABFE Vice Chair: George C. Frank, CFC, FACFEI, DABFE Cam Cope, BS, DABFET, DABFE Robert Durham, PhD, PE Ali Fayad, PE Gregory Harrison, PhD, PE

David Albert Hoeltzel, PhD Gary Krueger, PE, CM J.W. “Bill” Petrelli Jr., AIA, DABFET, CFC, FACFEI Max L. Porter, PhD, PE, CFC, DABFET John Robbins, PE Frank Stephenson, PhD, PE James P. Waltz, HBA, PE American Board of Forensic Medicine Chair: Cyril H. Wecht, MD, JD, FACFEI, CFP Michael Cardwell, MD, JD Zhaoming Chen, MD, PhD, MS, CFP John A. Consalvo, MD, FACFEI, DABFE, DABFM Louis W. Irmisch III, MD, CFP, FACFEI, CMI-V Michael Fitting Karagiozis, DO, MBA, CFP, CMI-V Lawrence Lavine, DO, MPH, CHS-V, CMI-V Kenneth A. Levin, MD, CFP, FACFEI, DABFM E. Franklin Livingstone, MD, CFP, FACFEI, DABFM Manijeh K. Nikakhtar, MD, MPH, CFP, CMI-V Matthias I. Okoye, MD, MSc, JD, FRCP John R. Parker, MD, CFP, FACFEI, DABFM Jerald H. Ratner, MD, FACFEI, DABFE, DABFM S. Sandy Sanbar, MD, PhD, JD, FCLM Gere N. Unger, MD, JD, LLM, CMI-V American Board of Forensic Nursing Chair: L. Sue Gabriel, EdD, MSN, RN, CFN Heidi H. Bale, RN, BSN, CFN Marilyn A. Bello, RNC, MS, CMI-IV, CFN Wanda S. Broner, MSN, RN, FNE, CEN Cynthia J. Curtsinger, RN, CFN Linda J. Doyle, RN, CLNC, CFN, CMI-III Donna Garbacz Bader Diane L. Reboy, MS, RN, CFN, FACFEI Elizabeth N. Russell, RN, BSN, CCM, BC Theresa Wyatt, MSFN, RN,CFN, D-ABMDI

Joseph C. Yeager, PhD, DABFE, DABPS, FACFEI Donna M. Zook, PhD, DABPS, CFC American Board of Recorded Evidence Chair: Gregg M. Stutchman Ernst F. W. (Rick) Alexanderson, BA, MBA, FACFEI, DABRE Eddy B. Brixen, DABFET Stephen C. Buller Charles K. Deak, BS, CPC, DABFE, FACFEI Marisa Dery Ryan O. Johnson, BA, DABFE, DABRE Michael C. McDermott, JD, DABRE, DABFE, FACFEI Jennifer E. Owen, BA, DABRE, DABFE Thomas J. Owen, BA, FACFEI, DABRE, CHS-V Lonnie L. Smrkovski, BS, DABRE, DABFE, FACFEI American Board of Certified Criminal Investigators Chair: TBA Joseph Alercia II Kenneth E. Blackstone, MS, CFC, DABFE Mark Boutwell, CPPP, FIPC, CMI-I Robert Boyden, PhD, MS, SCSA Henry “Scott” Browne Marvin “Gene” Bullington, CFC, FACFEI Dennis Chevalier, CPPP, FIPC, CMI-I John Daab, PhD, MA, MBA, MPS, MA, RI Joseph A. Juchniewicz, MA, SSI, CHS-III, RI Eric Lakes, CHS-III, CLWE, MCSE Lt. David Millsap, RI, CMI-III Thomas R. Price, CHS-III, CFC, CCI Harold F. Risk, PhD, DABPS, FACFEI Richard A. Vera, MBA, CPA Cyril H. Wecht, MD, JD, CFP, FACFEI

American Board of Forensic Social Workers Chair: Douglas Fountain, PhD, LCSW, DABFE, DABFSW James Andrews, MSW, LCSW, CMFSW Matthew A. Capezzuto, PhD, LISW, AFC Peter W. Choate, PhD, BA, MSW, DABFSW Viola Vaughan-Eden, PhD, LCSW, CMFSW, DAPA Nathalie P. Hughes, MSW, CMFSW Tina Jaeckle, PhD, LCSW, CFC, CMFSW Shannon C. Lebak, MSW, LSW, CMFSW Michael G. Meacham, PhD, LCSW, DCSW, FACFEI, DABFSW Kathleen Monahan, DSW, MSW, CFC, DABFE Susan P. Robbins, PhD, LCSW, DCSW, DABFSW Christine Routhier, AFSW, LCSW, CMFSW Steven J. Sprengelmeyer, MSW, MA, FACFEI, DABFSW

Executive Advisory Board of the International College of the Behavioral Sciences CHAIR: Janet M. Schwartz, PhD, FACFEI, DABFE, CHS-V BOARD SECRETARY: Steven Crimando Mike Baer, PhD Duane L. Dobbert, PhD, FACFEI Sue Gabriel, EdD, RN, CFN Mark L. Goldstein, PhD Raymond H. Hamden, PhD, FACFEI, CFC, CMI-V Janice L. Hargrave, MEd, CFC David L. Holmes, EdD Tina Jaeckle, PhD, LCSW, CMFSW, CFC Gary Kesling, PhD, LMFT, LPC, DAPA Lon Kopit, PsyD, LPC, BCPC Carl J. Patrasso, PsyD Katherine Ramsland, PhD, CMI-V Jerald H. Ratner, MD, CFP Doug Ruben, PhD Ronald M. Ruff, PhD

American Board of Psychological Specialties Chair: Raymond H. Hamden, PhD, FACFEI, CFC, CMI-V Raymond F. Hanbury, PhD, FACFEI, DABPS, DABFE Carl N. Edwards, PhD, JD, FACFEI, DABPS Carol J. Armstrong, PhD, LPC, DABPS Martha Barham, RN, PhD Paul David Etu, PsyD Ronna F. Dillon, PhD, DABPS, CMI-V, CHS-III Keith Franklin Kennett, PhD, BA, MA, DABFE Paula M. Mackenzie, PsyD Helen D. Pratt, PhD, FACFEI, DABPS Rodolfo J. Rosado, PhD Douglas H. Ruben, PhD, FACFEI, DABPS, DABFE Richard M. Skaff, PsyD, DABPS Charles R. Stern, PhD, DABPS, CMI-V

Legal Advisory Board Joseph F. Connolly, II, MMA, MEd, JD, DABCHS Robert Doherty, EdD, JD, CPA, Cr.FA Robert Fish, DDS, JD, FAGD Robert D. Hall, PhD, JD Helen M. Larsen Cynthia A. Lee, PhD, JD William “Bill” McClure Robert W. Muench, JD, CHS-IV Dan T. Ramsdell, JD Joshua K. Roberts, JD John F. Romano, JD S. Sandy Sanbar, MD, PhD, JD, FCLM Malcolm H. Skolnick, PhD, JD Gere N. Unger, MD, JD, LLM, CMI-V Cyril H. Wecht, MD, JD, CFP, FACFEI

Summer 2012 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER®

BOARDS

BOARDS

2012 EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

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NEW MEMBERS

ACFEI NEWS

WELCOME New Members Robert Aguero Debra Ballard Deborah Bell James Bickley Jill Bigart Jennifer Bock Ashlee Bork Brian Bregman Kirk Brown Susan Camazine Chingho Chang Amberly Chaplin Jean-Leon Chong Rolando Colon-Nebot Cathy Crawford Meaghan Cronin Jeffrey Crump Patricia Delaney Jose Dergan Keri Dixon Patrick Drottar John Duska Todd Eastman Walter Eaton Kelly Elzey Patty Emmons Wilbur Emmons Teresa Erickson Nicia Ferreira Stephanie Ferrell John Frederick Thomas Garland Lisa Geer W. Gibson Shelly Gill Mike Griffis Mary Guccione Kevin Hackie Patricia Hagan

Nancy Haman John Hamilton Kevin Heldenbrand Beth Henson Randolph Hernandez Ruth Hillyard Yu Lisa Hollett Tina Hooper Steve Huff Brenda Hummel Margaret Johnson Tracy Justesen Tam Kaiden Thomas Kennett Linda Kingery David Kolberson Lynne Kramer James Lawrence JaMaura Long Rapheal Luccasen Jordan Matlovsky Sheri McClarren Susan McDonald George McGregor Molllie McGregor Debora McKibbin James McSweeney Anthony Meoli Dean Messelheiser Robert Miller Shawn Miller Casey Moore Miles Morrison Lori Moynihan Joseph Mullin Eric Multhaup Shawanna Musick-Schneider Kelly Myers Neil Myres Maria Nelson Jeffrey Neumeister

Joel Nwoke Elizabeth O’Brien Donatus Ogbonnaya Gbenga Oguntade Katie Olgers Melanie Owes Godwin Oyedokun Christopher Padron Marvin Paniagua Zulema Perez Danielle Peterson Adrianne Pohar Christina Pollock Terri Popson Robert Rausch Gail Reeves Denise Rivera Ernest Rogers Joel Rosenthal Patricia Ross Evadne Sang John Santarelli James Schaefer Michael Schaffer Robert Schindler Stacy Sederwall Christine Serdinak Janet Shaulis Thomas Simpson Bruce Singletary Adanna Smith Michelle Smucker Natalie Sobel Alan Sorkey Jennifer Swinford Mohamad Tarabah Dianna Taylor Rebecca Taylor Courtney Thomas Shelliann Threadgill George Tillema

Mark Tomlin Gabe Uhrig Malinda Vance Michael Vannoy Juan Velez Suarez Jennifer Wagner Judy Weimer John West Jaimie Wheat Allison Whitler Mariah Wiesner Donna Wiley Anne Wilson Paula Womack Tammy Woodward Newly credentialed James Andrews Donna Bader Debra Ballard LaSonia Barlow Bryan Buchalski Amanda Corzine Wilbur Emmons Chun Fung Shing Fung Thomas Garland Marvin Glovinsky Steven Graboff Jonathon Helsius Vanessa Janulis Isra Jelich Joseph Juchniewicz Tam Kaiden Linda Kingery Lisa Moment Jeffrey Neumeister R. Lawrence Nicholson Sarah Pelfrey Douglas Phillips Parthasarathi

ACFEI NEWS and Announcements Pramanik Cherisse Ratan Felix Roman Robert Smith Jennifer Swinford Richard Teichner Mark Tomlin John Vaughn Jennie Vershvovsky John West Jaimie Wheat Anne Wilson Steven Wood New Diplomates Nicole Ewald Lisa Gordish Eldridge Gordon Steven Graboff Jan Hare Suzanne Hillman Robert Mance Albert McFarland Ruth Norton Manuel Reyes Michael Richins Jaime Ross Evadne Sang Veronique Valliere Joseph Wheeler Carol Wood New Fellows Babatunde Adetunji Emilio Alvarez Kimberly Basinger Douglas Beal Russell Bourne John Cantwell Kieran Claffey Harry Cooper Dorothy Edelson

Ronald Greene Andrew Griffith Ronald Kopco David Lamagna Stephen Linker Anthony Maltese Donald Massey Valerie Massey Brian McGurgan John McNamara Joan Neehall Thanh Son Nguyen-Kelly James Petrick Jaime Ross James Ruffin Evadne Sang Ellen Scrivner Robert Smith Ana Soto Robert Tovar Kathey Verdeal Steven Wood Gloria Woods R. Wayne Yost New life members Jerry Brumley Linda Doyle Christine Goss Darrell Pugh Matilde Del Valle-Lopez

THE INSTITUTE FOR CREDENTIALLING EXCELLENCE

CONGRATULATIONS TO DAVID WECHT

The Institute for Credentialing Excellence (ICE) held its 2011 Annual Educational Conference November 8-11, 2011 at The Roosevelt in New Orleans, LA.

Congratulations to David Wecht, who was sworn in as a Superior court judge on Wednesday, January 4, 2012 in Pittsburgh, PA. David Wecht is the son of Dr. Cyril H. Wecht, a former county coroner and Commissioner known for his work in many famous cases, including John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Elvis Presley, and Anna Nicole Smith. Dr. Cyril H. Wecht is a valued member and chairman/spokesperson of ACFEI. We wish to extend our congratulations to him on his son’s accomplishment.

About ICE The Institute for Credentialing Excellence is an organization dedicated to providing educational, networking, and advocacy resources for the credentialing community. ICE’s accrediting body, the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA), evaluates certification organizations for compliance with the NCCA Standards for the Accreditation of Certification Programs. NCCA’s Standards exceed the requirements set forth by the American Psychological Association and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. ICE is accredited by the American National Standards Institute as a Standards Developer.

The American College of Forensic Examiners Institute (ACFEI) sent six staff members to the event. One of the highlights included the Keynote Speaker of the Opening Plenary Session, David Stillman, co-founder of Bridgeworks LLC. Stillman discussed the phenomena of a multigenerational workforce, as well as the positives and negatives that it can present.

Breakout sessions included The First Steps: Establishing a Development Cycle, presented by Ben Babock and Nathan Thompson, both PhDs in their respective fields, and Brave New Word: Using Social Media to Launch and Market Credentials, presented by Rory McCorkle. Both classes presented excellent ways to increase job performance as well as maximizing interaction with fellow employees and potential members.

The 2012 ICE Annual Educational Conference will be held November 6–9 in Rancho Mirage, California.

ACFEI INTRODUCES THE AUTOMATIC PAYMENT PLAN ACFEI members will now have the choice to have their membership dues drawn automatically on a monthly basis.

Monthly dues will reduce financial stress and ensure benefits never lapse. For more information, please call member services at: (800) 423-9737.

ACFEI ANNOUNCES DANA WAY AS THE NEW CAO

The American College of Forensic Examiners International (ACFEI) is proud to announce Dana Way as a new addition to our team. She is the new CAO of ACFEI and brings to our members a vast level of understandings from many levels of forensic science. Dana has worked as a forensic chemist since 1989. She is an expert at procedures, analysis, and report writing. Over the last eleven years, she has reviewed and consulted on hundreds of various types of analysis including but not limited to DNA, Narcotics, Poisons, Toxic Metals, Crime Scene Analysis and Evidence Collection Procedures, and Pharmaceutical Products. Dana has been an active member of our organization since 2008, and plans on utilizing her background and expertise to work together with our members to continually improve every aspect of ACFEI, allowing us to promote and disseminate the continuous knowledge base of forensic science and examinations.

ACFEI FILL INNEWS TEXT

NEW MEMBERS

New PROVISIONAL Members

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Due to space limitations, degrees and professional designations are not listed.

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THE FORENSIC EXAMINER® Summer 2012

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About Certification Boards with

THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF FORENSIC EXAMINERS INSTITUTE

800.423.9737 • WWW.ACFEI.COM Certification Programs Sponsored by The American COLLEGE OF FORENSIC EXAMINERS INTERNATIONAL (ACFEI) and Its Sub-Boards

INTRODUCTION According to its entry in the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (2007), forensic science (or forensics) is the application of a broad spectrum of sciences to answer questions of interest to a legal system. The entry explains that this may be in relation to a crime or a civil action. The word forensic, according to this entry, has two modern usages – as a form of legal evidence and as a category of public presentation. The term forensic, therefore, is effectively “a synonym for legal or related to courts.”

Founded by Dr. Robert O’Block, The American College of Forensic Examiners Institute (ACFEI) is an association serving the professional needs of forensic examiners worldwide.

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Earning NCCA accreditation typically requires a lot of time. It certainly necessitates a tremendous amount of involvement from volunteer Subject Matter Experts. Some can dedicate only 30 minutes to complete the survey associated with the Job Analysis study. Others contribute several hours monthly as the completion of concentrated improvement activities yield better foundation for credentialing programs. Any measure of involvement in the process is certain to be a unique learning experience coupled with various opportunities for professional networking.

ACFEI is looking for forensic professionals who are not afraid to work hard, jump in to new learning experiences, and reap the benefits of knowing that their efforts are advancing the field of forensics. All with current certification from ACFEI should be on the look-out for opportunities to assist the Association in raising the bar for its certification arm.

THE FORENSIC EXAMINER® Summer 2012

ACFEI SERVICES Since its inception, the Association has striven to advance the field of forensics in a number of ways. ACFEI has actively promoted the circulation of forensic-related information through publishing its official journal The Forensic Examiner® and through hosting annual conferences, summits, and many other networking opportunities. The Association has sponsored thousands of continuing education activities delivered as online and face-to-face courses, seminars, conference sessions, and journal learning. Advancing the state of forensic examination and consultation through promoting elevated standards is another endeavor the Association has undertaken.

The Association employs intricate processes for establishing certification program policy, enforcing ethics, developing tests, and operating continuing education programs. These processes align with industry standards (such as those set forth by the American National Standards Institute and the National Commission for Certifying Agencies) and are driven by Subject Matter Experts.

In this way, those who hold certifications from ACFEI can be confident that their credentials are credible and relevant to their specialty area.

WHY GET CERTIFIED? Potential Benefits to the Field:

Potential Benefits to Employers:

• Standardizes practices and/or standards within an industry

• Improves customer satisfaction

• Advances the specialty/field

• Increases competence level of employees

• Increases cooperation between organizations in the same discipline

• Useful in making employment decisions

ACFEI AS ADMINISTRATOR OF CREDENTIALING PROGRAMS Providing an established organizational structure for the development and administration of credentialing programs is another function ACFEI serves.

• Provides a means for an industry to self-regulate

Professional certification is a unique accomplishment that validates one’s experience and attainment of a particular skill set. It is a voluntary process that exhibits one’s dedication to the betterment of a field and commitment to proficiency and professional enhancement. Obtaining a certification can open avenues for advancement, provide financial incentives, and increase one’s credibility and personal satisfaction.

• Grants recognition of knowledge and skills by a third party

ACFEI sponsors unique credentialing opportunities for various specialties in the field of forensics. As of April 2012, ACFEI sponsors at least 10 credentialing programs.

The Association relies on the involvement of subject matter experts (SMEs) to align the scopes of its credentialing programs with particular forensic-related specialties, and the Association awards certified status and designation only to those who meet program requirements.

Potential Benefits to Those with Current Certification: • Enhances professional reputation • Provides personal accomplishment • Supports continued professional development • Demonstrates a high level of commitment to the field of practice • Demonstrates a specific level of knowledge and skill • Increases opportunities for career advancement and/or increased earnings • Can validate skills and knowledge • Could communicate credibility • Serves as a differentiator in a competitive job market

• Provides professional development opportunities for employees • Ongoing enhancement of knowledge and skills • Increases confidence in employees’ abilities • Demonstrates employers’ commitment to competence • Could provide means to establish and enforce an ethical code • Can provide compliance with industry regulation/ government requirements • Increases safety Potential Benefits to the public:

ACCREDITATION

ACCREDITATION

GET INVOLVED!

ACFEI and its sub-boards sponsor certification programs in various forensic-related areas. The goal of each program is to validate the professional knowledge and skills of certified individuals in a particular area related to forensics. This is no small task.

• Standardizes practice and/or standards within an industry • Advances the specialty/field and increases cooperation between organizations in the same discipline • Provides a means for an industry to self-regulate • Helps in identifying qualified service providers • Increases confidence in service providers • Provides disciplinary process to follow in case of complaints

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FORENSICS IN THE NEWS

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reveal secrets of bodies in water

Bodies in the water used to be a perplexing problem for forensic entomologist Gail Anderson.

“Normally, I’m dealing with terrestrial situations and insects on bodies,” said the Simon Fraser University associate professor.

“But police officers were always asking me what happens when a body was in the water and I couldn’t answer that.”

About a decade ago, Anderson started buying pigs at the butcher and dropping them into the water to watch what happened.

“They’re very close to a human body in terms of decomposition,” she said.

But the experiment was limited by depth, time, weather and availability of divers.

That all changed after a chance encounter at the University of Victoria with Verena Tunnicliffe, director for VENUS - Ocean Networks Canada’s Victoria Experimental Network Under the Sea. Three pigs were soon dropped into Saanich Inlet, where the cabled underwater observatory cameras sent back images of decomposition and animal scavenging.

It is interesting the sharks are not eating entire bodies, Anderson said, noting that it is possible they don’t really like the taste of pigs or people.

“If they actually liked the taste of human flesh, there would be more [consumptions] of people.

Often people die because of a shark attack because they get a big bite and bleed out, but the whole body is not eaten.

That’s what I’ve found with the pigs, too,” she said.

The research has already shed light on some cases, such as the lone feet that have washed up on B.C. beaches, Anderson said.

“I was able to show, very clearly, from the pig (photo) galleries, how different body parts disarticulate from the rest of the body,” she said.

The experiment is showing how long a body lasts in various water conditions, and the wound patterns created by animals are providing vital information, Anderson said.

“If you look at some of the marks on a body that has been brought ashore, you would sometimes think he had been in a terrible fight or badly beaten, but maybe not,” she said. “Before we start thinking about a homicide, let’s look closely at whether the marks could have been caused by animals.”

Funding has been received to continue the research over the next three years. There will likely be at least two pig drops each year. n Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/technology/Pigs+reveal+secre ts+bodies+water/6378289/story.html#ixzz1qtv2rTJj Original source: http://www.timescolonist.com/technology/Pigs+revea l+secrets+bodies+water/6378289/story.html

Rare snakes seized from Goldfields Three snakes were seized in two separate raids in the Goldfields yesterday.

Officers from the Department of Environment and Conservation and Customs and Border Protection found the snakes in Kambalda, 50km south of Kalgoorlie, including an exotic corn snake native to North America.

The baby corn snake and a black-headed python, which is native to WA, were seized at one address and a native southwest carpet python was discovered at another house.

Customs and Border Protection Acting National Manager Investigations Ross Viles said the illegal importation of exotic species posed a serious biosecurity risk as they could introduce diseases and compete with native animals for food and habitat.

“Customs and Border Protection works closely with other Commonwealth and state agencies such as DEC to combat the unlawful importation and exportation of wildlife,” Mr. Viles said.

DEC wildlife officer Matt Swan said black-headed and southwest carpet pythons were protected fauna under the Wildlife Conservation Act 1950.

The southwest carpet pythons are listed as a threatened species.

THE FORENSIC EXAMINER® Summer 2012

Now a team of University of Notre Dame biometrics experts are developing a crime-fighting tool that can help law enforcement officials identify suspicious individuals at crime scenes.

Kevin Bowyer and Patrick Flynn of Notre Dame’s Computer Science and Engineering Department have been researching the feasibility of image-based biometrics since 2001, including first-oftheir-kind comparisons of face photographs, face thermograms, 3-D face images, iris images, videos of human gait, and even ear and hand shapes.

While attending a meeting in Washington, D.C., Bowyer listened as military and national security experts discussed the need for a tool to help identify IED bombers in the Middle East. n

“It is an offense to take these species from the wild or be in possession of them unlawfully, and it is also illegal to buy reptiles from anyone other than a licensed reptile dealer and to keep reptiles without a license,” he said.

“Wildlife smuggling is a serious problem and DEC takes the unlawful possession of protected reptiles and reptile trafficking very seriously. My advice to anyone tempted to capture reptiles they encounter in the wild is to leave them alone.”

Investigations are continuing and charges are yet to be laid. n Please note that the material is West Australian Newspapers copyright © and must not be reproduced without permission. Wan © content is supplied for one-time only editorial use and must not be used outside the agreed context.

Wan material cannot be archived or passed on to any third party under any circumstances. Mandatory credit: © The West Australian

Source: The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Notre Dame. Science Daily. Retrieved March 15, 2012, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111011145711.htm

Computer Vision Experts Develop ‘Questionable Observer Detector’ It has become a standard plot device of television detective shows: criminals always return to the scene of the crime. And law enforcement officials believe that perpetrators of certain crimes, mostly notably arson, do indeed have an inclination to witness their handiwork. Also, U.S. military in the Middle East feel that IED bomb makers return to see the results of their work in order to evolve their designs.

Hollywood Screenwriters & Scientists: M ore T han an A rtistic C ollaboration

Writers and producers for the most popular crime and sciencerelated television shows and movies are putting out an all-points bulletin for scientists to advise them on the accuracy of their plots involving lab tests, crime scenes, etc., and to even give them story ideas.

