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Advanced PG Diploma in Criminal Law and Forensic Science
Term-II Forensic Science 2020-2021 FS2-1.2.5 – FORENSIC CHEMICAL
& GENERAL SCIENCE
ID CLFS107_20
NAME KARTHIK P
SUBJECT Paper II - 1.2.5. Forensic Chemical and General Science
QUESTIONS 2, 9, 8, 4, 3
ATTEMPTED
PAGES 23
Criminal Investigations
The role of a Forensic Psychologist in Criminal Investigations can take a
variety of forms. From the list of functions within the quote above, it may be
seen that the role of the psychologist in assisting the police can be wide-
ranging.
Crime Analysis
Crime Analysis (sometimes also called intelligence analysis) is one field of
work which draws upon Forensic Psychological methods. Crime analysts are
generally employed by the police in order to analyse crime data to aid the police
carryout their roles. One of the most common roles of crime analysts is that of
case linkage. This process involves the linkage of crime based on the
similarities in the behaviours of the offenders as reported by the victim or as
inferred from the crime scene. For example, let us examine a rape case
committed by a stranger on a woman walking home alone after a night out with
her friends. Crime analysts could use the details of this case – the fact that she
had just left a night club, that the rapist took some of her clothing away from
the scene with him, the contents of the threats used towards the woman – in
order to check against an already established database of similar crimes to see
whether there are any similarities to past crimes. If matches are found – the
same threats were used, similar items of clothing taken by a rapist, and it was in
a close geographical location to another rape – then this information can be
used by the police to investigate the potential that the same individual offender
has committed both crimes. This allows the focusing of the resources of the
investigation in order to avoid duplication of work.
Police Psychology
The information here, thus far, been concerned with the application of
psychological knowledge to assist in police investigation. However, there is
another field within which the work of Forensic Psychologists, and the
application of their knowledge, is useful to the police. Like many organisations,
the police force itself presents its own challenges – what type of person makes a
good police officer? What is the best way to train police officers? How might
the attendance at unpleasant scenes of crime, or repeated exposure to negative
events, impact on an individual and how are those affected in this way best
treated?
This area of work is not a new one – psychologists, both Occupational and
Forensic, have been advising the police on such matters for the last twenty-five
years or so. Psychologists have contributed their knowledge to the process of
police officer recruitment through the introduction of psychometric tests which
measure psychological characteristics that may be important in relation to such
work. These could assess, for example, whether a person is an assertive
individual, open to persuasion, and conscious of detail. Psychologists have also
provided advice on the composition of interviews and assessment centres which
will eliminate those who do not have the necessary qualities for the role as well
as providing an indication of those who will prosper in such a role.
Expert Witness
Court cases can involve complex issues including the presentation of
information that is judged to be beyond the knowledge of the average layperson
who may sit on a jury. In such situations, the court permits the calling of an
expert witness who, by definition, has an expertise relating to the issue in
question. Under the circumstances expert witnesses are permitted to provide
their opinion (rather than the facts) on the issue being discussed.
The way the expert witnesses are called to the court, however, varies from one
jurisdiction to another. For example, in some countries within Europe, an expert
witness is called by the court itself in order to provide information as and when
it is needed. The use of the psychologist as an expert witness has, in the past,
been constricted by the notion of the expert having to provide information that
is beyond the knowledge of the average person. Historically then, the
admissibility of a psychologist’s opinion was often limited to provide evidence
relating to mental impairment or the psychological functioning of an individual.
However, in recent years, the psychologists’ expertise has been increasingly
recognised and they are now being called upon as evidence in relation to a wide
variety of issues. Some examples of these are the impact that the interviewing
techniques have on a suspect or witness, the reliability of eyewitness testimony,
the clinical assessment of suspect or witness, or the use of profiling techniques
during an investigation.
In the recent years there has been a growth in the use of treatment programmes
with the offenders. Forensic Psychologists have been active in this development
contributing to the design, delivery and management of programmes which
attempt to address the offenders’ thoughts, attitudes and behaviours that
contribute to their offending behaviour, and prevent further offending.
Psychologists are also involved in the management of these programmes,
ensuring that the right offenders are placed on such programmes and that the
programmes are delivered in the manner in which the designer intended.
Research has shown that badly delivered programmes can be ineffective but at
worst be damaging.
Ans :
CATEGORIES
The samples received for the examination in Toxicology Division can be
broadly
categorized in to:
Available forms: Available in solid, semi solids, liquids and gaseous forms.
