Human identification
People can be identified by their fingerprints. This assertion is supported by the philosophy of friction ridge identification, which states that "Friction ridge identification is established through the agreement of friction ridge formations, in sequence, having sufficient uniqueness to individualize".
Friction ridge identification is also governed by four premises or statements of fact:
1.Friction ridges develop on the fetus in their definitive form prior to birth.
2.Friction ridges are persistent throughout life except for permanent scarring, disease or decomposition after death.
3.Friction ridge paths and the details in small areas of friction ridges are unique and never repeated.
4.Overall, friction ridge patterns vary within limits which allow for classification.
People can also be identified from traces of their DNA by DNA fingerprinting, from their teeth or bite by forensic odontology, from a photograph or a video recording by facial recognition systems, from the video recording of their walk by gait analysis, from an audio recording by voice analysis, from their handwriting by handwriting analysis, from the content of their writings by their writing style (eg. typical phrases, factual bias, and/or misspellings of words), or from other traces using other biometric techniques.
Body identification is a subfield of forensics concerned with identify someone from their remains.
Product identification
Firearms can be identified by the striations on the bullets they fired and imprints on the cartridge casings.
Documents are characterized by the composition of their paper and ink.
Typewriters can be identified by minor variations of positioning and wear of their letters.
Paper shredders can be potentially identified in a similar way, by spacing and wear of their blades.
Color copiers and maybe some color computer printers steganographically embed their identification number to some printouts as a countermeasure of currency forgeries.
Copiers and computer printers can be potentially identified by the minor variants of the way they feed the paper through the printing mechanism, leaving banding artifacts.Analysis of the toners is also used.
Networks
Social networks can be discovered by network analysis of banking, telecommunication and postal records.
Radio transceivers can be potentially identified by minute variations of their output signal.
Cars can be automatically found on CCTV records by automatic number plate recognition.
Computers connected to the Internet can often be identified by their IP address or MAC address.
Applications
Sometimes, manufacturers and film distributors may intentionally leave subtle forensic markings on their products to identify them in case of piracy or involvement in a crime. (Cf. watermark, digital watermark, steganography.)
Forensic anthropology
Forensic anthropology is the application of the science of physical anthropology and human osteology (the study of the human skeleton) in a legal setting, most often in criminal cases where the victim's remains are more or less skeletonized. A forensic anthropologist can also assist in the identification of deceased individuals whose remains are decomposed, burned, mutilated or otherwise unrecognizable. The adjective "forensic" refers to the application of this subfield of science to a court of law.
Forensic anthropology borrows methods developed from the academic discipline of physical anthropology and applies them to cases of forensic importance. These techniques can be used to assess age, sex, stature, ancestry, and analyze trauma and disease. Forensic anthropologists frequently work in conjunction with forensic pathologists, odontologists, and homicide investigators to identify a decedent, discover evidence of trauma, and determine the postmortem interval. Though they typically lack the legal authority to declare the official cause of death, their opinions may be taken into consideration by the medical examiner. They may also testify in court as expert witness, though data from some of the techniques commonly used in the field—such as forensic facial reconstruction—are inadmissible as forensic evidence.
BOOKS ON FORENSIC EVIDENCE
No comments:
Post a Comment