They really do want to get it right, and this is very good news for young people who absorb the information from these shows, and this helps shape their positive career decisions. That’s the message delivered in Denver by producers and writers from top television shows speaking at a special Presidential Event at the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) 242nd National Meeting & Exposition.

Producers and writers for some of television’s most popular medical, crime, science, and science fiction shows today said they do strive for accuracy and ask more scientists to get involved and lend a hand in helping TV accurately portray science. They spoke at a symposium entitled “Science on the Hollywood Screen.” In addition to CSI, other shows represented were Breaking Bad, CSI New York, Buffy, Battlestar, and Torchwood. n

FORENSICS IN THE NEWS

FORENSICS IN THE NEWS

Pigs

WWW.ACFEI.COM • (800) 592-1399

Source: The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Chemical Society, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS. Science Daily. Retrieved March 15, 2012, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110828171208.htm

Dan Breckwoldt / Shutterstock.com

Summer 2012 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER®

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FEATURE

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An Expert's Expe rience, no matte r how exte ns ive, i s li mited by p ers onal circumstances.

clinical judgment

First Murder Melva Neill’s neighbor in Clover, South Carolina grew suspicious when Melva failed to show up for an appointment on September 16, 1981. Melva was 82, but still quite healthy and active. The neighbor went to her home and found the inside door standing ajar. When Melva failed to respond, this neighbor contacted the police. They found Melva sexually assaulted, beaten, murdered, and dumped into her bathtub. An autopsy showed that she had been strangled, and missing items suggested robbery as a motive.

A caller sent police to a 19-year-old high school dropout named Sterling Barnett Spann. He knew the victim, he admitted; he had done some yard work for her. But he claimed no knowledge of the murder. His fingerprints matched items scattered at the scene, and a necklace made from a gold coin that was missing from Melva Neill’s home was in his pocket. He gave an unlikely story that a red-haired man named “Cool Breeze” had given him the coin. A jury convicted him and he received the death penalty.

Over a decade later, Pete Skidmore, a former acquaintance of Spann’s who was now a private investigator, reopened his case.

Skidmore discovered that just two months before Neill was murdered (July 18) and only a few blocks from Neill’s home, a fiftyseven-year-old white woman named Mary Ring had been sexually assaulted, strangled, and left in her bathtub. Like Neill, she had been beaten about the head. This incident remained unsolved. In fact, the pathologist who had done both autopsies had spotted no similarities. Nor had the police, although Spann had once worked for both victims.

As Skidmore checked further, he found yet another elderly white female, Bessie Alexander, murdered two months after Neill (November 16). She had been beaten, sexually assaulted, stran-

gled, and dumped on her dining room floor before her body was drenched with liquids. Her home was twelve miles from the other two, and a psychotic wife-beating former minister named Johnny Hullett had been convicted of this murder. The pathologist, who had witnessed Alexander’s autopsy, later said that he had not seen anything that would link this murder to the other two. Nor had detectives. But clearly an imprisoned Spann had not murdered the third victim.

clove r, S C

FEATURE

FEATURE

vs.

By Mark Safarik, MS, VSM, and Katherine Ramsland, PhD, CMI-V

data analys i s For complex cases, judgments based on expertise have traditionally been the best practice, though information in databases can contradict this notion.

An expert’s experience, no matter how extensive, is limited by personal circumstances. Their mental habits also encourage mental shortcuts that can move the case in the wrong direction. The following case from Clover,

Improving on TRADITION

South Carolina, illustrates an important point. In forensic areas for which databases are available, investigators and attorneys would gain more benefit from consulting statistical data than relying solely on expert testimony.

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Linkage Analysis

hyo i d b one

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Due to the similarities of the three murders and the substantial odds that all three were probably linked, a hearing was scheduled to consider a new trial for Spann. Three expert witnesses testified on his behalf. A forensic psychiatrist, a former FBI profiler, and an experienced forensic pathologist agreed that the probability was high that a single individual had killed all three heavyset white women living alone within a twelve-mile radius. Since Spann could not have killed Bessie Alexander, the attorneys reasoned, someone else had killed Melva Neill.

The forensic pathologist testified that all three elderly women had been strangled in a “unique” way. He noted that the absence of neck structure injury (the small hyoid bone and the thyroid and cricoid larynx anato my cartilages showed no fracture) indicated that the method of strangulation was the carotid chokehold, also called the sleeper hold. He believed that this provided conclusive evidence that the same offender was responsible for all three homicides. His opinion was based on the observation of broken or fractured neck structures, specifically the hyoid bone, in autopsies he had performed on elderly women killed with manual strangulation. He stated that he had never seen such a pattern before in his entire forty-three-year-career.

Although the judge found the expert testimony “thought provoking” and “intriguing,” he ultimately rejected it as grounds for a new trial because he believed that such expertise had been discoverable at the time of Spann’s trial. Spann appealed to the South Carolina Supreme Court, which reversed his conviction, holding that previously undiscovered expert testimony could not have been discovered earlier because at the time these crimes had occurred, no investigator had recognized the incident similarities. Thus, no linkage experts had been consulted. Spann’s case was remanded for a new trial.

On the surface, it seemed that the three experts offered a solid set of experiences for supporting a collective opinion about a serial killer. However, psychiatry and profiling are based on probability, and neither is considered to have the status of scientific forensic evidence. Both experts, although “certain” of their analysis, offered only vague “profiles” of the type of person who might commit such crimes and the type who would not. Neither offered definitive testimony that would clear Spann of the murder conviction, not even with the other suspect claiming that he saw his brother kill Neill (which the brother denied).

This left the case largely in the hands of the forensic pathologist. Although Spann had won a new trial, now he was suspected in the murders of both Ring and Neill.

Since Alexander had lived twelve miles away and had been found in her dining room rather than in a bathtub, the prosecutor decided that she was not in the series. He still had evidence that Spann had been in Neill’s home and that he had worked for Ring.

When DNA analysis could not eliminate Spann as the man who had raped and killed Ring, he remained in prison. Spann was finally paroled years after agreeing to an Alford plea, but the troublesome factor about expertise in this case remains unaddressed: some experts who have access to databases still rely entirely on their own judgment. Although acceptable in the past, expert opinion has sometimes been undermined by information gathered in databases. Since databases draw on a broader sample than a single expert can cover, the results of a database offer more reliable and objective information.

THE FORENSIC EXAMINER® Summer 2012

thyr o i d cart ilag e

cr i c o i d cart ilag e (behind thyroid gland)

Ab s ence o f neck structur e inj u ry ind icat e d that the m etho d o f strangulati on was the car o t i d cho k ehold

“…clinical predictions were right in just one of three cases, so there were many “false positives” — people committed who would not be violent — and “false negatives”— people freed who then committed violence.”

Island

of expertise

The forensic pathologist on Spann’s defense team believed that his experience from over four decades was sufficient to offer definitive judgment on a linkage among the three murders.

However, this presents two glaring problems.

Clinical judgments often rely on heuristic thinking, i.e., a high degree of self-trust in past experience that encourages quick assumptions that a present incident matches similar past incidents.

This shortchanges a full analysis. Cognitive psychology confirms that we develop perceptual habits, known as cognitive maps, that limit us and make us prone to confirmation bias, in which we recognize whatever supports our biases and fail to see counter-evidence.

Contexts color a person’s readiness to perceive something in accordance with expectations.

These expectations, which are influenced by past experience, cultural upbringing, knowledge, and context, cause people to selectively

1.

Ne ither p sy c h iatry o r pro f i li n g ar e c o ns i d e r e d t o hav e the statu s o f s ci e n t i f i c f o r e ns i c e vi d e nce.

attend to certain aspects of a stimulus while failing to process others. This can produce significant errors of judgment. We generally recall and encode situations according to the most familiar parameters, which then guide our decisions and interpretations.

That is, our habits considerably influence our judgments.

We have evidence from other fields that clinical judgment based largely on experience is inferior to statistical analysis of databases.

Analysis of data gathered from many cases provides a more objective ground from which to make a statement about linkage among specific cases. For example, the analysis of factors that make someone a potential future danger has been a central issue in the legal/mental health arena for years. Mental health experts once relied on their best clinical judgment, committing potentially violent people involuntarily.

However, an extensive study over a period of several years found that clinical predictions were right in just one of three cases, so there were many “false positives” — people committed who would not be violent — and “false negatives”— people freed who then committed violence.

2.

This shocking error rate launched an effort to reduce the damage caused by clinical judgment and develop instruments that would improve the percentage of correct assessments. Dr. John Monahan and his colleagues found that reliable risk assessment should be segregated into component parts, should use a rich array of relevant factors, should scale harm in terms of its seriousness, and should rely on standard assessment instruments and solid statistical data. All factors were fieldtested and then submitted to a full-scale study, measuring the criterion variables via several sources. The databases, it turned out, were more accurate for risk prediction than any single clinical opinion based on personal experience. A similar inadequacy turned up in the Clover, South Carolina case analysis.

33. 3%

Strangulation is achieved by hanging, by ligature, o r manually.

Types of Strangulation Deaths As a consultant for the prosecution in Spann’s second trial, former FBI supervisory special agent and criminal profiler Mark Safarik looked at relevant databases. Having done research on the sexual homicides of elderly women and creating a database of relevant demographic, behavioral, anatomical, and injury-related information, Safarik focused on creating a subset of data about the relationship between neck structure injuries in the elder women in his study and a cause of death identified as either manual or ligature strangulation. He developed the database by reviewing the medical examiner autopsy protocols for each homicide and coding the results. He examined various other studies before offering an opinion.

With its relatively small diameter, lack of bony shielding, and close association of the airway and associated neck structures, the human neck is uniquely vulnerable to life-threatening compression injuries. Strangulation, a form of asphyxia, encompasses a variety of conditions that interfere with the uptake of oxygen. It often results in injuries of the hyoid bone and cartilaginous structures of the larynx and trachea. The nature and magnitude of the physical forces necessary to cause such fracture injuries are usually sufficient to cause acute asphyxia and death.

Strangulation is achieved by hanging, by ligature, or manually. Hanging is usually intentional, but it can occur by accident, such as by entanglement in machinery or during autoerotic practice. A review of 61 hanging deaths, mostly from suicides, found in one out of four cases that the hyoid bone and thyroid fractures occurred most frequently in older victims (over 40) who were fully suspended, Summer 2012 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER®

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Safarik’s Analysis In his study of 128 elderly female victims of sexual homicide, autopsy protocols in 80 revealed at least one cause of death to be strangulation. The subjects were at least 60 years of age (mean=78 years). Thirteen cases were omitted due to insufficient data, but of the remaining 67 cases, 44 (66%) involved manual strangulation, 21 (31.5%) involved ligature strangulation, and the cause of death in two cases was both. There was an inherent expectation that the medical examiners performing the autopsies had directed particular

attention to neck structure injury. Safarik’s review identified injury to the hyoid, thyroid and cricoid cartilage, and trachea as either a fracture or break of the structure.

The majority of the subjects had suffered petechial and larger hemorrhages (ecchymoses) in conjunctivae, facial skin, soft tissues of the neck, including the strap muscles and the lining of the pharynx and larynx, which is seen more often in manual than ligature strangulation. Other marks of violence, such as abrasions, were also present on the skin of the neck. Sufficient autopsy data was available to code the presence or absence of injury to at least one of the examined neck struc-

Figure 1. Neck Structures of the Pharyngeal Region HYo i d bone

Thyrohyo id Membrane

ThYro id Cartilag e Cricoid Cartilag e Trachea

HYo i d bone Thyrohyo id Membrane ThYro id Cartilag e

Cricoid Cartilag e

Trachea

yet one out of five hanging deaths revealed no fracture injuries. Ligature strangulation involves the use of a cord-like object or garrote to encircle the neck, usually below the thyroid cartilage. More relevant to the Spann case, manual strangulation involves the use of an offender’s hands or arms. Strangling the victim

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from the front usually involves gripping the victim’s throat, while strangling from behind is often done with an arm.

The major neck structures affected in strangulation deaths are the hyoid bone, thyroid and cricoid cartilages, and the trachea (Fig. 1). The hyoid supports the tongue. It is a free-floating

injury in strangulation homicides increases with age. In the sample of the elderly female victims, there are a number of manual (23%) and ligature (43%) strangulation cases in which no neck structure injury was present.

Thus, Safarik’s examination of 67 strangulation cases fails to corroborate the clinical judgment of the forensic pathologist who confidently stated that the absence of hyoid injury made these cases unique, because he had never seen a case that did not have structural injury.

Empirically, neither the presence nor absence of neck structure injury in elderly strangulation homicides can provide unequivocal evidence for the use of a particular method of strangulation. This means that even an experienced pathologist cannot definitively establish that three homicides that show a lack of injury are related to a single common offender who used a specific method.

U-shaped bone consisting of five segments.

When damaged during strangulation, the greater cornu are usually fractured or broken. The higher incidence of fractures in neck structures of the elderly has been well documented, due to greater fragility from calcification and reduced elasticity. Researchers Michael Pollanen and Douglas Ubelaker concluded from a study during the 1990s that the most important intrinsic feature determining the likelihood of fractured neck structures is the state of ossification.

A 1967 study found that in 25 cases of homicidal strangulation, the cricoid was fractured only when the method of strangulation was blunt force injury or forearm neck compression. In fact, there was no injury to the cricoid in cases strictly categorized as manual or ligature strangulations. Due to its anatomical nature, the cricoid is generally fractured when it is statically compressed between the offender’s thumb and the cervical spine, creating the effect of a vice.

A 1981 study by Teet Härm and Jovan Rajs attempted to systematize different modes of strangulation by assessing the nature of injuries based on the placement of the assailant’s hands on the victim’s neck, assaulting from the front or behind a victim, and whether one or both hands (but not an arm) were used. Both bar-arm and carotid chokeholds produce transient cerebral ischemia (temporary reduction of oxygen to the brain) and unconsciousness, but it was rare that either caused death. With a bar-arm hold, compression of the neck by the forearm occludes the upper airway. This hold is achieved by placing the forearm straight

across the neck and pulling back, resulting in the collapse of the airway and carotid arteries. Too much force can fracture the larynx and hyoid. The bar-arm hold causes actual physical deformation of the neck structures and increases the likelihood of injury.

The carotid chokehold, which was relevant in the linkage analysis among the three South Carolina victims, quickly incapacitates without injury. With this method, symmetrical force is applied by flexing the forearm and upper arm into a V. The midline of the neck is centered in the crook of the arm. Using the free hand to grip the opposite wrist exerts pressure that is applied equally to both sides of the neck, creating a pinching effect. This technique by design results in compression of only the arteries and jugular veins, which produces cerebral ischemia. This hold avoids applying pressure to the trachea and associated neck structures, preventing injury.

Summary Safarik found that even a considerably experienced professional, while believing that his or her own experience base is sufficient for a life-and-death judgment, can still be wrong.

If a database exists for a questioned area, consulting it decreases the chance for error.

Experts should recognize the influence of personal cognitive maps and adopt the practice of looking at statistically analyzed data. This might contradict their clinical judgment, but in the long run it would add weight to their expertise. n

Total

manual

ligature

Strangulation Deaths (N =67) 100%

Strangulation (N =46)1 64%

Strangulation (N =23)2 39%

No Neck Structure Injury

28% (N=19)

22% (N=10)

39% (N=9)

At Least One Neck Structure Injury

72% (N=48)

78% (N=36)

61% (N=14)

Injury to Both the Hyoid Bone and Thyroid Cartilage

25% (N=17)

76% (N=13)

12% (N=2)

1. One victim also identified with ligature strangulation as a cause of death 2. One victim also identified with manual strangulation as a cause of death

Table 1. Neck Structure Injury in Strangulation Homicides

Bibliography Ask, K., & Granhag, P. A. Motivational sources of confirmation bias in criminal investigations. Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, 2(1), 2005, pp. 43-63.

Breitmeyer, Bruno. Blindspots: The Many Ways We Cannot See. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2010.

Härm, Teet and Rajs, Jovan. “Types of Injuries and Interrelated Conditions of Victims and Assailants in Attempted Homicidal Strangulation.” Forensic Science International, Vol. 18, March 1981, pp. 101-123.

Iserson, Kenneth V. “Strangulation: A review of ligature, manual, and postural neck compression injuries,” Annals of Emergency Medicine, March 1984; 13: pp. 179-186.

Luke, James L. “Strangulation as a Method of Homicide,” Archives of Pathology (Chicago), Vol. 83, Jan 1967, pp. 64-70.

Luke, James L., Reay, Donald T., Eisele, John W., and Bonnell, Harry J. “Correlation of Circumstances with Pathological Findings in Asphyxial Deaths by Hanging: A Prospective Study of 61 Cases from Seattle, WA,” Journal of Forensic Sciences, Vol. 30, No. 4, October. 1985, pp. 1140-1147.

Pollanen, Michael S. and Chiasson, David A. “Fracture of the Hyoid Bone in Strangulation: Comparison of Fractured and Unfractured Hyoids from Victims of Strangulation.” Journal

of Forensic Sciences, Vol. 41, No. 1, January 1996, pp. 110-113.

Safarik Mark E., Jarvis, John J., and Nussbaum, Kathleen E. “Sexual Homicide of Elderly Females: Linking Offender Characteristics to Victim and Crime Scene Attributes,” Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Vol. 17, No. 5, May 2002, pp. 500-525.

State of South Carolina v. Sterling Barnett Spann, 334 S.C. 618; 513 S.E. 2d 98 (February 16, 1999).

Ubelaker, Douglas H., “Hyoid Fracture and Strangulation,” Journal of Forensic Sciences. Vol. 37, No. 5, September 1992, pp. 1216-1222

Acknowledgements “Netter illustrations used with permission from Icon Learning Systems, a division of MediMedia USA, Inc. All rights reserved.”

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ABOUT THE AUTHORS Mark Safarik, MS, VSM (Supervisory Special Agent, FBI Ret.) is the Executive Director of Forensic Behavioral Services and a former FBI profiler. His research and publications include elder sexual assault and homicide, criminal motivation, injury assessment, and behavioral analysis. He is an internationally recognized expert on violent criminal behavior. His new television series, Killer Instinct finished its first season in December 2011 on the Cloo network.

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Cricoi d Cartilage

tures. It turned out that 28% of the 67 cases revealed no neck structure injury, while 72% had at least one. One out of four showed injury to both the hyoid and thyroid. In 31% of the cases (n=21), the cause of death was ligature strangulation, but there was no neck structure injury in 43% of these homicides, while 51% had at least one identifiable neck structure injury. Injury to both the hyoid and thyroid was noted in only 9.5% of these cases and in 17% of cases for which neck structure injury was described. More to the point for the three elderly female victims in South Carolina, analysis of the 44 cases involving manual strangulation revealed that 23% had no neck structure injury while 77% had one or more neck structures injured.

Finally, in cases where the cause of death was both manual and ligature strangulation, injury to both the hyoid and thyroid was noted.

The historical research provides substantive evidence that incidence of neck structure

KATHERINE RAMSLAND, PhD, CMI-V has published over 1,000 articles and 40 books, including The Mind of a Murderer: Privileged Access to the Demons that Drive Extreme Violence. Dr. Ramsland is an associate professor of forensic psychology and criminal justice at DeSales University in Pennsylvania and has been a member of the American College of Forensic Examiners International since 1998.

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iPREDATOR

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Cyber Bullicide Is a

2012

Child’s Response to 24/7/365 Harassment.

About the Author

Like classic bullying, cyber bullying is harmful, repeated and hostile behavior intended to deprecate & defame a targeted child.

Cyber bullying describes threatening or disparaging information against a target child delivered through information and communications technology (hereafter, ICT.) ICT is an umbrella term that includes any communication device or application encompassing radio, television, cellular phones, computer and network hardware and software, satellite systems and so on, as well as the various services and applications associated with them, such as videoconferencing and distance learning (SearchCIO-Midmarket.) Whereas classic bullying typically involves face-to-face interactions and nondigital forms of communication, cyber bullying consists of information exchanged via ICT and may never involve face to-face encounters.

By Michael Nuccitelli, PsyD, CFC

In the article that follows, this writer briefly introduces his global theoretical paradigm definition, iPredator, who he believes to be the modern-day criminal and psychological reprobate. Compiled for the reader are the most commonly used cyber bullying tactics practiced by child and adolescent ICT users in 2012. As ICT advances and expands, cyber bullying tactics will also continue to adapt to the ever changing world of information and communications technology (ICT.) Within this writer’s paradigm of iPredator, a significant percentage of those cyber bullies who are conscious of the harm they cause a target child are included.The definition of iPredator is as follows:

i Predator A child, adult, or group who engages in exploitation, victimization, stalking, theft, or disparagement of others using information and communications technology (ICT.) iPredators are driven by deviant fantasies, desires for power and control, retribution, religious fanaticism, political reprisal, psychiatric illness, perceptual distortions, peer acceptance, or personal and financial gain. iPredators can be any age, either gender, and are not bound by socio-economic status or racial/national heritage.

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An important distinction made in this theory states iPredators can be any age and need not be an adult. Unfortunately, cyber bullies are a large contingent of iPredators and growing as ICT advances and expands. In a child’s life, most often the iPredator is a cyber bully. Cyber bullying has reached epidemic proportions with no known end in sight.

Although bullying has been part of the human experience since the inception of civilization, cyber bullying has introduced to humanity a form of bullying never seen before. Bullying used to be confined to schools, neighborhoods, or some small geographic location that the bullied child could leave and seek respite. With cyber bullying, the target child has no escape from the taunting and harassment afforded by ICT. Cyber bullies easily target children when they are vulnerable, unaware, unsuspecting, or different from the peer group in power or peer majority based on their age, race, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, and physical attributions. Although bullying exists in all cultures, cyber bullying is specific to those cultures who interact with ICT and rely on the many social benefits the Internet offers.

It has been speculated that children view the real world and the online or virtual world as part of a seamless continuum. Conversations with friends may begin at school and pick up again on a child’s computer or mobile device.

Given the child has 24 hour contact with peers, they are susceptible to perceiving cyberspace and the virtual world as directly connected to reality. Because of this perceptual distortion, posited to be age and maturational related,

children are far more negatively impacted by disparaging, abusive, and false information posted about them online.

Regarding cyber bullying, children are somehow interpreting this online deprecation and taunting by cyber bullies more intensely, in a more meaningful way and far more impacted as opposed to adult online users. For these reasons, targets of cyber bullying are more apt to personalize the victimization, which can lead to a multitude self-destructive and destructive behaviors including depression, alcohol/substance abuse, high risk-taking and aggression.

In the severest reactions, cyber bullying is driving a growing number of children to attempt and succeed at a new form of self-extinction called cyber bullicide. Cyber bullicide is when a child successfully commits suicide stemming directly or indirectly from cyber bullying victimization.

It is for these reasons that cyber bullies and their assaults, when conscious of their intent, may classify them in the genre of iPredator.

Educators, parents, and the community at large must treat cyber bullying as a societally toxic phenomenon. To thwart this growing epidemic, it is paramount the adult community becomes educated on the tactics cyber bullies use to taunt and victimize vulnerable children. In the next issue, we will discuss the continually expanding variety of methods used by cyber bullies. n

iPREDATOR

iPREDATOR

An Introduction

Dr. Michael Nuccitelli, PsyD, CFC, is a New York State licensed psychologist and certified forensic consultant. He completed his doctoral degree in clinical psychology in 1994 from the Adler School of Professional Psychology in Chicago, Illinois. In 1997, Dr. Nuccitelli became a licensed psychologist in New York State. In 2006, he received the Certified Forensic Consultant designation from the American College of Forensic Examiners Institute.

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Part II

By MartIN Matisoff, MSc, MS, BA, and Larry Barksdale, AA, BS, MA

“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains,

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must be the truth.” ~Sherlock Holmes, in

The Sign of the Four.

FIGURE 1: Discrete Variables

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If you have special needs that prevent you from taking the exam online, please contact the registrar at 800.423.9737.

This article is approved by the following for continuing education credit: (ACFEI) The American College of Forensic Examiners International provides this continuing education credit for Diplomates and certified members.