Available forms of cyanide: Cyanide is generally available in the following
chemical
forms such as Potassium cyanide (KCN), Sodium cyanide (NaCN), Potassium
thocyanate (NH4SCN), Silver cyanide ferrocyanide (K4Fe (Cn) 6), Ammonium
(AgCN), Mercuric cyanide (Mg(CN)2) Hydrocyanic acid (HCN), etc.
In survival cases like living persons stomach wash, vomited material and cloths
etc., blood sample, urine and faeces if available. Suspected material stained
recovered from the possession of the victim or accused and from the scene of
crime such as medicines, containers, foods and drinks, residual poisonous
materials etc. Control sample: Pure forms volatile and gaseous poisons
standardized for Laboratory purpose procured from recognized Laboratories are
used for comparative chemical analysis.
Example : Cyanide
Cyanide is extremely rapid acting and capable of causing death within minutes.
The classical odour of bitter almonds is not detected by everyone and seems to
be genitically determined. Hydrocyanic acid and the cyanides are true
protoplasmic poisons, since they arrest the activity of all forms of living matter
by unhibitting tissue oxidation and suspending vital function. Onset of
symptoms of cyanide poisoning depends on the type of exposure. Hydrogen
cyanide vapours are the most rapidly acting, with symptoms occuring within
seconds and death within minutes.
When cyanide salts are ingested, onset of toxicity is delayed somewhat due to
slow absorption. The severity of acute poisoning is determined by the dose and
exposure time.
The poisons in this group have been used frequently, probably because in
general they are potent, tastless, readily available, and produce symptoms
similar to many common diseases. For example, the substitution of arsenious
oxide for the contents of one or two prescribed capsules can have fatal results
with all the appearance of straightforward drug overdose suicide.
A number of unrelated poison are in gaseous form. Through there are very
many of these in existence especially in the industrial environment, only a few
are seen frequently in forensic practice.
C. NEUTRAL POISONS (ORGANIC NON-VOLATILE)
Organophosphorous-Insecticides:
Lange and _kreger in 1932 observed the strong cholonegic effects of vapours of
diethylphosphorous fluoridate in human being. However the practical
development of these compounds as insecticides is mainly due to the original
and extensive work of Schrader' and his co-workers from 1937. The
organophosphorus compound has a great variety of pesticidal properties like
insecticides, acaricides, nematocides, herbicides, defoliants and fumigants.
Most of the compounds of this group are required only in small quantities for
the control of pests. Pesticidal activity is also very rapid. Many of the
compounds break down to nontoxic compounds very rapidly in vertebrate
animals. Also they do not accumulate in the body animal. Though many of the
early compounds of this group had relatively high toxicity to vertebrates.
recently a large number of organophosphrous compounds with moderate to low
toxicity to mammals have been synthesized and have been put in the market.
More than 100,000 different organophosphorus compounds have been
synthesized and evaluated as pesticides of these more than 80 are widely used
in agriculture.
Derivatives of phosphorus acid have the ending _ITE' and those of phosphoric
acid the ending _ATE'. For example the diethyl ester of phosphorus acid carries
the name diethylphosphite and that of phosphoric acid is called diethyl
phosphate.
Basing on their physiological action, basic drugs are broadly classified into the
following groups:
1. Narcotic: These drugs affect brain in over and above therapeutic dose.
e.g.Orium. Morphine. Heroine, Codiene
2. Deliriant poisons: They also affect the vital part of Brain ; e.g. Atropine,
Hyoscyamine, Cocaine, Muscurine (Fungi mushrooms)
3. Spinal affecting drugs: These effect heart. e.g. Strychnine, Brucine.
4. Cardiac arrest drugs: These affect heat. e.g. Quinine, Acotinine, Nicotine.
Drug abuses are common. Drugs are consumed by the victim in more than
therapeutic doses and hence they go into the blood and urine. So in any clinical
cases, extraction of drugs. in urine, blood and stomach contents are essential in
order to identify the exact nature of drug consumed by the victim. Extra care
should, therefore, be taken to take the sample of blood, urine and stomach
contents.
Definition: Drugs, which are alkaline in nature, are called basic drugs. These
readily react with acids.
In survival cases like living persons stomach wash, vomited material and
stained cloths etc., blood sample, urine and faces if available. Suspected
material recovered from the possession of the victim or accused and from the
scene of crime such as medicines, containers, foods and drinks, residual
poisonous materials etc.
Definition: Drugs which are acidic in nature are called acidic drugs. They
readily reacts with base. The main acidic drugs are Barbiturates and
Salycillates.
