Here’s your chance to judge a real case and decide a sentence. The UK Ministry of Justice has just issued a press release announcing a website that allows the general public to hear the circumstances of a criminal case after a person has been found guilty at a trial and then listen to the information to help determine a sentence.

Although not directly related to science, this is an interesting resource that could have application in New Zealand. It would give people a chance to consider the information and gather an insight into how sentencing works, which would take some of the bias out of people’s views of cases, which are largely driven by information provided to them by the media.

Even though this is an English site based on English law and the Magistrates’ Court (equivalent of NZ District Court), it’s quite realistic in terms of the types of information that are heard. To run through the whole thing takes about 15 minutes plus 5 minutes to read the press release that contains a you.tube video explaining the reasoning behind the establishment of the site. I hope that as the site develops, they introduce more complex cases and maybe introduce some scientific evidence. Give it a try and see what you think: You Be The Judge (once it starts, you can’t skip backwards if you miss a bit but you can pause).

The science of vampires was tested not long ago (Justification for the existence of vampires) and now National Geographic has actually made a program that investigates the possibility that a vampire was buried in a mass grave in Italy: the lady in question was found with a brick between her jaws, apparently a common method of exorcism in the 16th century (Vampire Forensics). The program is one of several in the series Mysterious Science; other episodes include whether Armageddon will come in December 2012 as predicted by a Mayan calendar, whether Hitler had construction plans for a secret bat-like plane that would have changed the course of World War II, the history of strange lights and one episode about the phenomenon that is crop circles. Now, I have to say, I do know a bit about crop circles, not least because when I was an undergraduate, I knew people who knew the first people to do crop circles (apart from the aliens, of course) and they often disappeared on a Saturday night, up to mischief.  At the very least, the fabulous patterns that are created mean it has to be worth a look.  As a scientist, I fully expect there will be some shouting at the TV if the bounds of science are stretched too far but I feel it is my duty as a scientist to keep an eye on what is being presented in the mainstream TV media (if only I had Sky…).

National Geographic Channel watchers might already know that this series is coming but for anyone who didn’t, it might be worth your time.  The series is screening in the USA this month so I don’t when it will reach other countries – I suggest you keep a weather eye on the horizon.

Continuing on the happy theme of vampires and death, Live Science gives us details about the top ten ways human beings deal with their dead: we burn them, mummify them, freeze them, stick them in caves, in peat bogs, up trees or cast adrift on boats.  We plasticise them to share around the globe as educational tools and even mix their dismembered remains with flour and milk to make them tastier to scavenging birds.  Which one will you choose?

The state of forensic science in the USA has caused concern for some time and was even given centre stage at the recent American Academy of Forensic Sciences annual conference entitled, “Putting Our Forensic House in Order: Determining Validation and Expelling Incompetence” (see earlier post).

Unfortunately, until things get into gear, trouble will continue. Not least in places like Oklahoma where bodies stack up at Oklahoma examiner’s office where eleven bodies at the Oklahoma mortuary are unclaimed and taking up valuable storage space, one of which has been there for 11 years! Mondays in particular are a problem because the number of bodies coming into the office exceeds storage capacity and there is a need to stack people on the floor.

Perhaps more disturbing is the story that between 2003 and 2007, Texas authorities gave hundreds of blood samples from new born babies to a U.S. Armed Forces laboratory for use in a database (Texas Supplied Newborn Blood Samples to Forensic Database) without telling anyone they were doing it, including the parents of the babies. Collection of blood samples from new born babies is commonplace and allows the children to be screened for various diseases, thus allowing early intervention and also data collection for statistical purposes. The blood spots are usually collected by way of a pinprick to the heel and blotting the blood onto what is termed a blood spot card. Texas law was changed in 2009, the new legislation expressly authorising the storage and specified uses of the samples. The state said it had destroyed all the blood spot cards for samples collected before May 2009. However, what about the DNA information that was obtained from the blood spots (given that they screen 800,000 samples per annum)? If the DNA profile has already been established from the blood spots and entered into a database then there’s no great problem with destroying the cards, is there (although I accept that no new information can be obtained once the card are destroyed)?

I have no real issues with collection of samples for scientific research. For example, I am not opposed to collection and storage of DNA profiles from people who are not convicted of criminal offences; as I have mentioned in past blogs I have given DNA reference samples on several occasions. I do however feel that collection and use of samples without informed consent is the wrong way to go about promoting confidence in scientific research and developing trust between scientific researchers/the corporations or governments that fund them and the general public.

NZ recently announced that the Legal Services Agency is to be part of the Ministry of Justice.  Now I see that the UK Ministry of Justice is doing the same thing: Straw announces new vision for legal aid delivery.

NZ recently had a big review into the provisions of Legal Aid.  The UK Ministry of Justice has just announced a major new project on the provision of Legal Aid, including the way expert witnesses are to be paid: Major new project on expert witness fees.

It feels like someone has been sharing their homework with someone else….

The Cayman Islands. Just the name is enough to make me want to pop on a wetsuit and hop on a plane, which is handy because the Cayman Islands is running an underwater CSI training course, for all those underwater crime scene investigations.  I have to ask the question at this point, who knows an underwater crime scene examiner?  If anyone does, it would make a great article for a Sunday supplement or a BBC documentary.
Although it sounds decadent to attend a training course in the Cayman Islands, underwater crime scene investigation is something that exists and, as with all other crime scene examinations, should adhere to certain protocols and procedures. Think of all the crimes in which evidence is dumped at sea or in other water bodies; the first case that springs to mind is the murder of Jeanette and Harvey Crewe in 1970, whose bodies were found in the Waikato River, Harvey’s body in particular having been weighted down by a vehicle axle. Or the bombing of the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior in Auckland Harbour in 1985. Or the case of Jason Dark, whose body was also found in the Waikato River and was recently the subject of a Sensing Murder episode…

The application of CSI techniques to underwater areas is being recognised by a range of specialised personnel such as marine enforcement officers, environment assessment agencies, coral reef researchers, natural resource managers as well as Police and Coastguards.  As more than 40% of coral cover on the world’s reefs has already been lost (according to the article) and two thirds of the Caribbean’s reefs remain at risk, it makes sense to prosecute the people who threaten the existence of reefs and marine ecosystems.  The specialist knowledge required for underwater crime scene investigation is as wide-ranging as it is for those on terra firma but also should include not only SCUBA knowledge but scientific understanding of the issues affecting different environments.  Without a basic scientific knowledge of the issues being investigated the correct samples of the correct size might not be collected.  As with any other crime scene examination, the scientist who reports the findings relies on the skills of the crime scene examiner to collect good samples.  Rubbish in, rubbish out.  The way to avoid this problem of course is for the reporting scientist to attend the scene and collect their own samples.  Which brings me back to the Cayman Islands.  The underwater CSI skills taught in the Cayman Islands will be directly applicable to all sorts of underwater activity, although for my money I’d rather work in the Caribbean Sea than the North Sea.

To be honest, I’m not really going off to the Cayman Islands for a training course but if CBS gets a whiff of underwater crime scene examination, there’ll be another spin-off series, CSI Cayman, faster than you can say SCUBA.  I will watch and learn, as always.