After studying this article, participants should be better able to do the following: 1. Apply the essential statistical concepts as they relate to bloodstains as evidence. the victim. The analysts’ goal is to discover what instrument (independent variable) was used to create that bloodstain, i.e., a hammer, a tube, a pipe, etc. When evaluating crime scene data, analysts typically compare their data to an exemplar, or model, of similar bloodstains in a database, not unlike AFIS (Automated Fingerprint Identification System) for fingerprints. This exemplar database is referred to as the “control,” whereas, the physical evidence from the crime scene is referred to as the experimental, or test, value.

Bloodstain analysts are interested in discrete and continuous variables. Before performing any statistical analysis, it is important for analysts to know whether the variable is discrete or continuous. Discrete variables consist of separate, indivisible categories that exclude any values between the categories, i.e., types of bloodstains (see Figure 1). Continuous FIGURE 2: Continuous Variables

Keywords: Bloodstains, evidence, analysis, errors, bloodstain patterns, manual, field book, hypothesis testing, and fallacies Target Audience: Forensic scientists, crime scene investigators, students, lawyers, police officers, investigators, consultants, educators Disclosure: The author has nothing to disclose Program Level: Basic Prerequisites: Reading Part I of “Mathematical and Statistical Analysis of Bloodstain Pattern Evidence.” The Forensic Examiner®. 21 (1) pp.2633 or login at www.acfei.com and look for the course code FESP0112.

Note: The abstract is located in Part I.

variables, on the other hand, offer an infinite number of possible values that may fall between any two observed values, i.e. angles of impact (see Figure 2).

It is imperative to understand the concept of constants and variables. This can be a critical source of uncertainty in bloodstain analysis.

Certain geometrical patterns can be recognized based on experience. The bloody shoe pattern is an example. One can get numerous shoes, put blood on them, and press the sole to a surface. A certain geometric pattern always seems to form from the action. One can say, when the general pattern is observed, that it was made by footwear. This has nothing to do with individualizing the shoe. That is, one cannot say that a specific shoe made the pattern. This process is a separate discipline called footwear identification. This information is referred to as anecdotal information. It is not

really a descriptive statistic because there is not a definable change to the formation of the pattern. Different shoes make different patterns, but all shoes make generally the same pattern.

One cannot tell if someone was wearing the shoe, if it was thrown and landed, or if it was staged by placing the shoe in one’s hand and pressing it against a surface. A shoe pattern is relatively clear-cut in terms of a constant.

Other patterns are not as clear. Bloody hair along a surface makes a pattern with long thin lines. A piece of cloth with frazzled ends can make similar lines. We cannot say that ninety percent of the time hair will always make lines like frazzled cloth. We can only say that the lines are consistent with the lines made by frazzled cloth. This is still anecdotal information or information that is related to a constant. Uncertainty creeps in when analysts state constants as variables, such as stating that a certain pattern was made from hair dragging along a surface, or that ninety percent of the time such lines come from hair and not cloth.

There is no way to count the formation of the patterns such that you can state a percentage with certainty. The pattern either is like or is not like hair dragged along a surface. You should always compare your measurements with a known reference. Hence, uncertainty is the assumption that a pattern must be of a certain type, when in fact there is no way to establish this conclusively without additional information, such as witness testimony or an individual characteristic comparison.

Cognitive perception has been shown to have an effect on pattern recognition. If an analyst has a mental reference, there is a greater likelihood that the analyst will make an error.

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however improbable,

The Vocabulary of Statistics Statistics is a mathematical language that, as with any other language, consists of a specific vocabulary. The most important statistical concepts have to do with populations and samples. The set of all individuals or data of interest in a particular group is called the population. In comparison, the set of all individuals or items selected from that population, and that usually is intended to represent the population, is called the sample.

From the moment that investigators arrive at a crime scene, they start collecting information about the incident. These data are made up of measurements or observations that, when taken together, form a data set. Each specific measurement of the data set is called a score, or raw score. A numerical value derived from the population is known as a parameter,

whereas a numerical value taken from the sample is referred to as a statistic. Bloodstain analysts are interested in specific characteristics in a population or sample that caused or led to a certain bloodstain. Bloodstain analysts are interested in constants and variables.

Variables can have different values for different individuals. For example, bloodstain patterns from victims on blood thinners may be different from bloodstains from individuals who are not taking anticoagulants. A constant is anything that does not change. The atmospheric pressure at sea level is constant. A bloodstain made from a bloody shoe generally would be considered a constant in that it is a bloody shoeprint impression and is anecdotally recognized as a representation of a shoe as the source of the geometric configuration. A variable is anything that can change. Repeated measurements of an elliptical bloodstain could change from examiner to examiner. Thus, the angle of impact could be a variable.

When working with statistics, analysts use two types of variables to describe what occurred at the crime scene. Independent variables can be manipulated by the perpetrator.

They typically consist of the antecedent conditions that were manipulated prior to observing the dependent variable. In contrast, the dependent variable refers to a resulting or observed outcome of the perpetrator’s actions.

For example, working backwards, crime scene analysts discover a large, roundish mark (the dependent variable) on the concrete next to

2. Recognize terminology related to bloodstain analysis.

3. Recognize sources of error in bloodstain pattern analysis.

4. Recount common fallacies associated with bloodstains as evidence.

5. Calculate a basic error rate.

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VOCABULARY RECAP population The set of all individuals or data of interest in a particular group. sample The set of all individuals or items selected from that population, and that usually is intended to represent the population.

DATA Information collected about an incident.

DATA SET A collection of measurements and observations.

SCORE A specific measurement of a data set.

PARAMETER A numerical value derived from a population.

CONSTANT Anything that does not change.

VARIABLE Anything that can change.

INDEPENDENT VARIABLE Variables that can be manipulated by the perpetrator.

DEPENDENT VARIABLE Resulting or observed outcome of the perpetrator’s actions.

DISCRETE VARIABLES Separate indivisible categories that excludes any values between the categories.

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THE FORENSIC EXAMINER® Summer 2012

and describe data. Based on these data, analysts can use inferential statistics to make inferences or generalizations about a population based on data collected from a small group.

Descriptive statistics use measurements of central tendency to describe the central position of a frequency distribution for a data group.

The most common measurements are mode, median, and mean. The mode is the score or category that has the greatest frequency in a data set. It marks the midpoint of the most populous class interval, and it can have bimodal and multimodal distributions. The median is the score that separates the top 50% of the distribution from the bottom 50% of the distribution. The mean or arithmetic average of a distribution is the most commonly used measure of central tendency. It is computed by adding all of the scores in the distribution and dividing by the number of scores (i.e., x, x2, x3.... xn) divided by the number of measurements in the sample (n).

The mean is a good measure of central tendency for roughly symmetric distributions.

The mode is good for determining which category occurs most frequently among nominal variables. For example, in a sample of U.S. serial killers, the race with the highest frequency is white males with an average age of 28.7 years (Aamodt, 2008). The median is the best measurement when working with “bad” distributions, such as one or more outliers. It is good for measuring distributions with an arbitrary ceiling or floor. If 20 people measure twelve bloodstains, and the range was very large, the analyst could determine the measurements that occurred most often (the mode). Alternatively, the analyst could determine the middle measurement (median).

When there are an odd number of measurements, the median simply is the number that has an equal number of measurements before the median value and after it. For example, if bloodstain measurements (in degrees) were 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 9, 10, 11, 12, 12, 12, and 17, then the median would be 9. If, on the other hand, the values 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10, 11, 12, 12, 12, and 17, then the median would (9+10)/2, or 9.5 degrees. When calculating the central tendency where the sample is very large (n = 40), the mean, in conjunction with variance and standard deviation, provides the best measure of central tendency for continuous data. There are some situations, however, where the mean is not a good indicator of central tendency, such as when a distribution is skewed or when the number of subjects is small.

The last two terms are related to statistical analysis for samples and populations.

Sampling error takes into account the fact that a sample is only a predictor of how a larger population behaves. It is not a perfectly accurate representation of a population.

Moreover, there usually is some discrepancy (or error) between a statistic computed for a sample and the corresponding parameter for the population. The standard error, on other hand, is the standard deviation of the sampling distribution of a statistic.

All of these terms are important when evaluating bloodstain pattern evidence. Well-trained analysts know how the data was collected.

Therefore, they can determine if there were any outliers or if the data was an even distribution—both of which can significantly affect the number of errors associated with a specific data set. Even the smallest error in a data set can lead to a high degree of uncertainty.

Formulating a Hypothesis Hypothesis testing is a statistical method that is used to determine the probability that a given hypothesis is true. It typically starts with an investigator positing a null hypothesis (H0) regarding sample data that is randomly selected from a population. The null hypothesis always states that a variable will have no effect on the data being evaluated. For instance, the null hypothesis H0 may state that the knife beside the victim was not the instrument that killed him. The alternate hypothesis (HA) must then state that the knife was the instrument that killed him. H0 and HA are mutually exclusive. There is no gray area here; if a statistical analysis of the sample data suggests that the null hypothesis should be rejected, the alternative hypothesis must be accepted.

Note: hypotheses do not state a fact, rather they FIGURE 3: Scatter Plot with Outlier

state a condition, i.e., to reject the null hypothesis. Therefore you have two options: you can accept the alternative hypothesis, or you can fail to reject the null hypothesis.

Outliers Any time that measurements are taken from a random sample of bloodstains, the chance of obtaining one or more points that are outside the data range becomes greater. These distant points are referred to as “outliers,” and they can have a dramatic effect on the value obtained for a correlation. One way to identify outliers quickly in a data set is to create a scatter diagram from the available data (see Figure 3).

Errors in Hypothesis Testing Researchers choose the number of data points that will be used to determine the likelihood that an event occurred. According to the Law of Large Numbers, the larger the sample size (n), the more probable it is that the sample mean will be close to the population mean. The number of data points influences the size of the standard error in the denominator.

The standard error provides a method for determining and measuring sampling error, which is the error associated with a sample that does not accurately represent the sample population.

Standard error (σx ) = s / √(n) Where σ= sample standard deviation and n= sample size.

CONTINUOUS VARIABLES An infinite number of possible values that may fall between any two observed values.

NOMINAL SCALE A measurment of data that label or categorize observations but do not make any quantitative distinctions between the observations. ordinal SCALE A measurment of data that are organized in an order sequence in terms of order or magnitude. interval SCALE Ordered categories of equal size.

DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS Statistics that organize, summarize, and describe data.

INFERENTIAL STATISTICS Inferences or generalizations about a population based on data collected from a small group.

MODE The score or category that has the greatest frequency in a data set.

MEAN Arithmetic average of a distribution.

SAMPLING ERROR A predictor of how a larger population behaves.

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STATISTIC A numerical value taken from a sample.

This type of error is related to the uncertainty of the anecdotal information provided. For example, a frayed end of a piece of clothing or a long and flexible fiber brush often creates a pattern that is similar to that created by hair.

Discrete variables consist of separate, indivisible categories. No value exists between neighboring categories, for example, the number of sex offenders in a state, a person’s race, a specific crime category, or the make and model of an automobile. Continuous variables, on the other hand, can have an infinite number of possible values that fall between any two observed values. Examples of continuous variables include age, measurements of bloodstains, or the time it takes for a drop of blood to fall from a certain height.

When collecting evidence, it is important to understand how to classify or categorize the data. Most data fall within one of four measurement scales: nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. Data that label or categorize observations but do not make any quantitative distinctions between the observations measure on a nominal scale. For instance, a steak knife, a hunting knife, and a paring knife are all knives, but none of them is better quantitatively than any of the other knives.

Data that are organized in an order sequence in terms of order or magnitude are measured on an ordinal scale. Shirt sizes, for example, come in small, medium, and large. However, it is impossible to determine the magnitude of difference between individual sizes. The last two categories are quantitative scales that reflect differences in magnitude.

The interval scale consists of ordered categories of equal size. The differences between the numbers on the scale reflect equal differences in magnitude. The ratio scale and interval scale are the same with one important exception: the zero point on an interval scale is arbitrary, that is, it does not represent a “zero” amount. For example, Fahrenheit or Celsius on a thermometer makes it possible to measure magnitude and direction; however, the zero point does not imply a lack of temperature (as it is possible to have negative temperature). In contrast, the ratio (or zero) scale has an absolute zero point where the number reflects ratios of magnitude. For example, the Kelvin scale has an absolute zero – a hypothetical temperature characterized by a complete absence of heat energy.

The two most common types of statistical analysis used by bloodstain pattern analysts are descriptive and inferential statistics.

Descriptive statistics organize, summarize,

STANDARD ERROR A method for measuring the “average” or standard distance between a sample mean and the population mean.

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If the expected value for m is 80.0, then the relative error (RE) is: RE = (78 - 80) / 80 = -0.025, or -2.5% Note: The minus sign indicates that the measured value is less than the expected value.

Precision is a measure of how well a result can be determined (without reference to a theoretical or true value). It is the degree of consistency and agreement among independent measurements of the same quantity and the reliability or reproducibility of the result.

Precision is often reported quantitatively by using relative or fractional uncertainty:

Relative Uncertainty=|uncertainty (measured quantity)| For example, m = 75.5g ± 0.5 g has a fractional uncertainty of: |0.5 g / 75.5 g| = 0.0066, or 0.66% Note: The uncertainty associated with a measurement should include any factors that affect the accuracy and precision of the measurement (see error propagation below).

TYPES OF ERRORS Measurement errors are usually classified as random or systematic depending on how the measurement was obtained. For example, an instrument could cause a random error in one situation and a systematic error in another situation (Dunn & Brach, 2004).

Random errors are statistical fluctuations (in either direction) in the measured data due to the precision limitations of the measurement device. Random errors can be reduced by averaging the errors over a large number of observations.

Systematic errors are reproducible inaccuracies that consistently occur in the same direction. Systematic errors are difficult to detect and cannot be analyzed statistically. If a systematic error is identified when calibrating against a standard, bias can be reduced by applying a correction factor. Unlike random errors, however, systematic errors cannot be detected or reduced by increasing the number of observations. The goal is to reduce as many sources of error as possible, and then keep track of those errors so they can be eliminated. It is useful to study the types of errors that may occur, so that you can recognize them when they arise.

Once all of the data are collected, the next step is to select the alpha level (α), or level of significance. The alpha level is the probability of attaining a Type I error, i.e., the probability value that defines the very unlikely sample outcome if the null hypothesis is true. The alpha level also determines the probability of obtaining sample data in the critical region even though the null hypothesis is true.

Type I errors occur when a researcher rejects a null hypothesis that is true, i.e., the researcher concludes that there is a treatment effect when, in fact, there is no difference between the samples. In most cases, a Type I error can have serious consequences. If the researcher believes the data has a real effect, the study data may be published, leading to a false report that in scientific literature can be devastating.

Type II errors (also known as beta (β) errors) occur when a researcher believes that the data has no effect when in reality there is a significant effect (see Table 1). It is impossible to determine a single, exact probability value for a Type II error because it depends on a variety of factors including sample size and α. It only can be estimated as a function of the true population effect. The β error becomes smaller as the sample size increases or the number of end points increases. The relationship between Type I

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quence of trying to control or account for all possible factors except for the one independent variable that is being analyzed. For instance, most bloodstain calculations ignore air resistance when measuring free-fall acceleration. The best way to account for this type of error is to consider all of the factors carefully that could affect the final measurements. Sometimes a correction can be applied to a result after taking data to account for an error that was not detected.

Failure to account for a factor is usually systematic. It occurs as a conse-

Instrument resolution is a source of random error. All instruments have finite precision that limits the ability to resolve small measurement differences. For example, a meter stick cannot distinguish distances to a precision less than its smallest scale division, e.g., 0.5 mm. In most instances, however, whole numbers produce the same results when calculating angles of impact.

Ho

HA

Fail to Reject HO

Correct decision p = 1-α

Type II Error p=β

Reject HO

Type I Error p=α

Correct decision p = 1-β

TABLE 1: Logical Possibilities in Null Hypothesis Testing (TRUE STATE) and Type II is such that when one increases the other decreases. Therefore, both errors cannot be controlled simultaneously. In most instances, Type I error is controlled by increasing the sample size and, therefore, minimizing the probability of obtaining a Type II error (Rangaswamy & Young, 1997). The decision to reject the null hypothesis when it is false is referred to as the power of the test, i.e., 1-β.

Generally, Type II errors are not as serious as Type I errors. The researcher either must accept the outcome or repeat the experiment to determine if there is a treatment effect.

For example, we might want to know if a fan blowing in a room has an effect on the angle of impact. The null hypothesis states, “Wind blowing at an angle perpendicular to the trajectory of a blood drop will not have a significant effect on the angle of impact of that blood drop.”

To test our hypothesis, we place a fan at various distances from a known blood source.

We use a device that consistently deposits blood drops at a 10-degree angle of impact.

We then measure forty well-formed bloodstains. If our measurements indicate that the fan did have an effect on the angle of impact (i.e., AoI equals six degrees), then we would reject the null hypothesis. In effect, we are saying that in all likelihood, we did not commit a Type I error, i.e., the fan has no effect on the angle of impact. Conversely, if the fan did have an effect on the bloodstain pattern and we stated that the fan had no effect on the pattern, we would have committed a Type II error, i.e., there was an effect and we stated that there was no effect. Note: recall that it is impossible to determine a single, exact probability value for a Type II error (Gravetter & Wallnau, 2008).

Environmental factors can be systematic or random. This source of error is introduced by the immediate working environment, i.e., temperature, humidity, climate, weather, etc.

Failure to calibrate or check zero of instrument is a type of systematic error. Instruments should be calibrated prior to taking measurements whenever possible. If a calibration standard is not available, the accuracy of the instrument should be checked by comparing it with another instrument that is at least as precise or by consulting the technical data provided by the manufacturer. When making a measurement with calipers or micrometers, the zero reading should always be checked before taking a reading. If the instrument is not zeroed, it should be zeroed, or the displacement of the zero reading from true zero should be measured and all measurements should be adjusted accordingly. It is good practice to check the zero reading before taking any new measurements.

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As n increases, x decreases, thereby reducing the standard error and increasing the likelihood that there will be a significant difference between the samples. A result is statistically significant if it is very unlikely that the result will occur if the null hypothesis is true, i.e., the result is sufficient to reject the null hypothesis.

In most cases, the population mean is unknown; therefore, a sample mean is used to approximate information about the unknown population mean. The SE is a method for defining and measuring sampling error. It gives a good indication of how accurate sample data represent population data. The sample mean is not a perfectly accurate representation of the population mean. There will always be some error between the sample and the population means; however, the SE does provide an indication of exactly how much error, on average, exists between the sample mean and the population mean.

When analyzing experimental data, it is important that you understand the difference between accuracy and precision. Accuracy refers to how closely a measured value is to a true or accepted value (UNC 2008). Measurement error is the amount of inaccuracy between one or more measurements. It often is reported quantitatively as relative error:

Common Sources of Error Revisited Incomplete definition may be systematic or random. It occurs when measurements are not clearly defined. If two different people measure the length of the same bloodstain but the measurement method is not defined, it is very unlikely that they will get the same result. For example, we want to know the best method for determining the length of an elliptical bloodstain. Should the tail be included in the measurement? If not, what boundaries should we use to define the length? Definition errors can be minimized by carefully considering and specifying any condition(s) that might adversely affect the measurement (UNC 2008).

Personal errors typically are the result of carelessness, poor technique, or bias on the part of the analyst. Although personal error usually is unintentional, the analyst is responsible for ensuring that every effort has been made to identify potential sources of error and that all of the necessary steps have been taken to minimize them. In most cases, it is assumed that the measurements were obtained using correct procedures.

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Estimating Experimental Uncertainty for a Single Measurement All measurements, regardless of the instrument used to take the measurement, have some inherent uncertainty associated with them.

This uncertainty is defined by the precision and accuracy of the measuring instrument, along with other factors previously mentioned.

For example, if a bloodstain is measured using a standard ruler in millimeter increments, the uncertainty might be Âą 0.5 mm. If, however, the same bloodstains were measured using a Vernier caliper, the uncertainty could be reduced to approximately 0.001 mm. In both cases, the uncertainty is greater than the smallest divisions marked on the measuring tool.

Unfortunately, there is no general rule for determining the uncertainty in all measurements. The experimenter is the one who can best evaluate and quantify the uncertainty of a measurement based on all the possible factors that affect the result. Therefore, the person taking the measurement has the obligation to make the best judgment possible and report the uncertainty in a way that clearly explains what the uncertainty represents.

where standard uncertainty is expressed as an estimated standard deviation, i.e., the onesigma uncertainty.

For example, if the length of a 60Âş bloodstain is 6.7 mm and the precision of the rule is 0.5Â mm, then the diameter would be written as 6.7 mm Âą 0.5 mm.

Estimating Uncertainty in Repeated Measurements The best estimate is the average, or mean, of N independent measurements:

đ?‘

Observation

Width (mm)

#1

6.150

#2

6.105

#3

6.180

#4

6.125

#5

6.155

TABLE 2: Units of Measurement

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Whenever possible, repeat a measurement several times and average the results. This average is the best estimate of the “true� value. The more repetitions you make of a measurement, the better this estimate will be. Note: outliers have an effect on averages.

For example, you measure a bloodstain using Vernier calipers and determine that the length is 6.15 mm. You take four more measurements and then enter all of the results in a data table (see Table 2). Precision calipers typically have an accuracy rating of Âą0.001 mm. Although calipers give more precise measurements than a steel ruler, they also can introduce error depending on the skill and experience of the person taking the measurements. To minimize the error rate, the analyst could take multiple readings and then average them to approach the true mean. A better estimate of the true value can be obtained if measurements from several analysts are collected and averaged together. This is called getting a second opinion or, in a purely scientific experiment, a peer review. This average is the best available estimate; however, it is not exact. You would have to average an infinite number of measurements to approach the true mean value; even then, there is no guarantee that the mean value is accurate because there always will be some inherent error associated with the measuring tool, which can never be calibrated perfectly.

One way to express the variation among the measurements is to use the average deviation. This statistic tells us on average (with 50% confidence) how much the individual measurements vary from the mean.

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In contrast, the standard deviation characterizes the spread of a data set. The standard deviation is always slightly greater than the average deviation and is used because of its association with the normal distribution that is frequently encountered in statistical analyses.

For example, if 1000 (N = 1000) bloodstain analysts measured 40 bloodstains, a sample of the means from this relatively large population number should fit a normal distribution curve closely. If, however, only 100 (n = 100) analysts measure the same 40 stains, the mean of these samples is less likely to match a normal distribution curve, as the variation among the analysts is much greater (i.e., standard error). Therefore, a smaller sample size will result in a greater discrepancy, or sampling error, than a large sample size that more closely fits the normal distribution.

In most crime cases, a single person is responsible for measuring bloodstains.

Depending on the level of experience and training, all of the measurements, regardless of the scale used, should be consistent.

In other words, if an analyst uses a precision ruler to measure all of the stains, his or her error rate should be small. For example, prior to testifying in court, you should create 60 bloodstains on a surface that is comparable to the surface found at the crime scene. Once that is complete, you should measure at least forty bloodstains carefully, and then calculate the range, error, and standard deviation for the samples. Only after you have performed this test can you testify that you have conducted individual research, determined the associated error, and expect all of the measurements to fall within the 95 percent confidence interval of your stated values. Note: Your measurements should include several acute angles as well as several angles that are close to 90 degrees.

Creating the Statistical Model When evaluating evidence, analysts have a variety of tools in their statistical toolbox. Together, these tools provide a set of mathematical procedures for organizing, summarizing, and interpreting bloodstain evidence. When an analyst first arrives at a crime scene, there typically is an overabundance of bloodstain evidence. The total number of bloodstains represent the population (N), or set of all bloodstains at the scene.

There are numerous values called parameters that describe the population. It is not possible (or realistic) for the analyst to measure all of the bloodstains; therefore, he or she chooses a representative subset of the population known as a sample (n). The different values in the

sample are referred to as statistics. When performing calculations that involve angles of impact and areas of origin, the analyst must select well-formed bloodstains, i.e., the stains have clear elliptical definitions. Smaller stains tend to be more clearly defined than larger stains.