F. MISCELLANEOUS POISONS
Mechanical Poisons:
Mechanical poisonous substances are included in section 328 IPC within the
meaning of poison, and include powdered glass, pins, needles; inhalation of
glass fibers, chopped animal hairs etc. out of these, and powdered glass has
some medico-legal importance. Rarely, needles or pins are swallowed for
suicidal purposes. Glass powder is some times used for homicidal purposes and
destroying cattle but rarely selected for suicidal purposes. Glass does not
produce the desired effect, if it gets entangled in the mucous or food in the
stomach. Similarly, it will not have any bad effects, if it is well powdered.
Plant Poisons: There are some poisonous plants, which are often used by the
criminals as a weapon in different types of crimes. These can be used in
homicidal * suicidal acts, abortificients, travelers cheating, as cattle poisons and
fish toxicants.
Definition: Mechanical poisons are actually not poisons because they are
absorbed but produce symptoms of irritant poisoning solely in consequence of
Not mechanical action to their sharp angular edges and points, and their non-
crystalline substance. Glass is a is mostly sodium- calcium-silicate. Heat
resistant glass Chemically ordinary glass (e.g. borosil) contains about eighty
percent silica and some boron oxide. Optical glass contains comparatively
larger amount of lead, barium and zinc oxide. Coloured glass various metals
known to give coloured compounds. Sunglass contains oxides of contains rare
earths as additional elements.
A poisonous plant is one which, as a whole or a part thereof, under all or certain
conditions, and in a manner and in amount likely to be taken or brought into
contact with an organism, will exert harmful effects or cause death either
immediately or by reason of cumulative action of the toxic property, due to the
presence of known or unknown chemical substances in it, and not by
mechanical action.
Available forms: Among mechanical poisons glass pieces, powdered glass, pins,
needles etc., are of medico-legal importance. Among plant poisons opium,
Dhatura, Calotropis etc., are important.
Ans :
Physiological Phenomena
The physiological phenomena that the instrument measures and that the chart
preserves are believed by polygraph practitioners to reveal deception.
Practitioners do not claim that the instrument measures deception directly.
Rather, it is said to measure physiological responses that are believed to be
stronger during acts of deception than at other times. According to some
polygraph theories, a deceptive response to a question causes a reaction—such
as fear of detection or psychological arousal— that changes respiration rate,
heart rate, blood pressure, or skin conductance relative to what they were before
the question was asked and relative to what they are after comparison questions
are asked. A pattern of physiological responses to questions relevant to the issue
being investigated that are stronger than those responses to comparison
questions indicates that the examinee may be deceptive.
The central issues in dispute about the validity of polygraph testing concern
these physiological responses. For example, are they strongly and uniquely
associated with deception, or are there conditions other than deception that
could produce the same responses? Does this association depend on particular
ways of selecting or asking questions, and if so, do examiners ask the right
kinds of questions and make the right comparisons between the physiological
responses to different questions? Is the same association of deception with
physiological response observable across all kinds of examinees in all kinds of
physical and emotional states? Does it depend on factors in the relationship
between examiner and examinee? Is it influenced by an examiner’s expectation
about whether the examinee will be truthful? In Chapters 3, 4, and 5 we discuss
in more detail the theory of the polygraph and two kinds of evidence on these
questions. One comes from basic psychophysiological research on the
phenomena the instrument measures. The other comes from research on
polygraph testing itself.
Different polygraph techniques are defined in part by the ways the relevant and
comparison questions are selected and placed in a polygraph test. A
considerable portion of the empirical research on polygraph testing focuses on
validating particular techniques or comparing the performance of one technique
with another. Three major classes of questioning techniques are in current use.
As these brief descriptions make clear, polygraph testing techniques vary in the
ways the relevant and comparison questions differ and in how these differences,
combined with an examinee’s physiological responses to them, are used to
make inferences about whether the person may be lying in response to the
relevant questions. In many applications, examiners take a stronger response
than to comparison questions as an indication not necessarily of deception, but
of the need for further interviewing or testing to determine whether deception is
occurring. The lack of such a differential response or a stronger response to
comparison questions generally leads to a conclusion that a respondent is being
truthful.
Overall Examination
A polygraph test and its result are a joint product of an interview or
interrogation technique and a psychophysiological measurement or testing
technique. It is misleading to characterize the examination as purely a
physiological measurement technique. Polygraph examiners’ training implicitly
recognizes this point in several ways. It provides instruction on the kind of
atmosphere that is to be created in the pretest interview, advises on techniques
for convincing examinees of the accuracy of the test, and offers guidance (in
different ways for different test formats) for selecting comparison questions.