Whenever possible, stains should be selected from various points around the circumference of the suspected area of convergence. In a castoff event, stains should be selected from several points along the “line� of the cast off stains.

The variance of a distribution is a measurement of the amount of variation of all data points for a variable (not just the outliers that give the range). It is described by the following formula:

FIGURE 4: Normal Distribution Curve

Where S2 is the population variance.

A general rule of thumb is that for frequencies less than 40 (<40), the value for dividing the sum of the difference of the squares is n-1.

For frequencies over 40 (>40) the value is n.

Generally, at least 15 data points should be collected for a significant statistic.

The standard deviation is the square root of the variance. For normally distributed data, approximately 68.3 percent of the data points should be within one standard deviation of the mean, 95 percent of the data points should be within two standard deviations, and 99 percent of the data points should be within three standard deviations.

Standard deviation is a useful measurement of spread because it is mathematically tractable.

(Lane, 2009) The formula for the standard deviation is:

The confidence level (CI) refers to the likelihood that the true population parameter lies within the range specified as determined by the confidence interval expressed as a percentage.

For example, a 95 percent confidence level implies that the probability that the true population parameter lies within the confidence interval is 0.95. It does not imply, however, that there is a 95 percent chance that the population mean will fall between two specific values. The probability that a constant falls

within any given range will always be 0.00 or 1.00. The confidence level only describes the uncertainty associated with a sampling method.

When discussing the error rate at three standard deviations, crime scene analysts should not state that the error rate at 99 percent confidence level is one percent, rather they should state that there is a reasonable expectation that the actual sample statistic will lie in the interval between â&#x2C6;&#x2019;3 and +3. Any measurement that falls outside of this range would require additional investigation to determine if the outliers are significant or not.

Using the three-sigma, or empirical, rule for a normal distribution curve, nearly all values will lie within three standard deviations of the mean (see Figure 4).

The normal distribution curve is a function defined by the following equation and resembles a bell shape:

â&#x20AC;&#x153;All measurements, regardless of the instrument used to take the measurement, have some inherent uncertainty associated with them.â&#x20AC;?

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Measurement = (measured qty (xi) Âą std uncertainty) unit of measurement

Average mean=(x1,+x1+ â&#x20AC;Ś+ x) / Nđ?&#x2018;

A normal distribution has the following properties:

â&#x20AC;˘ It is symmetrical about the mean (m) â&#x20AC;˘ It is unimodal â&#x20AC;˘ It extends to infinity in both directions â&#x20AC;˘ The area under the curve always equals one â&#x20AC;˘ It is determined by its mean and standard deviation Ď&#x192; (or variance Ď&#x192;2) Summer 2012 THE FORENSIC EXAMINERÂŽ

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The normal distribution curve describes how a particular sample or population will behave under certain condition.

All normal curves, regardless of the mean or standard deviation, conform to the following empirical rule, commonly known as the 6895-99.7 rule: • ~68% of the area under the curve falls within one standard deviation of the mean • ~95% of the area under the curve falls within two standard deviations of the mean • ~99.7% of the area under the curve falls within three standard deviations of the mean

“Statistics and probability are powerful tools that can significantly influence how bloodstain

Determination of the Range Among Individual Variation in Measurements Some variation should be expected in cases involving bloodstain evidence. The amount of variation, however, should be minimal assuming that all of the measurements that were taken are accurate (Barksdale, 2009). The error rate for bloodstain patterns is based on a simple frequency distribution. The probability that a particular event will occur is referred to as the relative frequency (RF), which is the number of times an event will occur compared with the total number of times that all possible events will occur over a long run of observations (conducted under identical conditions of all possible events). The RF measures the probability of that event, i.e., if nx equals the number of trials where an event x occurred and nt equals the total number of trials, the probability P(x) of the event occurring can be approximated by the following formula:

evidence is used in a criminal trial.”

Where E=event S=sample space In most cases, the determination of the variation in terms of range, or frequency, is sufficient for determining limits of error. For example, a bloodstain is dropped at an angle of 9.0 degrees. Forty individuals measure the

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Note: Analysts should undergo a periodic evaluation of their measurement techniques. As part of this evaluation, the analyst should measure 40 bloodstains at a known angle (e.g., 10 degrees) and then calculate the standard deviation and the error rate as part of their personal research and expert data.

For example, the known value of a bloodstain is 10 degrees and the analyst’s measurements are between 8.5 and 11.5 (i.e., 10 degrees ± 1.5 degrees). If the standard deviation calculated from n = 40 bloodstains is ± 0.05, then three standard deviations would be 1.5 degrees. The error rate, on the other hand, would be ± 15%, i.e., (1 – (8.5/10); and (11.5/10) – 1). Based on these findings, we would expect the analyst’s measurement to be between 8.5 and 11.5 degrees.

Incidence Rate Statistics and Associative Evidence Edmond Locard (1877-1966) proclaimed, “Every contact leaves a trace.” That statement forms the foundation of associative evidence, i.e., evidence that attempts to establish an association between people or between people, places, and things. Associative evidence usually is corroborative in nature— the evidence is weighed along with other evidence and has no substantial weight of its own. This associative evidence is particularly useful in crimes of violence, such as homicide, sexual assault, and aggravated assault, where physical contact may have occurred (Deedrick, 2000).

Associative evidence is sometimes accompanied by statistical testimony about the “incidence rate” of “matching characteristics” (Thompson & Schumann, 1987). Incidence rate statistics indicate the frequency of a trait or characteristic that is solely diagnostic of the target outcome. It is the percentage of some relevant population that possesses a characteristic trait linking the defendant to the crime. For example, the percentage of serial killers in U.S. prisons is a base rate statistic. The percentage of serial killers in U.S. prisons who use garrotes in the commission of their crimes is an incident rate statistic. In criminal proceedings, the percentage of defendants in some relevant comparison population who are guilty is a base rate statistic.

Common Fallacies in the Presentation of Statistical Evidence A number of studies show that when jurors were asked to judge the likelihood of an event, they tended to ignore or downplay statistics on the base rate frequency (BarHillel, 1980; Borgida & Brekke, 1981).

This type of error is referred to as the base rate fallacy. The following are some of the more common fallacies associated with the presentation of statistical evidence.

The fallacy of suppressed evidence occurs when contradicting evidence is ignored or forgotten (Kahane, 1984). The fallacy of questionable causes occurs when a primary action is labeled as the cause of a secondary action, i.e., taking a statistical correlation as proof of a causal connection (Kahane, 1984). The two most common fallacies associated with the presentation of statistical evidence are the prosecutor’s fallacy and defense attorney’s fallacy.

Prosecutors are guilty of fallacious reasoning when they draw conclusions about the probability that a criminal suspect is guilty based on evidence of a “match.” This conclusion usually is drawn without considering the percentage of people who would match the suspect as well as the a priori probability that the suspect in question is guilty. In contrast, defense attorneys are guilty of fallacious reasoning when they assume that associative evidence is irrelevant because it shows that the defendant and perpetrator are members of the same large group (Rossmo, 2009).

Historically, statistical evidence has posed a quandary for appellate courts who struggle

over the competence of juries to understand statistical inferences (Kaye, 1980). Some appellate courts have rejected the use of statistics on the grounds that jurors tend to overestimate the value of statistics (People v.

Robinson, 1970; People v. Macedono, 1977; State v. Carlson, 1978; People v. McMillen, 1984). Most appellate courts, however, admit statistical evidence, claiming that most jurors are unlikely to find it misleading and will give it the appropriate weight (Annotation, 1980; Jonakait, 1983).

When base rate statistics are used in a criminal trial, they often are referred to as “naked statistical evidence” (Kaye, 1980).

Naked statistics are probabilities that are not case-specific to the events in question; rather, they are developed independently of the events in question (Wells, 1992). Courts generally treat naked statistical evidence differently than they do incidence rate statistics because naked statistical evidence tends to be of a very vague nature.

The classic example used to describe naked statistical evidence is the blue bus paradigm. In this scenario, a person is struck by a blue bus of unknown ownership. The evidence shows that a particular company operates 90% of the blue buses on that route. This evidence is referred to as “naked statistical evidence.” It associates the incident with the company that “operates” the majority of the buses in the area. Similarly, if a person possessing heroin is charged with concealing an illegally imported narcotic, evidence that 98% of heroin in the U.S. is illegally imported would be considered “naked statistical evidence.” In this case, the conclusion is based on the probability that the defendant’s heroin was obtained most likely from an illegal source.

Historically, courts have treated “naked statistical evidence” differently than they have treated incidence rate statistics.

Whereas the majority of jurisdictions will admit incidence rate statistics, most courts continue to reject “naked statistical evidence” (see, Smith v. Rapid Transit, 1945).

There are some notable cases, however, where naked statistical evidence admissibility was upheld (e.g., Turner v. U.S, 1970; Sindell v. Abbott Labs, 1980).

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Conclusion Statistics and probability are powerful tools that can significantly influence how bloodstain evidence is used in a criminal trial. Analysts use statistics to establish the reliability and validity of bloodstain evidence collected at the crime scene and to establish their own degree of accuracy and precision. Bloodstain pattern analysis is still more an art than a science. A large part of bloodstain analysis is pattern recognition. There is no statistical basis for determining the identity of a pattern.

Investigators rely on logic, reasoning, and experience to link a particular bloodstain pattern to particular behavior, i.e., passive versus impact bloodstains. Likewise, prosecutors and defense attorneys rely on witness testimony, field research, and crime reenactment to support the proposed assumption. Anytime that investigators or attorneys posit a theory as to how a particular pattern was created, they increase the level of uncertainty. The application of statistical analysis to bloodstain pattern evidence is a relatively new field. Up until now, statistical techniques have been the purview of DNA experts. Better measurement techniques combined with more accurate measuring tools can help minimize the amount of error that creeps into bloodstain evidence analysis.

Statistical methods used to link a suspect’s DNA to a particular crime are now becoming more relevant in other forensic fields, such as bloodstain pattern analysis. Bloodstain pattern analysts should become adept at employing statistical analysis for reducing the level of uncertainty in criminal testimony.

Whenever human fallibility enters the equation, statistical uncertainty increases. Statistical error can lead to several fallacies of reasoning, mostly importantly, prosecutors’ and defense attorneys’ fallacies. In any statistical analysis, one must use reasoning in making inferences. These inferences can mitigate or invalidate evidence that is presented in such a way that it assumes guilt in the absence of sufficient evidence.

Forensic DNA experts often use statistics to link a particular a DNA profile to a specific suspect in a certain statistical sample population. Today, forensic mathematicians are using those same principles in bloodstain pattern analysis. As analysts learn more about the rheological properties of blood outside the body, new methods for increasing the reliability and validity of bloodstain pattern evidence will be developed. n

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Note: For most purposes, the outliers can be excluded from the probability calculations when measurements are based solely on the range.

bloodstain and arrive at values ranging from 8.1 to 9.9. Using simple math, the error rate can be determined for the upper and lower range. The lower variation is calculated by dividing the lower data point (8.1) by the mean and then subtracting the result from one, i.e., 1 - (8.1/9.0) = 0.1, or 10 percent error. Similarly, the upper variation is calculated by dividing the upper data point (9.9) by the mean and then subtracting one from the result, i.e., (9.9/9) – 1.0 = 0.1, or 10 percent error. Thus, the error rate for a bloodstain is written as 9.0 ± 10 percent. That means that that the range between the lowest value and the highest value is 20 percent. It is important to distinguish between the “error rate,” which is the variation in measurement among different analysts (i.e., the range including outliers) versus the standard deviation, which is a measure of central tendency.

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Appendix A Testimony of Dr. Henry Lee at O.J. Simpson Trial The following excerpt is from the testimony by Dr. Henry Lee during the murder trial of Orenthal James “O.J.” Simpson, who was accused of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman on June 12, 1994. Defense attorney Barry Scheck, Professor of Law, Yeshiva University, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, and Director of the Innocence Project posed the following questions to Dr. Lee about the discipline of blood spatter interpretation (Linder, 1995).

MR. SCHECK: There is a discipline of analysis known as bloodstain spatter or splatter interpretation?

DR. LEE: Bloodstain pattern analysis, yes.

MR. SCHECK: As a predicate for explaining bloodstain patterns, could you explain for us briefing (sic) something about the circulatory system as it relates to how blood comes out of the body?

DR. LEE: Yes, sir. In this closed circulation system carry the oxygen nutrient through the body and that is why we can function. Once this system interrupt, the blood will come up.

Depends which part of the body. If it is an artery, the blood will gush out, so-called arterial spurting, arterial gushing. If a vein was cut, the blood will rush out. If it is just a capillary cut, the blood dripping out. Once it has come out of our body, we cannot take back any more, we cannot control any more. The environment and the physics take over. It is no longer–can be controlled by an individual. Once the blood come out, would deposit to a surface. The surface usually is the lowest surface, whatever lowest surface… It stop on the surface according to the physics, the gravity.

Dr. Lee’s comments on physics illustrate the role that mathematical calculations play in bloodstain pattern analysis. The Simpson murder trial marked a significant point in the history and application of mathematical evidence. Prosecutors and defense attorneys introduced the American public to the complex world of forensic science and statistics. The likelihood of the shoe, if the glove fits, and the chance of blood on the sock being a reality were questions involving science and probabilities. Forensic scientists frequently use statistical analysis to link the DNA deposited at a crime scene with a particular suspect with reasonable certainty.

About the authors Martin Matisoff, MSc, MS, BA, began his forensic career in the 1970s while working in the toxicology department of the Los Angeles County Coroner/ Medical Examiner. Marty spent numerous hours in the autopsy room observing forensic pathologists as they conducted pathological examinations on victims of murder, suicide, vehicular manslaughter, arson, and spree killings. Marty has a BA in Scientific Communication from Western Illinois University and a MS in entomology with a subspecialty in Forensic Science from the University of Nebraska. Currently, Marty is studying measurement-based error in bloodstain pattern evidence.

Larry Barksdale, AA, BS, MA, has worked for the Lincoln, Nebraska Police Department since 1971. His current assignments are Case Manager, Criminal Investigations and Supervisor, and Crime Scene Technician. Larry holds a BS in Criminal Justice from the University Nebraska - Omaha and a MA in Political Science from the University of Nebraska Lincoln. Larry has lectured in Crime Scene Investigation subjects at multiple universities. Larry currently is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Practice Forensic Science at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. He is a Certified Crime Scene Analyst, International Association for Identification, and a Certified Professional Law Enforcement Instructor for the State of Nebraska Law Enforcement Academy.

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FEATURE

WWW.ACFEI.COM • (800) 592-1399

“Any way an insect can interact with our legal system, a forensic entomologist may be needed.”

FORENSIC

ENTOMOLOGIST Dr. Byrd: Well, local government is, of course, focused on their constituents and the local area. At the university, because of the educational mission of the university and distance education being the way it is, you end up with, certainly, a national focus and now an international focus…so working at a university as large as the University of Florida, they’re just as interested and supportive of me doing cases for our local sheriff versus federal law enforcement in other countries.

EDITOR: At what point in a crime scene investigation is a forensic entomologist usually called in?

EDITOR: For those who are unfamiliar with the profession, how would you describe what a forensic entomologist does?

Dr. Byrd: A forensic entomologist interprets, for the layperson, a number of ways in which insects can interact with our legal system. Those may be criminal cases and they may be civil in nature, but basically, any way an insect can interact with our legal system, a forensic entomologist may be needed.

EDITOR: What are the majority of types of cases that you work on?

Dr. Byrd: It’s usually a homicide investiga-

38

THE FORENSIC EXAMINER® Summer 2012

tion, often where the body has been recovered a significant period of time after death when many of the soft tissues have decomposed. So a lot of the traditional ways that a pathologist could possibly estimate the time of death are missing from the case at that point, so they call in the entomologist. So, it’s generally criminal casework and where the body has been found and the pathologist is in need of a reliable method of determining a minimum portion of the postmortem interval.

EDITOR: What is your background with the field, and what first made you interested in forensic entomology?

Dr. Byrd: I have been interested in forensic science since about 8th grade, and my goal was to actually become a crime scene analyst – so to speak – but I grew up on a very large farm, was often interested in agriculture, and one of the criteria to get into crime scene analysis at the time was a bachelor’s degree in natural science. Entomology counted as a natural science, so I wanted to study entomology.

When I got into entomology, I was steered in the direction of forensic entomology and the rest is history.

EDITOR: What are the differences in being an entomologist for local government versus the university?

Dr. Byrd: Well, they may never be called.

That’s one of the things that we do in our educational mission is to teach law enforcement, crime scene investigators, medical examiners, coroners, and their investigators, how they can actually process the scene and collect entomological evidence just as we can. So when they incorporate the collection of entomological evidence in their protocol is up to each individual agency. We generally prefer that the insects are collected before the body is removed from the scene, because if they just collect from the remains at autopsy and there’s no scene visit, we may miss those insects that are older and could then give us a longer estimation of the period of insect activity on the body.

EDITOR: Are there any particularly interesting experiences you wish to tell us about?

Dr. Byrd: Actually, the most interesting for me has been the development of the field of veterinary sciences and getting entomology incorporated in to veterinary forensics so they can use entomology to help in cases of animal cruelty and abuse, and the reason that’s interesting is because when we do general forensic medicine for humans, our research model has either been a human or a pig (the physiology is similar), and when law enforcement comes to you, for the most part, they’re dealing with a deceased individual. With veterinary forensic sciences when law enforcement comes to you on an animal cruelty case, you never know what they are going to bring you on a case. It could (be) a horse, a show goat, a cat, a dog, an emu, kangaroo…so the variance in species that you get in the veterinary forensic sciences is quite interesting to me. n

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YOUR AD HERE

1/4/2012 1:44:57 PM

CFEI recently obtained CAGE Codes. The CAGE Code (the Commercial and Government Entity Code) is a five digit code that identifies suppliers, vendors, and/or contractors doing business with various federal government agencies (i.e. DoD, DHS, DOE etc…). It is assigned by the Defense Logistics Information System (DLIS) in Battle Creek, Michigan and provides for a standardized method of identifying facilities.

With respect to the procedure required to obtain a CAGE Code, an entity must first complete the Department of Defense’s Central Contractor Registration (CCR).

This is due to federal legislation passed in 2003 which mandates that all entities doing business with the federal government under a Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) based contracts register with CCR. As such, the CAGE code is then assigned as part of CCR’s validation process.

The CAGE Code can then be used as part of the application process to register for the Online Representations and Certifications Application (ORCA). ORCA was developed by the government to replace most paper based Representations and Certificates (Reps and Certs) processes given that previously; vendors had to submit paper Reps and Certs forms for any large contracts they received. It has also replaced most of the Reps and

Certs in Section K of solicitations with an internet application. As such, ORCA has facilitated the federal procurement process significantly and has also been mandated by federal legislation since 2005 (FAR 52.204-8).

The CAGE Code is also necessary for obtaining a Facilities Security Clearance (an FCL) from the Defense Security Service (DSS) once an entity is eligible to do so either through a government contracting activity (GCA) or another cleared company.

The Code can be used for an array of other functions as well, such as pay processes, automated bidders list, and sources of supply. Consequently, having obtained CAGE Codes for ACFEI is significant in that it establishes yet another step towards streamlining both organizations’ processes for communications and procurements in doing business with federal government agencies. For more on CAGE Codes, see the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS, Subpart 204.72).

Sources: http://www.gsaapplications.com/what-is-a-cage-code http://www.onvia.com/b2g-resources/article/ why-you-need-naics-and-cage-codes http://www.onvia.com/b2g-resources/article/ why-you-need-naics-and-cage-codes http://www.fedbidspeed.com/cage-codes https://orca.bpn.gov/miscl/faq.aspx#FAQ5 http://www.dss.mil/isp/fac_clear/fac_clear_check.html

About the author Cazandra Ackvan Graduated with high honors from Vanderbilt University with a BA in Political Science. She also holds her Juris Doctorate Law Degree (JD) from University of Georgia with an emphasis in International Law conducted at Oxford University. Upon graduating from law school, Ms. Ackvan founded her company, Vantage, Associates LLC as a female veteran-owned small business (due to her prior active duty US Military Service and her Green to Gold Scholarship in the US Army). The company has since successfully provided support such as translation, interpretation, analysis, training, and an array of other professional services to support both the Federal Government and other private government contracting firms. Ms. Ackvan is currently a Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) adjunct professor providing Cross Cultural Training for the National Credibility Center for Accreditation. She can be reached at: cna@vantageassociatesllc.com

Summer 2012 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER®

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CE ARTICLE: 1.5 CE CREDITS

WWW.ACFEI.COM • (800) 592-1399

Psychological Evaluations in Federal Immigration Courts: Fifteen Years in the Making—Lessons Learned

By Reuben Vaisman-Tzachor, PhD, FACFEI, DABPS, FAPA Luz Zapata, of Chicago, Illinios, marches on Washington with other children as they rally in front of Congress and the White House and stand on the steps of the Supreme Court in an effort to draw attention to the American children of illegal immigrants, July 17, 2007. (Chuck Kennedy/MCT)

CE ARTICLE

Abstract The increased adjudication of immigration cases involving discretionary waivers for inadmissibility and removal proceedings of undocumented aliens contested by claims for constitutional protections from hardship to qualifying relatives created a demand for psychological evaluations that would provide accurate assessment of aliens and their relatives.

The psychological evaluation in federal immigration courts requires the forensic psychology expert to become familiar with the terms used in immigration law, to understand the legal dilemmas faced by immigration authorities, and to know the standards governing the evidence provided by the expert to immigration authorities. The forensic psychology expert must maintain an unbiased perspective to avoid ethical pitfalls and develop a study that considers the questions relevant to the dilemma faced by immigration authorities for each unique case. Careful selection of tools and procedures will guarantee valid information is collected, and the outcomes of the evaluation and opinions developed must be recorded in a written report, which will offer clear recommendations for the immigration authorities to consider.

THE FORENSIC EXAMINER® Summer 2012

To get credit and complete the article, please go to http://www.acfei.com/FESU0212 and look for course code FESU0212 to take the exam and complete the evaluation.

If you have special needs that prevent you from taking the exam online, please contact the registrar at 800.423.9737.

This article is approved by the following for continuing education credit: (ACFEI) The American College of Forensic Examiners International provides this continuing education credit for Diplomates and certified members.

After studying this article, participants should be better able to do the following: 1. Define the terms utilized by federal immigration courts.

Introduction The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) was enacted by Congress on November 6, 1986, and signed into law by President Reagan that year. IRCA required employers to attest to their employees’ immigration status; granted amnesty to certain illegal immigrants who entered the United States before January 1, 1982, and have resided here continuously, and provided a path towards legalization to certain agricultural seasonal workers and immigrants (govguru. com, 2010). The 1986 IRCA also resulted in unintended consequences. It gave great impetus for increasingly larger numbers of illegal immigrants to cross the U.S. borders and stay in the country illegally (Bean, Edmonston & Passel, 1990). There were many reasons for the increase.

First, it gave new immigrants hope that if they managed to stay long enough in the U.S. illegally, the next “amnesty” program enacted will be sure to include them and pave their way for naturalization, just as the recently enacted reform act had for others in the past (DeLaet, 2000; LeMay, 2006).

Second, many of the immigrants, who up to the 1986 reform held jobs that American citizens would not hold, now could move up the employment ladder to more desirable jobs that were previously closed to them by virtue of their illegal status (Chavez, 2008). In turn, jobs vacated by formerly illegal workers created a vacuum and a new demand in the marketplace to fill with new undocumented aliens who would perform these jobs (Hing, 2004). Third, the promises of free mandatory education to their offspring and free manda-

2. Describe the legal dilemmas faced by immigration authorities.

3. Identify the common ways in which the standards of hardship are applied to immigration petitions by immigration authorities.

4. Explain how typical ethical problems can be effectively dealt with in conducting psychological evaluations for immigration purposes.

Keywords: Immigration, psychological evaluation, qualifying relatives, hardship Target Audience: Nurses, social workers, psychologists, anthropologists, sociologists.

Disclosure: The author has nothing to disclose Program Level: Basic Prerequisites: (Recommended reading) Vaisman-Tzachor, Reuben. (2003).

“Psychological evaluations in federal immigration courts.” The Forensic Examiner®.

12(3&4) pp. 34-40.

tory medical care vis-a-vis Medicaid programs and emergency medical services proved irresistible to many coming from impoverished countries (Coutin & Chock, 1997).

This was particularly true for immigrants whose countries of origin did not provide accessible medical services or educational opportunities, or countries where such basic needs were not affordable to most.

It is estimated by the U.S. census bureau the first year following IRCA resulted in an increase of 10.11 percent in illegal immigration. It is further estimated that in the five years between 1986 and 1991, the increase in illegal population in the U.S. was in the magnitude of 44.89 percent (Mulder, 2002).

Another unintended consequence of IRCA was the increased occurrence of mixed marriages, where one member of the couple possessed an illegal status and the other was either a lawful resident in the U.S. or a U.S. citizen (Wepman, 2008). This was made possible simply by the increase in the order of hundreds of thousands of additional illegal immigrants in the U.S. in the years following IRCA. Most importantly, the modal age of illegal immigrants coming into the United States is 18 years old, which is commonly considered a marriage-eligible age (Smith & Edmonston, 1997). Furthermore, those illegal immigrants who did not marry either a lawful resident or a U.S. citizen, more often than not, sired thousands of U.S. born American children, thus creating hundreds of thousands of “split families” (LeMay, 2006; Wepman, 2008). The most pronounced unintended consequence of 1986 IRCA was the creation

of massive numbers (possibly in the order of millions) of families in which the parents were illegal aliens, but their children were U.S. citizens by birthright. Lesser in numbers, but still a substantial number, were families in which one of the two adults legally married is an illegal alien, while the other is typically a U.S. citizen (Passel & Taylor, 2010; Kerwin, 2010).

The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA)

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* Acknowledgments: This article was conceived with literature research assistance by Christine Izquierdo, MA, of Alliant International University, California School of Professional Psychology in Los Angeles, California.

CE AT HOME STUDY COURSE: 1.5 ce credits

• Required employers to attest to their employees’ immigration status.

• Made it illegal to knowingly hire or recruit unauthorized immigrants.

• Granted amnesty to certain seasonal agricultural illegal immigrants.

• Granted amnesty to illegal immigrants who entered the United States before January 1, 1982 and had resided there continuously.

Summer 2012 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER®

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WWW.ACFEI.COM • (800) 592-1399

In the years after IRCA, a flurry of cases adjudicated by federal immigration authorities naturally followed, eventually creating a precedence for handling cases of split-families, where one or more members of the family unit is an illegal alien, and one or more members of the same family unit is a U.S. citizen (Contreras-Buenfil v. INS, 1983; RamirezGonzalez v. INS, 1983; Sanchez v. INS, 1985; Ramirez-Durazo v. INS, 1986; Cerrillo-Perez v.

INS, 1987). Although some cases preceded the increased need for adjudications of this kind (Anderson v. INS, 1978; Wang v. INS, 1981; Kessner & Caroli, 1983), the decisions rendered by immigration judges during the late 1980s and early 1990s, shaped by precedence the interpretation and the application of immigration laws still in effect today (Palmer v. INS, 1993; Shooshtary v. INS, 1994; Ige v.

INS, 1994; Gutierrez-Centeno v. INS, 1996; L-O-G v. INS, 1996; O-J-O v. INS, 1996; Pilch v. INS, 1996; Yardum-Hunter, 2011).

Children rally in front of Congress and the White House and stand on the steps of the Supreme Court on July 17, 2007. (Chuck Kennedy/MCT)

44

This Article’s Order and Structure The purpose of this article is to familiarize the reader with a set of definitions which form the conceptual vocabulary (see Chapter 1), as well as provide an explanation of the role of the forensic psychology expert in federal immigration courts (see Chapter 2). In Chapter 3, the forensic assessment methodology is presented with the logical connection between procedures and the questions to be answered by the forensic assessment, followed by illustrations with hypothetical examples in Chapter 4. The process of reporting on the findings to immigration courts is presented in Chapter 5, along with the rationale for the use of a written report format, and, ethical considerations for evaluations for federal immigration courts are presented in Chapter 6.

THE FORENSIC EXAMINER® Summer 2012

Chapter 1 - Conceptual Vocabulary Split Families Split families became the judicial nightmare immigration judges faced, in that they represent the inherent conflict created by efforts of immigration authorities to apply federal immigration laws against a potential humanitarian catastrophe.

At the core of the conflict are two contradictory legal demands: On one hand, the demand in a democratic civil society to apply existing laws (federal immigration laws in this case) that call for the removal of illegal aliens residing in the country evenly and fairly across the board (USCIS, 1952). On the other hand are the constitutional protections from hardship afforded all U.S. citizens (and to a lesser extent to lawful residents in the U.S.), which could potentially befall family members of undocumented aliens removed from the country (US Government Manual, 2010; Bodenhamer & Ely, 2008).

Definition of “Undocumented Alien” Federal immigration rules generally consider an “undocumented alien” a person who vio-

lated United States immigration laws, in that the person does not have in their possession documentation that could prove their legal stay in the country (US-CIS, 1952). The principle that is ordinarily applied by federal immigration rules is that an “undocumented alien” is typically deemed “inadmissible,” and therefore, the most common order that emanates from federal immigration courts and other immigration authorities is the removal from the U.S. of the “undocumented alien” based on “inadmissibility” status. When an “undocumented alien” is deemed “inadmissible” by immigration authorities, the undocumented alien is therefore ordered to leave the U.S. (Usually to their country of origin). A legal inadmissibility definition, or inadmissibility finding as a result of a legal process, would typically bar the undocumented alien found inadmissible from returning by legal means into the United States for ten (10) years, or more (Kerwin, 2010; Bodenhamer & Ely, 2008).

That means that an undocumented alien found inadmissible or defined as inadmissible once removed will not be able to apply for any visa (tourist, immigration, work, etc.) for entry into the U.S., and would have to remain in another country outside the U.S. for at least ten years.

Definition of “Qualifying Relatives” In recognition of constitutional protections from hardship, federal immigration rules set

forth a definition for those U.S. citizens and lawful residents who are connected by familial ties to the undocumented alien or aliens.

The term typically used is the “qualifying relative” where the qualifications are that the familial ties between the undocumented alien and their U.S. citizen relative or relatives are legitimate and real, and that those ties can be demonstrated with admissible evidence to the court (Vasic, 2009). Furthermore, the definition also presumes some degree of physical, emotional or otherwise connection, dependence, or interdependence between the undocumented alien and the qualifying relative to the extent that removal of the illegal alien would either disrupt the familial relationship, or a removal of the undocumented alien will force the removal of the qualifying relative, against their will, with the undocumented alien (Brabeck & Xu, 2010).

“Discretionary Waiver” The precedence created in federal immigration rules allows for qualifying relatives (those who are either U.S. citizens, or lawful residents and are connected to the undocumented alien by immediate familial ties) who stand to be adversely affected by application of immigration laws upon the undocumented alien relative (usually by a removal order), to petition for a “discretionary waiver” (Vasic, 2009; Office of the Federal Register, 2010). A permissible petition for discretionary waiver can be directed in contest of inadmissibility findings (as in petition for discretionary waiver of inadmissibility through a I-130 application) based on constitutional protections from hardship, or a permissible petition for discretionary waiver from a removal order (as in petition for discretionary waiver of removal order through a I-485 application) based on constitutional protections from hardship (Bray, Evans & Lieberman, 2009).

It is important to stress that the protections from hardship are for the qualifying relatives of the undocumented alien, not for the alien.

The Measure of Hardship With the creation of precedence allowing for hardship to be invoked by qualifying relatives of undocumented aliens adjudicated by federal immigration courts, a judicially formulated measure of hardship also emerged. There are currently two standards of hardship generally applied to qualifying relatives of undocumented aliens adjudicated by federal immigration courts and other immigration authorities:

1. Extreme and unusual hardship, which is applied to qualifying relatives of persons whose legal violations involve immigration laws (e.g., visa overstay, unlawful entry, etc.), as well as directly applied to the petitioning alien who is an asylum seeker; and 2. Exceptional and unusually extreme hardship, which is applied to qualifying relatives of persons whose legal violations involve, in addition to immigration violations, more serious violations (e.g., DUI, assault, child abuse, theft, drug-trafficking, etc.) (Cervantes, Mejia & Mena, 2010).

As had been previously indicated, immigration law is fluid and changeable by precedence and is not necessarily applied uniformly across the country (Frumkin & Friedland, 1995).

For example, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit recently joined two other circuits in ruling that a conviction for misuse of a Social Security number is a “crime involving moral turpitude,” and has the effect of precluding foreign nationals from becoming lawful permanent residents. In a unanimous decision, the Eighth Circuit (covering Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota) rejected an appeal to cancel the deportation of a Salvadoran man who was found guilty of misusing a Social Security number, labeling his act a “crime of moral turpitude” (CIMT).

A CIMT, unlike most misdemeanors and some felonies, makes a foreign national inadmissible (ineligible to enter the United States) and deportable (removable from the United States if already here). In so doing, the Eight Circuit adopted the approach long held by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), the administrative appellate court that hears from decisions of the immigration courts. The Sixth and Ninth Circuits have also previously adopted this interpretation; however, not all courts of appeals have done this (Yardum-Hunter, 2011). Thus, for some foreign nationals who appeal their cases, their matters will be governed by this interpretation, whereas for others it may not.

Consequently, for some petitioners who have been convicted of misusing Social Security numbers the measure of hardship may be held to a higher standard by immigration courts than for others convicted of the same. The psychological forensic expert should consult an attorney to determine the standard of hardship against which the case will be evaluated before commencing an evaluation.

Summer 2012 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER®

CE ARTICLE

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“The most pronounced unintended consequence of 1986 IRCA was the creation of massive numbers of families in which the parents were illegal aliens, but their children were U.S. citizens by birthright.”

Constitutional Protections from Hardship Federal immigration rules are cast against a backdrop of robust and unequivocal constitutional protections for all United States citizens, and to a lesser extent, to lawful U.S. residents from undue hardship (US-CIS, 1952). In the case of the split families, the U.S. citizen immediate relatives of an undocumented alien who could be potentially harmed by the removal of the undocumented alien are henceforth protected by law. The Constitution of the United States generally protects a U.S. citizen from hardship due to forceful removal from the country against their will; protects against general undue hardship; protects against undue economical, educational, and health losses; and protects from undue personal pain and suffering (Brabeck & Xu, 2010). Within the definition of “personal pain and suffering,” all manner of psychological pain and emotional suffering is considered valid for constitutional protections. An additional layer of constitutional protections often exists in the case of split families because the United States citizens are also often times minors, who enjoy even greater protections from harm in both statutes and precedence because of their minor status (Brabeck & Xu, 2010).

To illustrate the depth and extent of constitutional protections for U.S. born American minors that are considered in federal immigration courts, the case of Marconi is a good example. In that case (Marconi vs. DHS, 2009), a ruling of a lower, California Family court awarding the undocumented alien woman physical and legal custody over her adopted minor—a U.S. born step-daughter—was accepted by federal immigration court as meeting the definition of a “qualifying relative” of the undocumented alien. In considering the petition of Marconi, the immigration court in Los Angeles, California extended protections from hardship “based on the special and psychologically important relationship” between the undocumented alien step-mother and the U.S. citizen adopted step-daughter. In so doing, the immigration judge ruled against the interests of immigration authorities for inadmissibility finding and removal of the undocumented alien step-mother (Marconi vs. DHS, 2009).

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Chapter 2 - The Role of the Forensic Psychology Expert

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Important Question for Evaluators An immigration judge in federal court must weigh which is more important for U.S. society by and large: to process the removal of an illegal alien or to spare his or her U.S. citizen relatives from undue hardship. Increasingly then, judges in removal proceedings and inadmissibility hearings were tasked with assessing claims of extreme hardship to qualifying relatives invoked by petitioners on their behalf. As immigration judges and immigration attorneys adjudicating such cases were not trained in psychological assessments, the need for psychologically based evaluations of hardship to qualifying relatives increased (VaismanTzachor, 2003). The issues before the courts are clearly extra-judicial and require a psychological evaluation: One important question is the degree of connectivity and the extent of interdependence between the qualifying relative and the undocumented alien. A corollary question is whether the “qualifying relative” claiming on behalf of the undocumented alien is indeed related to the undocumented alien, or are they being claimed as a “front” in the service of the undocumented aliens’ immigration aspirations (Vaisman-Tzachor, 2003).

Who is a “Legitimate” Relative?

A forensic psychologist evaluating these questions must take into consideration culturally-specific definitions of who is considered a relative or a member of the family of the undocumented alien as well as the personal and cultural value ascribed to that connection (Rosenblum & Travis, 2008; Fadia, 2006; Paniagua, 2005). Generally speaking, federal immigration courts traditionally tended to more readily accept immediate, nuclear family and biological relations as potentially valid for protections from hardship. As mentioned above, how-

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logical evaluation can effectively address the challenges before immigration judges and provide the necessary information for the courts’ ultimate decision.

Emily and Logan Guzman lead their family and friends to the gate of the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia. The visit will be their last with their father before the court decision either to deport or to free Pedro Guzman.

(Don Bartletti/Los Angeles Times/MCT)

ever, other relations, such as those borne out of legal adoptions and other legally binding arrangements, may be considered as well (Marconi vs. DHS, 2009).

How Will “Hardship” be Experienced?

A separate but equally important question is the extent and the manner in which hardship is expected to be experienced by the qualifying relative (Cervantes et. al, 2010; Brabeck & Xu, 2010). As previously mentioned, there could be various sources of hardship (medical, economical, educational, forceful removal, etc.) and assessments and predictions made about them are in the realm of the forensic psychological evaluation with the exception of purely medical considerations. When medical conditions indirectly weigh upon the psychology of the qualifying relative/s (as they so often do), they too can come within the scope of the forensic psychological evaluation. The potential impact of sharply reduced economical standards upon the emotional well-being of a qualifying relative, or the potentially devastating effects of elimination of educational opportunities to a qualifying relative minor forced to migrate with their undocumented alien parent can be best assessed by a forensic psychology expert (Vaisman-Tzachor, 2003).

Psychological Evaluations in Federal Immigration Courts Indeed, in 2003, the author published the protocol for psychological evaluations in federal immigration courts, after hundreds of cases were assessed and presented to immigration authorities (Vaisman-Tzachor, 2003). The published protocol offered basic guidelines for the appropriate way to conduct an evaluation in order to provide the federal immigration court the necessary information it requires to adjudicate a case. The evaluations based on the proposed protocol which were presented by the author over the last fifteen years had been largely welcomed by judges of federal courts for immigration and other immigration authorities because they validated the “qualifying relatives” petitioning on behalf of undocumented aliens, and they also offered objective measures of hardship against which to weigh other evidentiary and legal considerations when adjudicating a particular case (Vaisman-Tzachor, 2003).

However, since the middle of the 1990s, changes to immigration laws increased the diversity of cases adjudicated by immigration courts, which required the use of psychological evaluations in more ways than originally proposed by the author (Magana, 2003). Consequently, the current article will address most typically found variations and the ways in which the forensic psycho-

Federal Immigration Court Legal Proceedings Unlike other legal proceedings, hearings in federal immigration courts tend to be intimate and involve an immigration judge, an attorney representing the federal government, and sometimes an attorney representing the undocumented alien and his or her family (Immigration Court Practice Manual, 2010; Office of the Federal Register, 2010). The burden upon the immigration judge is dual in managing the legal proceedings case and in rendering a ruling in each case. Both attorneys (petitioner and respondent) argue before the judge his or her respective views on the case. The role of the forensic psychology expert in federal immigration courts is to assist the immigration judge in the determination of the case by answering the typical referral questions for which the expertise has been sought out: 1. To authenticate the relationship between the undocumented alien/s and the qualifying relative/s.

2. To calculate the potential hardship that would befall the qualifying relatives under the various possible scenarios (undocumented alien leaving the country alone, qualifying relatives leave the country with undocumented alien, etc.) (Vaisman-Tzachor, 2003).

The federal immigration judge will render a decision that will take into consideration important factors presented by the forensic psychology expert about the nature and quality of the relationship between the undocumented alien/s and qualifying relative/s. In particular, the im-

migration judge is likely interested in the psychological significance of this relationship.

An immigration judge will consider what a loss of the undocumented alien could potentially do to the qualifying relative/s and what a significant deterioration in the undocumented alien’s functioning (e.g., significant reduction in parenting prowess; substantial deterioration in ability to provide emotional support, etc.) could do to their qualifying relative/s (Cervantes et. al, 2010; Frumkin & Friedland, 1995).

Ultimately, the immigration judge will render a decision about a case based on the anticipated damage the qualifying relative/s of the undocumented alien/s are likely to incur by a removal order of the undocumented alien/s. Henceforth, it is the task of the forensic psychology expert to anticipate consequences of a removal order before it actually happens. This presents the forensic psychology expert with a substantial challenge because by and large, psychologists are not better than the average person at predicting the future. It may become apparent to the reader at this point why there is a need to adhere to a scientific methodology and a tested protocol that would increase the predictive validity of the information the forensic psychology expert presents to the immigration court (Ackerman, 1999; Weiner & Hess, 2006; Vaisman-Tzachor, 2003).

Federal Rules of Evidence Federal rules of evidence (FRE) are the standards by which all testimony, including psychological testimony, is admitted into evidence in legal proceedings at federal immigration courts. These rules sometimes conflict with specific state rules of evidence in civil or criminal courts and demand that the forensic psychology expert be familiar with their requisites (American Bar Association, 2010; Weiner & Hess, 2006;

Buckles, 2003). Federal rules of evidence are, by definition, consistent with the professional standard of care as is required of all psychologists, and as such, would be intuitively acceptable to most readers.

They are based on two essential premises, subsumed under the rulings that gave rise to their existence in precedence: 1. 1923 Frye Test of Evidence, which established that the scientific principle or discovery upon which testimony offered in federal immigration courts is widely accepted and well recognized in the respective scientific community.

2. 1993 Daubert Standard, which established that testimonial evidence offered to federal immigration courts is deemed admissible when reached with reasonable degree of psychological certainty, which would be above 50%, or better than chance (Weiner & Hess, 2006; Buckles, 2003).

Emanating from federal rules of evidence are specific demands for a particular disposition on the part of the forensic psychology expert when selecting the types of instruments and procedures to be used to extract relevant information from the clients in federal immigration proceedings. When it comes to the selection of psychological tests, the test must be commercially available; the tests’ reliability must be considered; the tests must be relevant to the legal issue/s before the court; a test’s administration must be done in the standard fashion; the test must be applicable to the population (by norms) and for the purpose being used; and preference should be given to objective tests, even more so to those instruments which incorporate response style (validity scales) into their scoring and interpretation scheme (Babitsky, Mangraviti & Babitsky, 2006; Weiner & Hess, 2006; APA, 1991; APA, 1985).

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“An immigration judge in federal court must weigh which is more important for U.S. society by and large: to process the removal of an illegal alien or to spare his or her U.S. citizen relatives from undue hardship.”

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Chapter 4 A Hypothetical Example

Chapter 3 - The Forensic Psychology Assessment Methodology

As is the case with most other forensic psychological evaluations, the psychological assessment protocol for federal immigration courts (Vaisman-Tzachor, 2003) comprises relevant assessment procedures which address specific clinical constructs that are pertinent to the legal questions being considered. More importantly, the psychological assessment protocol is designed to access aspects of the psychological make-ups of the persons evaluated and illuminate upon psychological potentials ordinarily not available to others adjudicating the case. The assessment protocol calls upon the forensic psychology expert to develop hypotheses and null hypotheses to evaluate against the psychological evidence that emerges from the individuals assessed.

Ultimately, the psychological assessment protocol must generate theories about the persons involved and predictions about the future(s) of the qualifying relative(s) potentially affected by an adverse decision regarding the undocumented alien(s) (Vaisman-Tzachor, 2003). Whenever possible, corroboration from alternative sources must be sought (with interviews and collateral sources) to increase the “psychological certainty” of the conclusions drawn to above pure chance (or 50%) (Weiner & Hess, 2006; Otto & Heilburn, 2002; Ackerman, 1999).

An Illustrative Example An example will help in explaining the process: An undocumented alien is being claimed on his behalf by his lawful U.S. citizen wife who is 52 years his senior, based on hardship to her. In this case, the federal immigration court looked upon this claim with suspicion, requesting a psychological evaluation. The forensic psychology expert may hypothesize that the undocumented alien is insincere and taking advantage of the much older spouse for his immigration

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aspirations, as would be expected from a person with antisocial traits. Such personality characteristics could be effectively assessed with an objective personality inventory and could answer the study hypothesis (Caldwell, 1996). The null hypothesis, on the other hand, would propose this was an honest, romantic relationship of persons who have variant preferences for a much older woman/ much younger man respectively. The null hypothesis could be studied by interviews, meticulous history taking (particularly focusing on previous romantic relations), and corroborating with other sources such as mutual friends or pictures they may have together.

To some extent, the psychological assessment protocol for federal immigration courts resembles the typical custody evaluation in family courts, in that it attempts to predict the best possible resolution for a custody dispute. The psychological assessment protocol for federal immigration courts attempts to predict the consequences of an adverse decision by the court upon the persons affected. Similarly, typical custody evaluations are designed to attend to the best interests of the most vulnerable persons involved— namely, the children of the family having a dispute. The psychological evaluation for federal immigration courts follows the same, with particular attention to the protection of those qualifying relatives who stand to be harmed and are entitled to such constitutional protections. Hence, psychological tests and measures, which have established predictive validity and adequate reliability coefficients, would be preferably selected for the task (Weiner & Hess, 2006; Otto & Heilburn, 2002).

Areas of inquiry commonly studied are: 1. The personality characteristics of the

persons involved in an immigration petition to the court, calling for the use of personality inventories such as the MMPI-2 (Regents of the university of Minnesota, 1989) or the MCMI-3 (Millon, Millon & Davis, 1994).

2. The psychological propensities of the persons involved in an immigration petition to the court, calling for measures of psychopathological tendencies, such as the BDI-2, BAI, TSI, EMAS, etc. (Meyer, Finn, Eyde, Kay, Moreland, Dies, Eisman, Kubiszyn & Reed, 2001).

3. The nature of the familial ties between the persons involved, particularly the relationships between the undocumented alien/s and the qualifying relative/s, calling for use of measures that tap into the relationship between the persons involved, such as the PASS (Bricklin, 1990) and the PORT (Bricklin, 1989), PSI-3 (Abidin, 1995), Relationship Report Cards, Projective Drawings, Double Blind Family Observations, etc.

(APA, 1991).

4. The psychological resources and strengths that persons involved in an immigration petition to the court possess (calling for intelligence measures such as the WAIS and the WISC, K-BIT, etc., and the inquiry into the history of achievements and coping).

5. *The post-traumatic sequella of persons petitioning for asylum in the United States (calling for use of measures that measure PTSD, anxiety and depression, such as the TSI, TSCC, EMAS, etc.). * Remark: The petition for asylum in the United States involves a different set of priorities and considerations which this article does not fully address.

A hypothetical example will be entertained here to illustrate the process by which the psychological assessment protocol attempts to provide accurate and relevant information to federal immigration judges and authorities to render their decisions.

Consider a “split” family residing in the U.S., comprised of two undocumented adult parents in their early forties who immigrated from Mexico approximately twenty (20) years ago, married in the U.S. and sired two (2) U.S. born American citizen children, now ages fourteen (14) and eleven (11). The father is the petitioner making a claim of “exception from inadmissibility” based on “extreme hardship” to his “qualifying relatives,” who are his U.S. born American citizen children.

They hire an immigration attorney who refers them to a forensic psychology expert for an evaluation. The forensic psychology expert must first consider a few possible permutations resulting from an adverse decision by federal immigration court: 1. The father goes to Mexico, leaving his family in the U.S. without him for an extended period of time (at least ten years).

2. The two parents go to Mexico, leaving the U.S. born American citizen children with relatives in the U.S. for an extended period of time (at least ten years).