Examiners are advised to control these details—sometimes following carefully
specified procedures—because they can affect test results.
Ans :
B. FATIGUE FRACTURE
Fatigue fractures result from cyclic loading, and appear brittle on a macroscopic
scale. They are characterized by incremental propagation of crack until the
crass section has been reduced to where it can no longer support the applied
load, and fast fracture occurs. Fatigue fractures are caused by the simultaneous
action of cyclic stress tensile stresses
and plastic strain.
C. DISTORTION FAILURES
Distortion Failure occurs when a structure or component is deformed so that it
a) No longer can support the load it was intended to carry.
b) Is incapable of performing its intended function, or
c) Interferes with the operation of another component.
Distortion failures can be either plastic or elastic, and may or may not be
accompanied by fracture. There are two types of distortions, size distortion,
which refers to change in volume, and shape distortion (bending or warping).
Distortion failures are considered to be self evident body in collision.
D. WEAR FAILURES
Wear is a surface phenomenon that occurs by displacement and detachment of
material. Wear usually results in progressive loss of weight and dimensions over
a period of time. alteration in or All mechanical components that undergo
sliding rolling contact are subject to some degree of wear. Typically,
components such as bearings, gears, seals, guides, piston rings, splines, brakes
and clutches.
Lubrication implies the intentional use of substance that reduce friction between
contacting surfaces. Lubrication is a mitigating factor in wear, and thus
lubricated and
non-lubricated wear.
E. FRETTING FAILURES
Fretting is a wear phenomenon that occurs between two mating surfaces, it is
adhesive in nature, and vibration is its essential causative factor.
Fretting Characteristics:
Fretting occurs at contacting surfaces that are intended to be fixed in relation to
each
other, but that actually undergo minute motion, called „Slip%, that is essentially
produced by vibration. Common sites for fretting are in joints that are bolted,
keyed, pinned, press fitted, and riveted, in osculating bearings, splines,
couplings, clutches, spindles, and seals, in press fits on shafts and in universal
joints, base plates, shackles and prosthetic devices.
Prevention of Fretting:
Fretting can be minimized or prevented by:
a) Elimination or reduction of vibration,
b) Elimination of slip,
c) Lubrication,
d) Surface separation, and
e) Induction of residual stresses
Failure Analysis
Ans :
Cyber security poses bigger threat than any other spectrum of technology.
Cyber criminals have already started abusing technology controlled devices for
propelling cyber-crimes such as frauds and thefts. With technology protocols,
still being developed and evolving at a gradual pace, it is very difficult to avoid
such cyber-attacks. IoT plays a dramatic role in shaping the future of
technology in India. With IoT now becoming backbone of various ventures,
firms, organization and even basic ways of living, it is worrying that India has
no dedicated law for IoT and some kind of guidance can be referred from the
Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act, 2000). The Digital India initiative is
driving our country towards a digitized life where the existence will highly
depend on elements like cloud computing, 5G in telecom, e-Commerce etc. it is
imperative to keep a check on loose ends.
Few challenges that the technology space faces in cyber security are the
following:
These challenges can be under surveillance and methodical steps can be taken
to avoid such malpractices. To solve data theft problem, online space must
regulate the use of data and clearly indicate when information will be shared
provided by the users. The user can then choose to opt out, leaving personal
information restricted to the space for which it was deliberated. When software
online contains bugs or viruses, it is fairly easy for cyber criminals to gain
personal information. Large technology firms should collaborate and create
solutions that to increase security for their customers. Security controls need to
move outward, beginning at the application level where such frauds can be
caught easily. When there are no unified monitoring methods, firms become
vulnerable. However, when every network has monitoring that detects changes,
data can be protected.
Multimedia Forensics
More specifically, for source identification, forensic algorithms assume that the
acquisition device leaves specific traces due to its intrinsic characteristics (for
example sensor noise, lens distortion, etc). Basing on such intrinsic
characteristics, statistical tests are able to distinguish between computer-
generated images, images produced by a scanner and those obtained by a digital
camera; distinguish among certain camera models; distinguish which specific
camera was used for taking a picture.
Similarly, tamper detection algorithms try to verify the integrity of the content,
by assuming that different processing algorithms leave identifiable traces (for
example the JPEG blocking artefacts); or that the traces introduced by the
acquisition device are altered due to tampering; or that some inconsistencies of
scene characteristics are introduced by tampering (for example inconsistencies
in light condition).