3. The entire family migrates to Mexico with the U.S. born American citizen children at tow, for an extended period of time (at least ten years).

The Assessment Questions From these possibilities, a new set of questions emerge for consideration: The questions essentially address the quality and importance of the relationships between the undocumented alien parents and their U.S. born American citizen children, including the possibility that the children are claimed fraudulently for the immigration aspirations of the father (where there is no real relationship between the undocumented alien father and the U.S. born American citizen children).

Further study questions involve the types of

connections that the U.S. born American citizen children have to their current life in the U.S., the types of tolls that the U.S. born American citizen children are likely to experience in a loss of one or both undocumented alien parents, and the types of adaptations and their psychological costs that the U.S. born American citizen children are going to be facing in the event that they have to move to Mexico. Corollary questions involve the parenting prowess of the undocumented alien parents, the potential effects upon their parenting capacities in the event of a move of one or both parents to Mexico, including the economical effects that are expected to result from an adverse decision, and how all

that will affect the parenting experiences of the U.S. born American citizen children at the receiving end. Additional relevant questions before the forensic psychology expert are about the scholastic attainments and educational potentials of the U.S. born American citizen children, the educational opportunities available to them in Mexico, and their ability to resume their studies in Mexico in Spanish without serious disruptions.

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“Ultimately, the psychological assessment protocol must generate theories about the persons involved and predictions about the future(s) of the qualifying relative(s) potentially affected by an adverse decision regarding the undocumented alien(s).”

The Result of the Assessment The assessment must result in a theoretical total sum of the predicted loss and suffering that the U.S. born American citizen children are likely to experience in the event of an

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“The obligation of the forensic psychology exp e rt in fe de ral immigration courts is nevertheless to offer an unequivocal opinion about the extent of emotional damage and psychological suffering that the U.S. born American citizen children will suffer in terminology relevant to the court.”

adverse decision by the federal immigration court on the petition of their undocumented alien father. As previously stated, the measure of hardship is subjective and determined in precedence by immigration courts (Yardun-Hunter, 2011). As of the time this article is written, the jury is out on the question of whether the definition of extreme hardship, or the definition of extreme and unusual hardship for that matter, are a “legal” definition (hence, in the purview of the federal immigration authorities) or a “psychological” definition (hence, in the purview of the forensic psychology expert).

The obligation of the forensic psychology expert in federal immigration courts is nevertheless to offer an unequivocal opinion about the extent of emotional damage and psychological suffering that the U.S. born American citizen children will suffer in terminology relevant to the court. Hence, the outcome of the psychological evaluation will result in an assertive opinion whether an adverse decision by the immigration court will or will not result in extreme hardship or extreme and unusual hardship to the qualifying relatives who are, indeed, U.S. born American citizen children of the petitioner (Vaisman-Tzachor, 2003).

Hypothetical Hardship Finding Going back to the example entertained before; assume that the family is determined to migrate back to Mexico in case an adverse decision by immigration court is reached be-

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cause they would not be able to sustain themselves without their father in the U.S. Assume further that the U.S. born American citizen children cannot speak, read, or write Spanish to a level necessary to begin First (1st) grade in Mexico, let alone continue their studies in the Ninth (9th) grade (for the fourteen years old child), and in the Sixth (6th) grade (for the eleven years old child) respectively. The forensic psychology expert may consider this a weighty factor in the overall definition of hardship that is likely to be experienced by the U.S. born American citizen children if they had to migrate with their undocumented alien parents to Mexico. Even if we assume that in the example given the parents may be able to economically sustain continued education for their children in Mexico, an immigration authority’s adverse decision upon the petitioning undocumented alien father could spell the end of the educational opportunities for the two U.S. born American citizen children because of language deficits.

Furthermore, this could portend a life-long sentence of diminished occupational opportunities due to inferior educational attainments and subsequently relegation to life in poverty for no fault of their own. Of course, the picture becomes even clearer if the undocumented alien parents are not expected to be able to provide the necessary economical means to sustain their ongoing U.S. born American citizen children’s education in Mexico anyhow.

In addition, if the forensic psychology expert considers the hypothetical result of the U.S. born American citizen children’s below average intelligence scores in the evaluation tests, then the prediction can be made that a move for the U.S. born American citizen children to Mexico would be devastating. Since intelligence tests are commonly recognized predictors of future adjustment (Grisso, 1986), the prediction can be made that with lesser intelligence resources, and with inferior language proficiencies, the challenge of resuming the educational efforts of the U.S. born American citizen children in Mexico would indeed prove insurmountable.

Hence, a conclusion will be reached by the forensic psychology expert that an adverse decision by federal immigration court upon the petition of the undocumented alien father would qualify for “extreme hardship” in case the whole family would have to move to Mexico.

Chapter 5 - Report on the Findings The culmination of the psychological evaluation process will be in the presentation of the findings to the appropriate immigration authorities. There are essentially two ways in which the forensic psychology expert is likely to be expected to present the results of the psychological evaluation: (1) A written report; (2) In-person testimony in court. Ordinarily, the appointing attorney requesting the evaluation will instruct the forensic psychology expert what is expected in each case. There are many good reasons for the production of a written report at the end of a forensic psychological evaluation for federal immigration authorities.

The first and most obvious is that there are many instances in which there is not going to be a hearing held in the matter evaluated and the decision is going to be made by a judge pro-term, sometimes far away from the place where the evaluation was physically held. A typical example is the evaluation of undocumented aliens who are claiming through marriage to a U.S. citizen (e.g. a Canadian national married to a U. S. Citizen). Often times the decision is going to be rendered in a federal immigration office in a large urban area of the alien’s country of origin or where the U.S. consulate is located (e.g., Ciudad Jaurez, for a Mexican national; Vancouver for a Canadian national, etc.). In these instances, the written psychological evaluation report is all that will be possible to offer immigration authorities attempting to render a decision in a case.

However, there are other reasons which are no less important for a psychological evaluation report to be submitted, even for cases where a court hearing is going to be held in the matter for which a psychological evaluation was sought. It is quite common for cases which had been adjudicated in federal immigration courts and where a decision was rendered to be later appealed by either the federal government or by the petitioner. The appeal process is usually initiated by the party that did not prevail in the court and is seeking redress based on a variety of reasons (legal, technical, etc.). Whatever the reasons may be, the hearings held in an immigration case at the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals are always without expert in-person testimony. Therefore, in order for the opinions and recommendations offered by the forensic psychology expert to be heard or even considered at the appellate court level, it is essential that

a written report be produced and introduced into evidence at the lower, federal immigration court hearing first (Yardun-Hunter, 2011).

There is yet one more reason to insist that the impressions and opinions developed by the forensic psychology expert during the evaluation process be recorded in a comprehensive written report and that the report would be submitted into evidence to federal immigration court: When the forensic psychology expert is called upon to testify, the opposing counsel will attempt to limit the scope and weight of the testimony of the expert by limiting the questions to only those necessary to attempt to discredit the expert. Consequently, it is very likely that oral testimony given by the forensic psychology expert in any hearing in federal immigration court would fail to encompass the breadth and importance of the findings and recommendations offered by the expert in any given case. If, in addition to verbal testimony, there is no accompanying document that expands on the opinions and offers adequate justifications for the opinions of the expert, the ruling judge may disregard the recommendations of the psychological evaluation or may not give them the appropriate weight in the final deliberations.

Contents of the Report The written report must contain all information considered by the forensic psychology expert, be it from documents, interviews, or observations and psychological testing.

Additionally, all professional considerations in reaching impressions, opinions, and recommendations must also be included.

Because the written report will assist the court in its deliberations and the appointing counsel’s questioning during in-person testimony, it must also contain the study questions (i.e., what did the forensic psychology expert attempt to answer in conducting the evaluation). There should be a section justifying the selection of certain study instruments and procedures in conducting the evaluation, given that the audience for which the report is written may not be familiar with the utility of particular inventories, nor will they have the understanding of the predictive validity of certain psychological tests. Moreover, the readers of the written psychological evaluation are not going to necessarily make the connections to infer the relevance of the findings the expert has collected to the questions of the case being adjudicated (Weiner & Hess, 2006).

Questions to address in a written report: The forensic psychology expert must provide the reader of the written psychological evaluation report clear answers to the following questions:

1. What is being studied and why?

2. What measures were used to assess the study questions?

3. What was the rationale for the use of the selected measures?

4. What kinds of answers are expected to be gleaned from the tests and procedures?

5. What was observed in the persons evaluated (descriptive)?

6. What was revealed about the persons evaluated (inferential)?

7. What kinds of conclusions did the expert reach and why (conclusive)?

8. What recommendations are being made based on the conclusions reached?

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The language in the written report must be straight-forward and not include jargon and professional colloquialisms that are likely to be confusing to the reader who is not trained in psychology. Instead, the narrative in the written report must carry the reader through the evaluation process and onto the inevitable conclusions and recommendations in a logical and simple manner. Written reports submitted into evidence in federal immigration courts that are relevant and explanatory are likely to be well-received by immigration judges and attorneys, and are likely to spare the forensic psychology expert agonizing hours of crossexamination on the witness stand.

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References

Chapter 6 - Ethical Considerations

The question of ethics in the process of conducting a forensic psychological evaluation in federal immigration courts comes up frequently because the typical appointment of a forensic psychology expert is done by the attorney representing the petitioning alien/s.

It is therefore easy to understand that some may view the position of the forensic psychology expert as inherently biased and therefore unethical. Some have even likened it to becoming a “gun-for-hire,” and attorneys cross-examining experts at federal immigration courts frequently raise this very question.

Although the ethical question per-se does present the forensic psychology expert with a challenge, it also directs the evaluator’s disposition in each case assessed. The obligation of the forensic psychology expert is to study the truth about the psychological aspects of the immigration case, regardless of the referral source. It is never the role of the forensic psychology expert to offer opinions about any legal matters regarding the case.

Thus, the forensic psychology expert must offer opinions regarding the psychology of the persons involved and recommendations for consideration by the court, not opinions about how to decide on a case. Furthermore, the attitude of the forensic psychology expert must be that whenever information obtained during the evaluation about a case that does not seem to support the claim made by the hiring attorney representing the petitioner/s, the forensic psychology expert must stop the evaluation and refuse to continue.

An Illustrative Example For example, a case which was referred to the author in which an undocumented alien man was claiming on his behalf by four children he sired in the U.S. with three different women he was separate from and whom he was not supporting financially or otherwise.

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At the conclusion of the evaluation it was revealed to the author that the man did not have any consistent physical contact with the (“Qualifying Relatives”) children, and that he did not meet most parental obligations, nor did he maintain his parental legal rights over the children (e.g., visitation rights). The evaluation did not reveal substantial psychological connections between the biological children and the petitioner and no potential for hardship if the petitioner was removed from their lives. The author subsequently stopped the evaluation and contacted the referring attorney to notify the counsel of the information, which made it impossible to support a petition based on hardship to the qualifying relatives (the four children). It was clear that the children of a father they did not know and whom did not support them or their mothers, was not going to be missed to an extent that rises to the legal level of hardship (though perhaps, to a level of a minor nuisance).

In any case careful assessment of the facts and meticulous study of the psychological evidence the forensic psychology expert collects will help the expert avoid ethical pitfalls such as becoming a gun-for-hire. Furthermore, avoiding becoming personally invested in the outcomes of any case the forensic psychology expert is asked to offer opinions on will go a long way to prevent becoming biased. Lastly, it is often the case that forensic psychology experts may prefer certain measures and procedures, which can lead, over time, to the application of the same evaluation protocol for each case, regardless of the different circumstances and questions it posits. To the extent possible, the expert must “tailor” the evaluation protocol for each distinct case based on the questions offered by its circumstances, not by preference (Vaisman-Tzachor, 2003; Weiner & Hess, 2006).

conclusion A protocol for psychological evaluations for federal immigration courts was published by the author (Vaisman-Tzachor, 2003) and has been widely accepted by federal immigration authorities and tried in resolution of many legal immigration dilemmas. The current article proposes a more comprehensive set of recommendations for conducting psychological evaluations for federal immigration authorities and a more inclusive set of guidelines for the forensic investigative process involved, in light of fifteen years of cumulative experience. It calls upon the forensic psychology expert to be familiar with the terms used in immigration courts, to understand legal dilemmas commonly faced by immigration authorities, and to know federal rules of evidence. It also calls upon the forensic psychology expert to maintain an unbiased perspective to avoid ethical pitfalls and develop an evaluation study that considers the questions relevant to the dilemma faced by immigration authorities for each unique case. Further, it calls upon the forensic psychology expert to carefully select tools and procedures that will secure the information collected if the study is valid and that the results obtained are relevant to the questions presented by the judicial system. Finally, it calls upon the forensic psychology expert to record the outcomes of the evaluation and the opinions developed from it in a written report, which must offer clear recommendations for immigration authorities to consider. n

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Shooshtary v. Immigration and Naturalization Service, 39 Federal Reporter third series 1049 (9th Cir. 1994).

Smith, P.J., & Edmonston, B. (1997). New Americans: Economic, demographic, and fiscal effects of immigration.

Washington D.C.: National Academy Press.

Vaisman-Tzachor, R. (2003). Psychological assessment protocol in federal immigration courts. The Forensic Examiner, 12 (3&4), pp. 34-40.

Vasic, I. (2009). The immigration handbook: A practical guide to United States visas, permanent residency, and citizenship.

Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc. Weiner, I.B., & Hess, A.K. (2006). The Handbook of Forensic Psychology (3rd Edition). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Wepman, D. (2008). Immigration. New York, NY: Infobase Publishing.

Yardum-Hunter, A. (2011). Misuse of Social Security number considered a “Crime Involving Moral Turpitude,” Eighth Circuit rules. Yardum-Hunter Immigration Status Newsletter, 6 (1), pp. 6-7.

CERTIFIED MASTER FORENSIC SOCIAL WORKER, CMFSW® Enhance your skills with CERTIFIED MASTER FORENSIC SOCIAL WORKER, CMFSW®. Call 800.429.9737 or enroll online at www.acfei.com.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Reuben VaismanTzachor, PhD, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Pomona College and received his master’s degree and PhD in clinical psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology in Los Angeles. His past military training earned him the equivalent of a military engineering degree and command posts in the Israeli Navy and the Israeli government terrorism prevention agency. He is an associate adjunct professor at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology and an adjunct professor at Argosy University in Los Angeles, California. He is the clinical director of the Counseling Center of Santa Monica – a private practice group, and a psychologist at Cedars Sinai Hospital. In addition to his clinical practice and teaching duties, Dr. Vaisman-Tzachor has a forensic practice and has consulted the family, juvenile, criminal, and immigration courts in California. He has published research and presented on such diverse topics as alcoholism in college, adaptability and aging, human-dog interactions, stress and coping in terrorism prevention work, and human diversity. Dr. VaismanTzachor is Fellow of the American College of Forensic Examiners Institute, a Diplomate in clinical and forensic psychology of the American Board of Psychology Specialties, and is a Fellow of the American Psychotherapy Association.

Summer 2012 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER®

CE ARTICLE

CE ARTICLE

“Careful assessment of the facts in any case and meticulous study of the psychological evidence the forensic psychology expert collects will help the expert avoid ethical pitfalls such as becoming a gun-for-hire.”

Abidin, R.R. (1995). Parenting Stress Index 3rd Edition Professional Manual. Lutz, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc. Ackerman, M.J. (1999). Essentials of Forensic Psychological Assessment. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. American Bar Association. (2010). The 2010 federal rules book. Chicago, IL: American Bar Association Publishing.

American Psychological Association. (1991). Specialty guidelines for forensic psychologists. Law and Human Behavior, 15(6), pp. 655-665.

American Psychological Association. (1985). Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing. Washington DC: Author.

Babitsky, S., Mangraviti, J.J., & Babitsky, A. (2006). The A-Z Guide to Expert Witnessing. Falmouth, MA: Seak, Inc. Bean, D.F., Edmonston, B., & Passel, S.J. (1990). Undocumented migration to the United States: IRCA and the experienceof the 1980’s. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.

Bodenhamer, J.D., & Ely, W.J. (2008). Bill of rights in modern America: After 200 years.

Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

Brabeck, K., & Xu, Q. (2010). The impact of detention and deportation on Latino immigrant children and families: A quantitative exploration. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 32(3), 341-361.

Bray, M.I., Evans, J., & Lieberman, R. (2009). U.S. immigration made easy (ed.14). Berkeley, CA: Consolidated Printers Inc. Bricklin B. (1990). Parent Awareness Skill Survey. Furlong, PA: Village Press.

Bricklin, B. (1989). Perception of Relationship Test Manual.

Furlong, PA: Village Press.

Buckles, T. (2003). Laws of evidence. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Learning Publishing Cerrillo-Perez v. Immigration and Naturalization Service, 809 Federal Reporter - second series 1419 (9th Cir. 1987).

Cervantes, J.M., Mejia, O.L., & Mena, A. (2010). Serial migration and the assessment of extreme and unusual psychological hardship with undocumented Latina/o families. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 32(2), 275-291. Doi:10.1177/0739986310366286.

Chavez, R.L. (2008). The Latino threat. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Contreras-Buenfil v. Immigration and Naturalization Service, 712 Federal Reporter - second series 401 (9th Cir. 1983).

Coutin, S., & Chock, P. (1997). “Your Friend the Illegal:” Definition and paradox in newspaper accounts of U.S. immigration reform. Identities, 2(1 / 2), 123.

DeLaet, L.D. (2000). U.S. immigration policy in an age of rights. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.

Fadia, V. (2006). Cultural Competence. Torrance, CA: Homestead Schools, Inc. Frumkin, I., & Friedland, J. (1995). Forensic evaluations in immigration cases: Evolving issues. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 13(4), 477-489. Doi:10.1002/ bsl.2370130404. govguru.com/immigration-reform-and-control-act-of-irca.

Public Law 99-603 (Act of 11/6/86) http://www.dol.gov/ esa/regs/compliance/ofcc/ca_irca.htm Grisso, T. (1986). Evaluating Competencies. New York, NY: Plenum Books.

Gutierrez-Centeno v. Immigration and Naturalization Service, 99 Federal Reporter - third series 1529 (9th Cir. 1996).

Hing, O.B. (2004). Defining America through immigration policy. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

Immigration and Nationality Act. (1952). General classes

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INTERVIEW

Neal Baer

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jonathan greene

Neal Baer & Jonathan Greene: An Interview wih Two Gited Wriers Interview by: Senior Editor Julie Brooks

Jon: It didn’t become a book series until after we made the deal, but where it came from was about ten years ago. Neal came to me after we had been working together for about a year on SVU and well, two years almost, and said he had this idea for a movie. Over the next few years we wrote a 35-page outline for a feature film and then we never wrote a screenplay because we were busy on the show and our lives kind of got in the way, etcetera, etcetera. And about two years ago our book agent, Lydia Wills, came to Neal and asked him if he had a medical thriller or any ideas for a medical thriller lying around and Neal literally pulled our outline out of the bottom drawer of his desk. The book agent read it and said “Well, why don’t you guys write a couple of chapters and we can send it out as a book proposal?” We wrote three chapters, and then we wrote two more chapters, and then she said “Well, I need two more chapters” and the next thing we knew we had a three-book deal with Kensington.

Julie: I know that your original title was Blindsided, but you changed it after the movie came out. What made you decide to ultimately change it to Kill Switch? What made you come up with that idea after you scrapped the first one?

Neal: Well we couldn’t use Blindsided because the movie The Blind Side came out. So we’re actually glad we didn’t because we like Kill Switch better. We were just thinking about titles that would have multiple meanings for the reader. When we

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do SVU or A Gifted Man, a TV show that we’re doing now, we think of titles that resonate in multiple ways. We had oneword titles on SVU, so if we did a show called “Chameleon” it could be about somebody changing identities, but also about the way that you think something is one thing and then it turns into another. That kind of thing. So, we came upon this idea Kill Switch because the word has multiple meanings in this book. It could be about stopping something terrible from happening at the last moment when you hit the kill switch. It could be switches that occur throughout the book it terms of killing. It could be a kill switch biologically in a cell that stops the cell from replicating out of control. So now you see where the title came from.

Julie: When I was reading it I was thinking about how a kill switch sometimes is used to turn off before something happens. I sort of thought of Claire as having her own internal kill switch.

Neal: Yeah, she has her own kill switch. So we thought it resonated for us in a number of ways that we liked.

Julie: As a writer one of the hardest things to do can be to write from the perspective of the other gender. You both seemed to pull it off very well, not only with Olivia on Law & Order but also with this new character, Claire Waters. Were there any challenges you faced writing much of the novel from a female perspective? If so, how did you overcome it?

Jon: You hit the nail on the head when you talked about writing Olivia Benson. We had been doing that for so long, it just made it easier. Olivia Benson is a very strong character, a strong woman, and so is Claire Waters. They are similar in a lot of ways. I think Olivia Benson, for the years that we wrote her, was really trying to find who she was as a person because of her background. In a way, that’s exactly what Claire is doing, delving into her past to kind of answer all the questions about why she turned out the way she did.

Neal: Well, I think writing Olivia Benson was very helpful in writing Claire because they are both strong women. Mariska Hargitay physically embodies Olivia Benson, but the words that she speaks are our words that we wrote. A lot of times the viewing audience just sees that character and they think “Wow!” which we want them to do. We want it to be seamless, but in truth it’s not Mariska Hargitay speaking, it’s really Neal or Jon or the other writers from SVU. Just like now with Patrick Wilson or Rachelle Lefevre, they’re speaking these lines but they’re written by us. So we are very much those characters as well. It’s a very shared, intimate, collaborative type of thing. It’s pretty interesting. So we write all these different characters of different genders, male, female, sometimes transgendered, straight, gay, young, old, we’ve done every kind of character imaginable. Victims, perps, and I think that’s great training ground for writing the characters in Kill Switch.

Julie: I know you both come from different backgrounds. Neal, you’re a doctor, and Jon, you were at one time a journalist. When did you first determine that you wanted to be fiction writers?

Neil: I started writing and decided I wanted to write when I was a

Jon: For me, I was really a child of TV growing up and I always wanted to write dramatic TV and I went to college for, and graduated with, a degree in political science. I took a year off and tried to figure out what I wanted to do with myself, not really going for the writing, and wound up going back to graduate school for mostly journalism, but I did do some creative writing. I had to take a creative writing class, a script writing class. I wrote a script about an experience I had driving an ambulance in New York City back in the 80s and I wrote this script and the instructor who had done some TV writing himself gave me a really good grade on it and said, “You know, when you are done, you should pack up and move to Los Angeles, because that’s where you belong.” But I was too scared to do it…I didn’t want to wind up waiting tables. I was already working as a radio news reporter and actually won a couple of AP awards, Associated Press Awards, for my reporting and I said you know, I don’t really want to be in front of a camera, but I could certainly get used to this, and I would end up taking a 15-year detour through local TV news, and then Court TV, and the news experience really focused my writing skills, really honed my writing skills because, firstly, you have to write the news very quickly.

“You know, when you are done, you should pack up and move to Los Angeles, because that’s where you belong.”

Summer 2012 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER®

INTERVIEW

INTERVIEW

Julie: Where did you get the inspiration for the book series?

NYC - APRIL 15: Actress Mariska Hargitay, middle, with co-star Christopher Meloni, left, and former SVU star Stephanie March, right, on the set of Law And Order: SVU in New York City on Friday, April 15, 2011. Photo credit: Northfoto / Shutterstock.com

graduate student in sociology at Harvard. I started making documentary films and I really loved storytelling and telling people stories through documentary filmmaking. I went to the American Film Institute to learn how to do it from a dramatic fictional perspective. I started writing because I was told if I wanted to direct, I’d have to write. So I started writing and ended up directing only once, an after-school special, and I’ve been a writer ever since. Going back to medical school certainly enriched my writing because seeing patients is really great training in being a storyteller, because you have to elicit every patient’s story in order to treat them and to go down the road of a diagnosis and do it in a way that is best for the patient. A really good doctor is a really good storyteller. That was another way of merging my passion for storytelling with another kind of work and that led to ER, and that was storytelling about doctors, and that led to SVU which was about cops, but still doctors are on the show played by Tamara Tunie and B.D. Wong. That led to A Gifted Man, which is about a doctor and nurse, and that led to Claire Waters. When we were starting the book we made her a physician. We made her a psychiatrist who had already been through medical school and through her residency in psychiatry and now is specializing in forensic psychiatry but she is a physician. So those elements of myself are embedded in this kind of storytelling where I really like to explore the world of medicine, and certainly with this book what we found very interesting is that two weeks after the book was first released these new stories came out about researchers having made the H5N1 bird flu virus more transmissible and whether or not that work should be censored in nature and science, and that’s very much a part of our book about what should scientists and researchers be – how far should they be allowed to go in covering and manipulating cells which could ultimately have a terrifying and terrible outcome if people got infected. So, in other words, true life imitated our book two weeks after the book was out.

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Kill Switch Praise “A psychological thriller of the first order.” ~ DAVID BALDACCI ~ “Riveting and rich with character.” ~ GAYLE LYNDS ~ “Masterful, unforgettable, gripping.” ~ DOUGLAS PRESTON ~ “A fast paced, gritty crime thriller from two great story tellers.” ~ CHRISTOPHER MELONI ~

“A must-read.” ~ MARISKA HARGITAY ~ “An absolute winner—a non-stop thrill ride.” ~ Michael Palmer ~ “Fans of high-octane, intricate thrillers will welcome TV producers Baer and Greene’s fiction debut…delivered with skill.” ~ Publishers Weekly ~ “A startling, intense suspense novel…will have readers staying up at night—with the light on—to see how this one turns out…

Readers may just have found the next ‘Preston & Child’ team!” ~ Suspense Magazine ~

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you learn in television is how to a) write conversationally and b) you have to write dialogue conversationally because dialogue is after all usually a conversation. So the books that I have read, the ones that I have read quickly that tend to be fast reads as opposed to slow reads, I can tell you that one of the things that makes a book a quicker read is that you can understand what people are saying to each other and the people speak like real characters and I think that’s where it’s important in both mediums to be able to write good dialogue that reflects who the characters are.

Julie: Are there any writing projects you haven’t attempted yet that you would like to do either together or on your own?

Jon: That’s a hard question to answer. I mean we have two more books to write together. Certainly, we’re hoping to be able to write a screenplay for at the very least this first one, and of course for the very best of all worlds when we get the third book done we will be embarking on our third screenplay as well with any good fortune, let’s say.

Julie: Both of you are from different backgrounds and neither of you really have a forensic background. How do you go about preparing yourself, like whenever you were working on Law & Order and for Kill Switch, what do you do to prepare yourself as far as like interviewing people and gathering data?

Neil: Well, we have, you know, a full-time researcher who pulls, makes books for us. So, for instance, I was very interested…I had read about a couple of people at Harvard who had done some work in familial DNA where they posited the idea that what if one gets DNA from a crime scene and looks for a 50% match instead of a 99% match and can find siblings, cousins, uncles, fathers, etc. What does that mean? Can we do that? Should we be doing that? And that became a big focus of an episode where Mariska Hargitay’s character set off to find her brother by running her own DNA through the system – that’s possible if someone has been arrested on a felony and their DNA is in the system. But that often is the case and that brings out the civil liberties issue. So we subscribe to a lot of journals and medical forensic, and our researcher reads through things and he would just send me lists of stories every week and I would choose ones that interested me and I would ask him to do further research so we would do, you know, all kinds of stories on SVU about the latest in DNA research or how people had fooled the cops by putting tubes in their arms, and using someone else’s blood, I mean, you know, we did everything possible and we were so interested in how you could use water and looking at different isotopes to pinpoint where the body was found. This all came from our avid research and we would do research ourselves. I would give books to the writers to read on different topics. We would make these big books available so that we could delve into all kinds of issues be it neural, biological, research on how people feel, whether or not guilt can be determined by PET scans, if you can tell someone is lying to you, if DNA can be fabricated. There was a story out of Israel about faking DNA. We did that with Mariska’s character, when someone took her DNA, amplified it, and left it at a crime scene to indicate her. So we’re always reading ourselves and I always have it in my contract that I have a full-time researcher on the show to pull constantly, and then we talk to experts. So, indeed, we spoke to Fred Goldberg, who’s a professor of molecular biology at Harvard Medical School who talked to us about apoptosis to make sure we were correct in what we were writing about, and then the forensic side will talk to experts in the field depending on what kind of work we are doing. Certainly Jon’s work on Court TV in legal and criminal cases as a reporter and producer have influenced what we do, and because

Neal: I imagine anything we haven’t really written, I’ve written movies in the past but it’s been a long time so it would be fun to write, it would be fun to come full circle having written the outline, writing the novel, then coming back and finishing the script would be pretty fun. So that’s something neither of us have never done.

Julie: And I heard that you already have Katherine Heigl signed on as the lead. Is it true that when you were writing Kill Switch you had her in mind?

Actress KATHERINE HEIGL at a Hollywood premiere. 01FEB2001. Heigl is signed on to play the lead in the upcoming film Kill Switch. Photo credit: Featureflash / Shutterstock.com

of my work as a doctor, I’m interested in pathology and what we can learn – as I just illustrated – and I just love this idea that you can figure out where someone may have been by the water they were drinking, so we certainly did that on the show.

Julie: Do you believe that dialogue is more difficult to write for the screen or for a book?

Neal: That’s a good question. It’s the same. Cause it’s getting out the same kind of, I mean, for a screenplay it’s all dialogue. I mean, we write prose that just describe where things are but that’s not so important.

It’s really the dialogue that takes you deep into the character and then you need the actors to act it so that they can, through subtleties and facial expressions and body movement, convey what they are thinking.

The trick is, not really so much the dialogue, but what you can do in a novel, which is to write where people are thinking and we can’t do that in television or movies unless we do voiceover, which we tend not to like. We feel like that usually breaks the illusion that you are watching something real when you are hearing voiceover, so we tend to avoid that in our screenwriting. That’s really the difference for me, not so much the dialogue but that you can say what they are thinking and convey that about a character versus a screenplay where the actors have to convey it through body language and expression.

Jon: The one thing about dialogue is that we’ve all read books where you will say to yourself, wow, this is not how people talk, and what

Neal: Correct.

Julie: So you both have worked on a lot of crime stories. Is there ever a point where you just get so sick of writing crime that you just can’t take another dead body, and what do you do to get away from that?

Jon: That was one of the pluses after 11 years of writing a dark show like Law & Order. Coming to write a medical show, which Neal had done on ER for seven years before SVU, was something I had never done, and, for me, it was a very liberating experience. The shows have parallels in that both are about people trying to help people, but we don’t have to get as dark on A Gifted Man as we wound up getting on SVU. Neal: It didn’t bother me (laughter) because I was always interested in the story and how to tell a cool story and learn something new and take the audience to a place where they hadn’t been, which really does get into the forensics because what we did in year 11 or 12 of SVU, we couldn’t do in year one. I remember an episode we did last year where a college student is manipulating Stabler by making it look like a woman’s been kidnapped, and it’s all done through the iPad on his computer and we wouldn’t have been able to do that show before iPads because Stabler’s carrying around his iPad, and seeing what’s being put up on the internet. He wouldn’t have been able to take his PC around and there wasn’t really Wi-Fi and GPS, as there is now, back in 1999.

We started in 2000 with SVU. So SVU evolved with technology in forensics. So it’s pretty amazing…I was thinking hard about that towards the end of SVU, like wow, we are doing all these things that we couldn’t possibly have done and it’s giving us new ways to tell stories.

Summer 2012 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER®

INTERVIEW

INTERVIEW

“Amazing twists and turns that will keep you at the edge of your seat.” ~ ICE-T ~

If something happens at ten minutes to six, you need to get on the six o’clock news. Second of all, you have to learn to tell a story completely in a very short amount of time. If you’re doing a reporter’s package, for example, you basically have about a minute and thirty to tell an entire story of what happened. A lot of times you have an anchor read where you have basically one page or twenty or thirty seconds to tell an entire story. So you really have to learn how to minimize your words and that’s something that you try to do a lot in dialogue when you are writing a script. And then about 13 years into my news career I said you know I really need to try to write dramatic TV again before I age out, so to speak, and so I wrote a couple of spec scripts and the short version of a very long story is (that) one of my spec scripts made it to my very first SVU as a freelance. I got hired on staff literally three weeks before Neal did and that was a very lucky thing for me.

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And so, I think that’s an important answer to your question. Which is…technology, forensics, new media, were evolving so quickly that it was always giving us new ways of telling stories, and that was really cool for us.

Julie: Have you ever met a detective, real or fictional that you really admired, that inspired any of your characters?

“technology, forensics, new media, were evolving so quickly that it was always giving us new ways of telling stories, and that was really cool for us.”

Neal: Well, we have certainly met a lot of detectives who have been really wonderful in sharing their stories with us, and we’ve had detectives who are consultants on the show, so many. We’ve met SVU detectives, we’ve met homicide detectives, we’ve talked to chiefs, we talked to everybody you can imagine who’s involved in police work - pathologists, psychiatrists, forensic psychiatrists.

Jon: We had on our staff a woman who had been an assistant district attorney in Brooklyn. Again, going back to what Neal was saying about experts, we always try to find experts in the field that includes law enforcement and the legal system.

INTERVIEW

ways that hadn’t been seen before because I was going through it literally because I was a fourth year medical student the first year of ER. Now, cut to the present, there is no medical series on television without doctors – House, Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, all have doctor writers and all the legal shows have lawyers writing. CSI, because it was very forensically oriented, required it, as well, and ER had already been on so they knew the trick, which is you have to have real forensic experts on your staff. So I think that ER really changed the way that television was done in ways that people don’t quite realize.

Neal: I think a lot of it changed with ER. I was the first doctor to write on television, to my knowledge. Medical shows before ER had doctors as consultants who would read scripts and kind of sprinkle some medicine though it. ER took a different approach and demanded doctors be on the show because it was from the doctor’s perspective.

So there were two of us who started on ER who were writers, not just consultants but writers writing and working with the other writers.

So, I would develop all the medical stories for ER, and that had a huge impact on Hollywood – more so than people realized. I guess the other side of it is David Kelly when he was on LA Law, he was one of the first lawyers who was writing from his experience. Being able to write from one’s experience allows one to take the audience very deep into the culture of that arena. So David certainly took people into the world of lawyers in ways that hadn’t been seen before, and I was able to take the viewer into the world of becoming a doctor in

Julie: If a movie was to be made about you, who would play you in the movie?

Neal: Well, George Clooney already played me because I was writing a pediatrician for ER so I would love to have him playing me again in some way.

Jon: For me I would just have to go by appearance and say Jason Alexander, although I wish I had his comic talent.

Neal: But you both can sing, John.

Jon: We both can sing, yes. But he dances a lot better than I do.

Julie: Lastly, If you had superpowers, what would your superpower be and why?

Neal: Interesting. I’d like to be able to disappear. n

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Jon: At first I thought it would be teleportation, but to me it’s more interesting, you know, going from one place to the other just by willing it takes all the fun out of the journey and, of course, it’s about the journey and not about the destination. I’d take mindreading.

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PROFILE

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By Katherine Ramsland, PhD, CMI-V He was famous for seeing what others could not. Edmond Locard loved being called the “French Sherlock Holmes,” since it was to Holmes that he owed his vision for crime science.

He even looked like Holmes, with his slender build, alert expression, and aquiline nose. Few would dispute that Locard played a significant role in the evolution of criminalistics. Like his fictional hero, he firmly believed that the smallest clues could break a case. To find them, one had to be keenly observant, deeply informed, and willing to consider the circumstances from all angles.

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Born in 1877, Locard grew up in Lyon, France. He was ten years old when the first of Conan Doyle’s detective tales, A Study in Scarlet, debuted. Once he read a French translation, he was hooked. Later in life he would urge fellow scientists to read and learn from these stories. He also studied Hans Gross’s groundbreaking book on criminalistics.

As a young man, Locard obtained a doctoral degree in medicine at the University of Lyon, where he became a protégé of the famed medico-legal pathologist, Andre Lacassagne. Because Lacassagne lyon, france at night received the victims of suicide, accident, and violent crime, this was quite an education. Locard learned about wound analysis, crime reconstruction, and the use of chemical reagents to identify substances like blood and semen. On his own he made a thorough study of dust lifted from unusual sources (Reportedly, he once correctly identified the occupations of 92 out of 100 people based on dust collected from their eyebrows).

To his list of growing credentials Locard added a law degree before studying under Alphonse Bertillon, who had developed the anthropomorphic system of measurements for criminal identification (bertillonage). Locard then visited numerous police departments to learn how things were done, traveling as far away as New York and Chicago. He met many prominent criminalists, which only fed his passion for the emerging field of forensic science. However, he was disappointed at the lack of progress beyond new fingerprinting methods.

He aspired to achieve for criminal investigation what Lacassagne had done for forensic pathology, so in 1910 he returned to Lyon to set up his own shop.

THE FORENSIC EXAMINER® Summer 2012

The World’s First Crime Lab Locard hoped to interest the local police in establishing a crime laboratory. He tried to persuade them of its value, but despite the high incidence of violent crimes in the area, no one shared his vision. Undaunted, Locard called in favors and acquired two dingy attic rooms on the third floor of the Palais de Justice. With his own money, he purchased a microscope, reference books, chemicals, a Bunsen burner, and a spectroscope. Then he awaited a case.

It didn’t take long.

Counterfeit coins were being used to purchase goods around the area, and the police thought they knew the culprits’ identities, but they had a difficult time catching them redhanded. Finally, they arrested three suspects, but these men refused to name the chief coiners. Locard got wind of the arrest and asked if he could examine their clothing. No one understood what he proposed to do, but they sent the clothing. So far, the principal investigators had turned up nothing else.

Locard was excited. For the first time he was doing the work of a consulting detective. He badly wanted to prove himself. With a magnifying glass and pair of tweezers, Locard went

Trace Evidence Locard compared the recreation of a crime from trace evidence to the work of an archaeologist. He believed that any human action, including (and especially) a criminal encounter, would leave a trace. In addition, that individual would carry away something on his person. It might be nearly invisible, but a thorough inspection with the right tools could produce it. Today, Locard’s Exchange Principle – every contact leaves a trace – is the foundation of investigative science.

As he gained a reputation for detecting what the eye could not see, Locard was invited into more challenging cases. Émile Gourbin, a bank clerk, was a suspect in the strangulation murder of his girlfriend, Marie Latelle.

However, he had an alibi. He could prove that at the estimated time of the murder – midnight – he’d been with friends, playing cards.

Gourbin’s friends affirmed this. The location of the game was some distance from the crime scene and they had been occupied until 1:00 A.M., at which time Gourbin had gone to bed. Either the time of death was in error or he was not his girlfriend’s killer.

The police were stumped; they firmly believed they had the right person, but they could not budge him from his story. They needed undeniable physical proof or they would have to let him go. This offered Locard another opportunity.

He carefully examined the victim at the morgue and saw scratches on her neck deep enough to have left some skin under her killer’s fingernails. The next step was to visit Gourbin

In 1912,

the Lyon police officially recognized Locard’s attic as the Laboratoire de Police Technique, the first of its kind. Once a protégé of the world’s best criminalists, Locard soon mentored others in lectures, consultations, and books such as Policiers de roman et policiers de laboratoire (Police in Novels and Police in the Laboratory). He inspired others to set up crime labs of their own.

in the holding cell and scrape under his fingernails. Under the microscope, Locard noted in the normal debris several specks of blood and some flakes of skin that bore a pink tint. When he chemically tested them, he found ingredients common to cosmetics. Next, he acquired a sample of Marie’s face powder, which he learned had been custom-made locally, and examined it under the microscope. It was the same substance he had removed from under Gourbin’s fingernails. Given its uniqueness, this discovery proved to be a firm link between Gourbin’s fingers and the lethal scratches on Marie’s neck.

Locard told Gourbin what he had found, and Gourbin, impressed, admitted that he had staged the crime. He had advanced the clock at his friends’ house to dupe them into saying he had been there with them at the very time he was killing Marie. The other two had actually gone to bed around midnight, not 1:00 A.M., and he’d then gone out to meet Marie. When she had refused to marry him once more, he had strangled her. Gourbin was convicted.

Locard proved himself again and again, and he finally received more staff and funding.

With greater resources, he proved the value of dust and fibers for revealing what people have brushed against in their daily worlds, and in his manual he described standard methods for handling such fragile evidence. It must be done with care, he stated, and with tweezers and sterile paper. Dust or dirt packed onto shoes should be removed carefully, layer by layer, with distinct substances kept separate. However, as immersed as the French Sherlock Holmes was in trace evidence research, he also developed a passion for advancing the field of identification.

Who Are You? Having studied with Bertillon, Locard was versed in bertillonage, but he believed the

future of criminal identification lay in fingerprinting. “To write the history of identification,” he once stated, “is to write the history of criminology.” In fact, he experimented on himself. To see if he could alter his own fingerprints, he applied hot irons and hot oil.

While Locard recognized the value of ridge patterns on the fingertips, he knew they could be smudged or fragmentary – and even faked – so he examined the number and shape of the numerous pores that lay along the ridges.

He found between nine and eighteen pores per millimeter, and their patterns were as unique as the ridge patterns. Locard was convinced that only a few millimeters of a print – a minimum of forty pores – were required to prove identity, and he called his new science poroscopy. However, he faced an uphill battle to gain recognition.

During this time, the use of fingerprint technology based on ridge patterns was replacing the more cumbersome methods of bertillonage. A case in England involving a robbery and double homicide had caught the world’s attention, and many departments were switching to ridge-pattern identification.

Locard looked for a case by which to demonstrate poroscopy and found one from June 1912. Someone had entered an apartment in Lyon and removed 400 francs and several valuable jewels. Fingerprints had been lifted from a rosewood box that had contained the jewels. A method of fingerprinting first used in Argentina had been applied and one of the prints matched a man named Boudet. He had a criminal record for burglary and theft, so he seemed a likely suspect. Another print matched his partner. Confronted with this evidence, they nevertheless refused to confess.

Locard saw his chance. He made enlargements of the fingerprints lifted from the box

Summer 2012 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER®

PROFILE

PROFILE

Locard’s Vision: 100 Years of Crime Labs

over one suspect’s trousers. In the pocket, he observed dust with an unusual appearance, so he carefully removed a sample and placed it onto a sheet of clean, white paper. Next, he brushed dust from a shirtsleeve onto the paper. Under magnification, it showed minute traces of metal. Applying chemical tests to the dust grains further affirmed what he had observed: tin, antimony, and lead. Not only did these metals match the component parts of the counterfeit coins but they did so in the right proportion. The same evidence turned up on the clothing of the other two suspects.

Locard explained his discovery to the investigators, who used it to obtain a confession.

For Locard, this result was a victory for careful observation, coupled with science. In addition, he gained valuable publicity for his crime lab, as well as recognition from the authorities.

They would call on him again.

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Legacy

PROFILE

A popular lecturer, Locard taught for the university’s Department of Criminalistics of the Faculty of Law. He also became the founding director of Lyon’s Institute of Criminalistics and published seven volumes of his Traité de Criminalistique. In 1929, with prominent criminalists from several countries, Locard established the International Academy of Criminalistics in Switzerland.

Throughout his career, he sought ways to improve forensic science. Police learned from him how to watch for the smallest clues, and cases were solved on such minutiae as plaster dust or the impression left in dirt of a button’s unique pattern. He refined the analysis of handwriting, bloodstains, and ink on questioned documents. He also studied cryptology, eyewitness error, and “motiveless murders,” which he had observed in certain incidences of serial homicide.

A case that involved Locard’s handwriting analysis was that of Marie Besnard, known as the “black widow of Loudun.” Besnard, 53, was accused of killing twelve people with arsenic, including her husband and mother. (Her deceased husband had actually told someone that she was poisoning him.) The string of deaths stretched across two decades, from 1929 until 1949. Since Besnard benefited in some manner from each of the murders, the prosecutor had a motive. When the bodies were exhumed, investigators discovered high levels of arsenic in each one. However, aside from the poison, which could have seeped into the remains from the dirt, the prosecution had only circumstantial evidence.

Locard was invited to examine a stack of anonymous obscene letters that had been sent to residents of Loudun. He compared them to samples of Besnard’s handwriting and concluded that she was the author. He believed that she had written them out of sexual frustration, based on the fact that the letters had ceased when a young German working for the Besnards had allegedly become Marie’s lover.

When the case went to trial, the defense attorney attacked the toxicologist’s lab technique as careless. A second analysis by four other toxicologists also had complications. In fact, four rounds of analysis were performed, but in the end Besnard was acquitted for lack of incriminating evidence.

As busy as Locard was with criminal cases and forensic analysis, on the side, he also published critiques about music and theater. Retiring in 1951, he remained active as a researcher. His driving passion had paved the way for numerous refinements and innovations, so his death in 1966 was a great loss to the forensic community. In May 2009, France’s Sherlock Holmes Society gave Locard a posthumous award for his contributions. This year, we honor the 100th anniversary of the founding of Locard’s visionary crime lab. to reveal the pattern of pores along the ridges. He found over 900, which he matched to Boudet. During judicial sessions, he showed these photographs to the jury and explained how unique such pore patterns were. The jury was impressed and even without a confession found both men guilty, sentencing them to hard labor.

Locard soon published the first volume of his Traité de Criminalistique, in which he claimed to have solved seven cases that year by

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examining the fingerprint pores. One turned out quite differently than what it had initially seemed. Locard described a woman going to market with her goods who claimed that she had been knocked out with ether while riding on the train. She described two men, whom she believed had stolen her money and merchandise. They had left the bottle of ether behind, from which the police lifted fingerprints. However, the prints all matched the supposed victim. Ashamed, she admitted

that she had attempted to commit suicide, but to save her family from the shame of this act she had tried to stage it as a murder.

In 1920, Locard heard about a woman claiming to be Anastasia, a supposed survivor of the Bolshevik attempt to slaughter the entire Russian royal family. (She was one of several who made such claims.) From news reports, people knew that Anastasia had been taken with her parents, brother, and three sisters to a building in Ekaterinburg, where the Romanovs were shot multiple times.

The bodies were thrown into a mineshaft and an attempt was made to obliterate their identities with acid. In Berlin, a girl saved from suicide indicated that she was the missing grand duchess. She said she had pretended to be dead and had escaped. She was able to convince many people who had known Anastasia, but others had doubts. In Locard’s Proofs of Identity, published later in 1932, he sided with the doubters. He had examined photos of the girl’s physical features and found them to be too different from Anastasia’s features. In the end, he was proven correct, but not until a DNA analysis was performed long after his death. n Sources

Chisum, W. J., & Turvey, B. (2000). Evidence Dynamics: Locard’s exchange principle and crime reconstruction. Journal of Behavioral Profiling 1(1).

Correy, F. (1968, Winter). Profile of Edmond Locard. New Criminologist, 3(10).

Cole, S. A. (2001). Suspect identities: A history of fingerprinting and criminal identification. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Evans, C. (2004). The second casebook of forensic detection. Hoboken, NJ. John Wiley and Sons.

Thorwald, J. (1964). The century of the detective. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World. (1966). Crime and science. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World.

Wagner, E. J. (2011, Feb. 25). The French connection of Sherlock Holmes. EJDissectingroom.wordpress.com.

Wilson, Colin and Damon Wilson. (2003). Written in blood: A history of forensic detection. New York: Carroll and Graf Publishers.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Katherine Ramsland, PhD, CMI-V has published over 1,000 articles and 40 books, including The Mind of a Murderer and Beating the Devil’s Game: A History of Forensic Science and Criminal Investigation. Dr. Ramsland is an associate professor of forensic psychology at DeSales University in Pennsylvania, where she teaches forensic psychology and criminal justice, and has been a member of the American College of Forensic Examiners International since 1998.

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Expert Witness in the Legal System: A Scientist’s Search for Justice

Dr. Morris S. Zedeck, a pharmacologist, served as an expert witness in 191 trials involving murder, rape, drunk driving, medical malpractice, personal injury, product liability and other criminal and civil matters. In this book he describes his experiences and observations of a justice system that is not always just. Dr. Zedeck discusses incorrectly written cocaine statutes, the causes of wrongful convictions and the use of DNA evidence to exonerate innocent people, and provides examples of dishonesty of expert witnesses, prosecutors, police, attorneys, and judges. Dr. Zedeck provides recommendations such as a more transparent discovery process, better scientific training for judges, the use of animal data in civil trials, and increased resources for the indigent and more comprehensive studying of the forensic disciplines.

Morris s. zedeck, phd Dr. Zedeck received his PhD in pharmacology from the University of Michigan and has held appointments in the departments of pharmacology at Yale University and at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, as well as in the Department of Sciences at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He is the co-author of Forensic Pharmacology.

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FICTION

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BY SHELLY REUBEN

f

rom the day Frances met Will—the same day that they became partners—it was as if, for her, the rest of the world ceased to exist.

seemed to like her more than she liked them. And Frances was excruciatingly patient with the public, particularly children and particularly during safety awareness programs at town functions or at county fairs; patience had been part of her training with the state police.

But in the grand scheme of things, Frances’ world was divided unequally

FICTION

FICTION

Oh, she was polite enough to their colleagues, although they always

into two parts. Ninety-five percent of her loyalty belonged to State Trooper William McDermott. Five percent belonged to everybody else.

And that only if Frances was certain that Will didn’t need her.

You would think that this would have caused problems for him at home. Many law enforcement marriages had broken up over less.

Not the McDermotts.

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Elayne McDermott actually liked her husband’s partner, and after particularly grueling tours of duty, she often prepared special meals for Frances. Their daughter Pug—short for “pugnacious,” a personality trait and a nickname (her real name was Penelope, which she hated)—was also a fan of Frances. Periodically, she would drag her outside for long walks in the woods or take her on conspiratorial hunts for rocks, butterflies, or birds, depending, that day, on whether Pug wanted to be a geologist, an entomologist, or an ornithologist when she grew up.

Frances enjoyed the attention that she received from Will’s family, and she always tried to respond to kindness…in kind.

But whenever courtesy did not demand some sort of a mandatory response, her eyes always swiveled back to Will.

“You’d think she’d be ashamed to let anybody to see her looking at you like that,” Will’s lieutenant snorted derisively.

Within earshot of Frances.

Who just ignored the comment, and followed Will out to their truck.

“Years are funny things,” Myron McDermott once observed to his grandson when recounting to Will his experiences as a Royal Canadian Grenadier Guard during World War II. “You fight shoulder-to-shoulder with a man that maybe you only knew for six months, and maybe he’s been dead for over fifty years, but he’s still the best friend you ever had, and he’s still the best man you ever knew, and you still miss him every day of your life.”

After the war, Will’s grandfather moved to the United States, became an American citizen, and joined the state police.

Will’s father was a biology teacher. His mother was a chef.

But Will always knew who he took after, and he always knew what he was going to be. He went to college and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in history, to please his parents. A year later, when he was twenty-two years old, he became a state trooper, to please himself.

He had been in the job for seven years before he was teamed with Frances, and they took to each other like two hands playing the same piece on a piano. They tracked methamphetamine labs together; they apprehended bank robbers; they arrested drug dealers; they helped the NTSB and local authorities to locate body parts and identify victims after that terrible crash of the 747 airplane over Henderson Bay. And one time, they even guarded a newly elected president.

The disappearance of Gina Sperling was grueling, back breaking, and punishing work. Over the course of the eight-month investigation, Will spent so much time with Frances…often working seven-day weeks and eighteen-hour days…that Elayne McDermott laughed to her husband, “You should have married Frances instead of me!”

Elayne worried about Will not getting enough sleep and not eating the right food, because their searches took them through rocky fields and hostile marshes. She worried about Frances catching a cold or breaking a leg. Pug, during those heart wrenching eight months, desperately worried about and missed them both.

THE FORENSIC EXAMINER® Summer 2012

She and, of course, everybody else, was also terrified for Gina Sperling.

Gina was two years older than Pug, but went to the same school.

Gina’s mother was in Elayne McDermott’s book discussion club, and her father owned the hardware store where Will bought everything from thumbtacks to grass seed. For the people in their hometown, Gina Sperling’s disappearance was more like a vicious kick in the gut than an active criminal investigation, and searching for her bore less of a resemblance to a rescue mission than it did to a holy crusade.

Girl Scout troops held bake sales to earn money so that they could order thousands of “Missing Child” flyers from the local print shop.

Boy Scout troops tacked the flyers to telephone poles and tree trunks, and went from shop to shop, asking merchants to tape them on their front doors.

Diane and Raymond Sperling gave tear drenched television interviews appealing to Gina’s kidnappers for their daughter’s return…if she had been kidnapped. They put her photograph on shopping bags, billboards, and milk cartons, which were then distributed throughout the state.

None of that did any good, though, because when the little girl was finally found, it was Frances who found her. Or what was left of her. With Will less than thirty seconds behind.

And it was Will who later tracked down and apprehended her killer.

Gina Sperling’s disappearance had been Will and Frances’ most notorious case.

Their final case wasn’t as time consuming or as spectacular.

When it doesn’t involve a child, an airplane, or a celebrity, they never are.

It concerned a turf battle between warring motorcycle gangs over the distribution and sale of illegal weapons. Three days earlier, in the parking lot of a small rural airport, Orlando Neff, head of a group of thugs that called themselves Satan’s Plague, was gunned down. A day later, Neff ’s second-in-command, Elliot Feaster, was run over by a stolen taxi-cab outside a coffee shop in the town of Prescott. The shop’s patrons, horrified to be standing next to a bare-chested brute in a leather vest whose arms were covered with swastika tattoos, held their communal breaths until he paid for his crème brûlée latte and left the store.

Two days after that, it was on a Friday morning, Neff and Feaster’s double-funerals took place.

County narcotic cops and their DEA counterparts estimated that upward of 1,000 motorcycle gang members from all over the state would be there.

Sheriff Clifford Capstan stated aloud what most of the cops were thinking.

“I don’t care if those bastards shove dynamite sticks up each others’ ass and light the fuse, as long as they drive across the county line before they do it.”

But law enforcement wasn’t destined to get its wish.

The burial site for the dead bikers was a municipal cemetery halfa-mile north of Prescott, on a very publicly owned piece of land.

The sheriff ’s department surveilled the road.

State police officers patrolled the interior perimeters of the cemetery.

Will and Frances were at the graveside.

Witnesses to the shooting at the airport and to the hit-and-run outside the coffee shop had provided descriptions of the gunman and the driver. Composite sketches of each were drawn, and the two sketches were compared.

Both were of the same man.

Will’s job inside the cemetery was to look at faces and to identify the killer.

That was all he had to do.

It was something he was good at.

All Frances had to do was to accompany Will.

She was good at that, too.

The internment was presided over by Father Desmond Babington, Orlando Neff ’s uncle and the local parish priest.

As he recited the blessings (it was said that he had loathed his nephew, but loved his sister enough to conduct the services), swarthy heads swathed in bandanas were bowed in prayer. Will’s eyes set upon, studied, and evaluated the faces of every biker in the tight area around the graves.

This one’s nose, he thought, was too big.

Will’s eyes moved to another.

That one had pock-marked skin.

He continued to study faces.

Ears too small.

Forehead too high.

Lips too narrow.

Eyes too far apart.

Eyebrows too thick.

And then, like Goldilocks sampling porridge in the house of the three bears, he suddenly latched onto a jowly face with wide nostrils and a protruding lower lip. A face that matched the composite sketch and, like the last bowl of porridge, was “just right.”

There was a problem, though. The eyes in the face at which Will was staring were staring back at him, too.

In retrospect, Will wondered (and would always wonder) if his reflexes that day had been unforgivably slow, or if the biker’s reflexes had been impossibly fast.

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FICTION

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ADVANCE YOUR CAREER

FICTION

While Still Doing The Job You Love

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He wondered (and would always wonder) about Frances.

How had she known?

How. Had. She. Known?

The biker drew his gun.

Frances, too far away to take him down but not too far away to protect her partner, leaped in front of Will and, in effect, turned her body into a shield.

Two bullets slammed into Frances before the other troopers in the cemetery unholstered their weapons, targeted the biker-shooter, and opened fire.

He was dead before he hit the ground.

A thousand badass tattooed mourners leaped over tombstones, tripped over marble angels, jumped onto their motorcycles, and roared away.

Frances was still alive.

A photographer from The Evening Sun took thirty-seven pictures of the melee in the cemetery that day. The newspaper ran nineteen of them in a full-page spread.

But there were two photographs, out of respect for the victims, that they did not print.

One was of Frances in full flight, her face contorted in pain, as the first bullet hit her in the chest.

The other was of William McDermott, kneeling in the grass; his arms around his partner, her head in his lap and his face a mask of grief, at the very moment that Frances died.

Her entire life, Frances had not been close to anyone. Anyone, that is, except the McDermotts.

Dogs in K-9 police units always live with their handlers, and they usually become members of the family. Frances had been a McDermott from the day that Will brought her home, and she had been destined to be a McDermott from the day that she was born.

After she died, Elayne and Pug tried to get Will to open up about his beloved partner and their beloved pet.

But Will could not talk about Frances.

Not yet.

Will’s lieutenant told him to take a week off from work to deal with the loss. Having known State Trooper McDermott for over five years, he fully expected Will to decline.

He did not.

He took ten days off instead.

He went to see former Royal Canadian Grenadier Guard Myron McDermott.

“Tell me about him,” Will demanded.

He did not have to explain to his grandfather whom he meant.

Grandpa Myron filled a large percolator with water and made

THE FORENSIC EXAMINER® Summer 2012

a pot of coffee. He sat down at the kitchen table and he motioned for Will to take the other chair. Then he began to talk.

He told his grandson where Sgt. Hurwitz had come from. How old he had been when he joined up. How his eyes had blazed when, armed only with a pistol, he attacked two German machine guns and captured twenty-five enemy soldiers.

How his moustache had bristled when, accompanied by fifteen Grenadier Guards, he destroyed eleven German anti-tank guns. How their unit had killed fifteen Germans, captured thirty-one others, and opened a kilometer-wide gap in the German front line. And finally, he told Will how Sgt. Samuel Moses Hurwitz, the highest decorated noncommissioned officer in the whole of the Canadian Armored Corps, had been shot behind enemy lines, captured, and died.

Myron stopped talking.

Will sat for a while without saying a word.

Then he began.

He told his grandfather about Frances. About the methamphetamine labs they’d discovered. About the escaped mental patient they’d found wandering into traffic on Route 88. About the drug dealers, wife beaters, child molesters, bank robbers, and murderers that they had apprehended. And about the quiet, silent hours that they had spent alone in Will’s trooper truck, with his hand sometimes resting on Frances’ head or scratching the ruff of her neck and accepting the way that his partner…his dog…stared lovingly at him with fearless, faithful, hero worshipping eyes.

Myron McDermott refilled both of their mugs with coffee.

He raised his cup. “To Frances,” the old warrior said.

Will raised his cup. “To Sgt. Hurwitz.” He said.

They clicked cups.

And then both men cried.

Copyright © 2012 Shelly Reuben ABOUT THE AUTHOR SHELLY REUBEN is an author, newspaper columnist, private detective, and certified fire investigator. Her novels have been nominated for Edgar, Prometheus, and Falcon awards. For more information about her work, visit www.shellyreuben.com.

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FEATURE

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MAKING A MATCH

The FBI & DNA: A Look at the Nationwide System that Helps Solve Crimes

Obtaining a DNA Profile

Regarding blood, said Douglas Hares, NDIS custodian, “If it’s visible, if you can see a very small dot of blood, we are probably able to develop a DNA profile from it.”

DNA can also be obtained from a hat headband, for example, or the trigger of a gun. “As long as there are cells from the skin, it’s possible to get DNA,” Hares said. “It all depends on the environmental conditions the sample has been exposed to. We have had good success with evidence in cases over 30 years old where we were able to obtain a full DNA profile.”

The ACFEI would like to commend the FBI on their ongoing dedication to improving the field of forensics.

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The use of DNA—which carries individuals’ unique genetic information—to help solve crimes has become such a fundamental tool for law enforcement that it’s hard to believe this technique of matching unknown profiles to known offenders is a fairly recent phenomenon.

The FBI launched the National DNA Index System (NDIS) in 1998—along with the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) software to manage the program—and since that time it has become the world’s largest repository of known offender DNA records. Last year, in partnership with local, state, and federal crime laboratories and law enforcement agencies, CODIS aided nearly 25,000 criminal investigations.

FBI.gov recently sat down with Douglas Hares, a PhD scientist at the FBI Laboratory who is the custodian of the National DNA Database.

Q: How did the Bureau come to play such a key role in using DNA to help solve crimes?

Hares: DNA technology was first introduced in criminal court cases around 1988.

When the FBI saw the potential for exchanging and comparing DNA profiles to help solve crimes—crimes that might not be solved in any other way—the concept of a national program was born. In 1994, Congress passed the DNA Identification Act, which gave the FBI authority to establish a national database. During the next

few years, the FBI developed, tested, and implemented the CODIS software as well as training support for states authorized to collect DNA samples from offenders. In 1998, we started NDIS with nine participating states. Now, all 50 states participate, and NDIS currently contains over 10 million DNA profiles.

Q: What is a DNA profile?

Hares: A DNA profile, or type, is just a series of numbers. These numbers are assigned to an individual based on specific identification markers on his or her DNA molecule. In CODIS, those numbers represent a person’s one-of-a-kind DNA profile.

Q: How does CODIS use those profiles to solve crimes?

Hares: A forensic laboratory receives evidence in a criminal investigation and is asked to perform DNA testing on that evidence. The evidence may be part of a rape case or a homicide. Or maybe there is a murder weapon that contains DNA. The DNA profile obtained from the crime scene evidence is called a forensic un-

“We look at 13 different chromosomal locations or markers,” said Douglas Hares, NDIS custodian. “It’s the combination of those different locations that makes the DNA profile a powerful identifier.” For an evidentiary or forensic unknown profile to be searched at the national level, it must have data for at least 10 of these markers. Known

known. The laboratory doesn’t know whose profile it is, but they know it is associated with the crime. The laboratory enters that profile into CODIS. If it’s a local case, the profile is entered into the local CODIS system and uploaded to the state level. At the state level, the profile will be compared with all the offenders from that state’s database.

The forensic unknown may or may not match with other DNA records at the state level. On a weekly basis, the state uploads its DNA records to NDIS, the national level.

We search the profile against all 50 states’ offender profiles to see if there is a match; if there is, the CODIS software automatically returns messages in the system to the laboratories involved. The local labs evaluate the matches and release that information to the law enforcement agency. That is how a previously unknown DNA profile is associated with a known offender.

Q: Who has access to CODIS? Hares: By federal law, access is generally limited to criminal justice agencies for law enforcement identification purposes. That federal law also authorizes access for criminal defense purposes to a defendant in connection with his or her case. CODIS was designed to ensure the confidentiality of the DNA record. No personal identifiers—such as name, Social Security number, or date of birth—are stored in CODIS.

Part 2

Q: How does CODIS handle high-profile cases such as serial killer Ted Bundy’s

offenders in the system must have data for all 13 markers.

“You need that amount of information to be confident about matches,” Hares said. “It’s like a license plate. If you only search three letters or numbers of a license plate, you will get a lot of false matches. We require the threshold to be much higher to prevent those false matches.”

CODIS markers are selected solely for their identification value and are not associated

DNA, which was recently tested so it could be entered into the system?

Hares: At the national level, we don’t know about the evidentiary profiles entered into CODIS by the states. While the DNA profiles use specimen identification numbers, such identification numbers do not contain personal identifiers that would allow us to pick out a particular profile from the database as belonging to a specific person.

For example, even if a state informs us that they have uploaded a high-profile sample like Bundy’s, at the national level we don’t know which profile is his because there is no personal identifying information attached to it. The system is designed to be completely anonymous to protect personal privacy—until a match occurs and the requesting state can learn the offender’s identity. But this raises the importance of analyzing the DNA from such serial offenders, even if the offender is deceased, so that the DNA profile can be searched against those unsolved cold cases.

Q: Is CODIS effective in cold cases?

Hares: Absolutely—that demonstrates the power of CODIS. If you are able to obtain a DNA profile from a case that remained unsolved from years ago and place that profile into the system, there is a good chance you may get a hit because the offender may have committed other crimes and been required to provide a DNA sample.

Q: How does technology help CODIS? Hares: It’s important that all authorized profiles are entered into CODIS in a timely manner. The sooner profiles are entered into

with any type of physical trait or medical condition, Hares explained, adding that in the future, as the system grows, “we are looking at expanding our 13 core markers.” the system, the sooner CODIS can help solve crimes. Sometimes, when DNA database programs with limited resources expand to add categories of persons required to provide DNA samples, backlogs in samples to be analyzed and entered into CODIS may develop. The FBI encountered such a situation when the law expanded DNA sample collection to federal arrestees and detainees.

But thanks to a National Institute of Justice grant and the use of robotics and expert systems, we eliminated a backlog of more than 300,000 offender profiles in a matter of months. That achievement was recognized in a recent audit by the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General.

Q: As technology is integrated into DNA processes, what can we expect from CODIS in the future?

Hares: We have seen that as the number of DNA profiles in CODIS increases, the system helps solve more crimes. Now we are aiding more investigations in a single year than we did in the first five years of the system’s existence. It’s all due to the size of the database—increasing the number of authorized profiles for the state and national databases results in additional DNA profiles that could be linked to unsolved crimes.

Since the creation of CODIS, we have aided over 152,000 investigations—that’s an impressive number of crimes that may not have been solved by any other method. The statistics speak for themselves. As we continue to add more profiles, the potential to solve more crimes—and also to rule out suspects who are innocent—continues to increase. n

Summer 2012 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER®

FEATURE

FEATURE

Some of the more typical items received by laboratories that may contain DNA include drinking glasses, chewing gum, envelopes, and blood. Technicians swab the material to obtain a DNA sample.

Part 1

To determine an individual’s DNA profile, CODIS uses identification markers called short tandem repeats, or STRs.

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By Jenny Leigh Davis

The West Memphis Three:

A Death-Row Inmate Freed

The West Memphis Three were released in August 2011, after serving 18 years in prison. Falsely accused of a horrendous crime, they are back in society after their lives were placed on hold—alienated and confined behind bars. In an act of solidarity, Damien Echols (deathrow inmate), Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley Jr.—know as The West Memphis Three—stood before a full courtroom in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and entered an Alfred plea, a legal maneuver that allowed the men to “plead guilty to lesser charges, while asserting their innocence and getting released for time served. The freeing of Mr. Echols, 36, was the highest-profile release of a death row inmate in recent memory. Mr. Baldwin, 34, and Mr. Misskelley, 36, had been serving life sentences” (NPR News). In 1994, The West Memphis Three were convicted of killing three 8-year-old Cub Scouts—Steve Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore—and dumping their bodies in an Arkansas ditch” (CBS News).

The West Memphis Three continue to maintain their innocence.

Echols told the judge “I am innocent of these charges but I am entering an Alfred plea… this plea is in my best interest” (CBS News).

The young victims were found brutally mutilated, and in 1993 there was a “nationwide concern about satanic cult activity, especially among teenagers, (which) led investigators from the West Memphis Police Department to focus on Mr. Echols, a troubled yet gifted 18-yearold who wore all black, listened to heavy metal music and considered himself a Wiccan” (Robertson). Misskelley was interrogated for 12 hours, and eventually confessed and implicated Baldwin and Echols.

The three were convicted primarily from the confession, despite the fact that Misskelley later recanted.

The case was elevated to a national level after a series of documentaries aired on HBO shortly after the convictions. Producer Joe Berlinger commented on the initial intention of the films: “Frankly, we went down (to Arkansas) thinking we were making a film about guilty teenagers… The press reports coming out of West Memphis, Ark., were as if this was an open-and-shut case” (NPR News). However, after the first documentary was released in 1996, it “raised doubts about the legitimacy of the evidence used to convict the three men” (NPR News).

While some believed Echols was rightfully convicted, a public movement formed to free the men, believing they were singled out for being “outsider(s) in a small town… Even some of the victim’s families began

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THE FORENSIC EXAMINER® Summer 2012

Many big-name celebrities joined the movement to free The West Memphis Three. “The initial film raised questions and inspired celebrities such as actor Johnny Depp, who helped bring attention to the case” (NPR News).

Featureflash / Shutterstock.com

to doubt the men’s guilt. John Mark Byers, the father of Chris Byers (stated) ‘To see them get out and have a normal life is a blessing from God’” (Robertson).

There are always two sides to a story, and still there are those who believe the releases are unjust. At the time of conviction, there was little to suggest the possibility of another assailant. “Police had few leads until receiving a tip that Echols had been seen mud-covered the night the boys disappeared. The big break came when Misskelley unexpectedly confessed and implicated Baldwin and Echols in the killings. Defense attorneys claim police took advantage of his low IQ” (CBS News).

Prosecuting attorney, Scott Ellington stated, “We don’t think there is anybody else… I believe that with all the circumstances that were facing the state in this case, this resolution is one that is palatable and I think that after a period of time it will be acceptable to the public as the right thing. Lawyers for the men said they would continue to pursue full exoneration” (Robertson). “Echols and Baldwin hugged after Echols thanked him for taking the plea mostly for him even though he wanted to continue fighting for his innocence” (CBS News). During an interview Echols stated, “It’s not perfect, not perfect by any means,” Echols hopes to uncover evidence confirming the men’s innocence. n References

NPR News. Freedom not ‘paradise’ for West Memphis Three. Retrieved January 18, 2012, from http://www.npr.org/2012/01/18/145405656/freedom-not-paradise-for-west-memphis-three.

Robertson, Campbell. Deal frees ‘West Memphis Three’ in Arkansas. New York Times. Retrieved August 19, 2011, from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/20/us/20arkansas.html?pagewanted=all CBS News. West Memphis Three: Damien Echols overwhelmed by release. CBS News. Retrieved August 19, 2011, from http://www.cbsnews.com/2012-504083_162-20094730.html.

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Attach a bare hard drive to the dock then connect the dock to a computer and begin to access, set up, diagnose, or repair the drive. UltraDock™ v5 provides important drive information such as model, serial number, and S.M.A.R.T data (hours used, power cycles, and disk health). Additionally, UltraDock™ v5 can detect, remove, create, or modify HPA (Host Protected Areas) and DCO (Device Configuration Overlays), which are hidden from operating systems. If using non-standard drives, CRU-DataPort offers combo adapters to access 1.8” drives, notebook drives, iPod drives, and nearly all spinning disks.

UltraDock™ v5 is an ideal tool for IT professionals or markets where accessibility to bare hard drives is essential. Digital forensic investigators utilize UltraDock™ v5 to make copies of evidence gathered in an investigation. Prosumers and digital photographers may use it to quickly access archived drives, particularly when using CRU’s RTX TrayFree enclosure systems for backup and archiving. UltraDock™ v5 is available through CRU-DataPort resellers for $249 MSRP.

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The Test: This product was tested by the IT department of ACFEI, and the results were quite positive. Our reviewer, Chris Dillard, felt that it was a great way to access bare drives. He used it for many different tasks, from swapping out hard drives and pulling data from one to the other, to checking S.M.A.R.T. data.

The software was tested on both Windows 7 and Mac OSX 10.6. It worked well on both. Additionally, the UltraDock™ was tested using the USB and Firewire 800 interfaces. Chris used single SATA 2 drives. Chris found the product to be much sturdier than other data transfer devices that he has used.

The forensic version of this product, which we did not have the opportunity to test, also includes a write blocker, which is often used in forensic cases to extract data from hard drives without the risk of damaging or altering the data.

The only potential problem found with the product was that despite all of its interface options, it does lack a 2.5-inch IDE interface. That being said, a separate adapter can be bought, thus eliminating the problem. For all the interfaces the product does have, it also comes with the necessary cables. All in all, the Ultradock™ v5 proved to be an excellent tool with quick transfer speeds. n

Summer 2012 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER®

PRODUCT REVIEWS

FALSELY ACCUSED

Mug shots of the West Memphis Three

CRU-DataPort UltraDockTM

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