Forensic Science and Crime detection Methods

Introduction:

Forensic science is defined as the application of science in

answering questions that are of legal interest. More specifically,
forensic scientists employ techniques and tools to interpret crime
scene evidence, and use that information in investigations. Forensic
scientists and technicians come from a variety of academic
backgrounds, although most have completed coursework in the life
sciences, chemistry and law enforcement.

Types of Evidence:
Forensic scientists often work as generalists, meaning that they
have expertise in working with a wide variety of evidence types.
However, many also specialize in the use of certain techniques and
tools. Different types of evidence require different skills and
equipment. Types of evidence that are most frequently analyzed
during investigations include: trace evidence and biological and
ballistic evidence. Trace evidence is found wherever an object or
person has had contact with another object or person and each of
the objects leaves behind some sign of its having been there.
Fingerprints and tire tracks are examples of trace evidence.
Biological evidence will be found wherever there is bodily fluid or
human or animal remains, and can include DNA testing. Ballistics
is the study of firearms and, in particular, the path that a bullet
takes during flight.

i) Biological Evidence:
In examining biological evidence, forensic scientists use tools both
at the scene, and in the lab. When a forensic scientist arrives at a
crime scene, he may look for human remains, blood or other bodily
fluids and collect samples of any that are found. Because not all
bodily fluids (particularly those that have been cleaned up after) are
visible to the naked eye, the scientist can use the chemical Luminol
to show latent traces of blood. Where large quantities of blood are
present, an expert in blood spatter analysis can examine the
patterns and size of the bloody areas to determine information such
as the trajectory of the blood. This data can help an investigator
deduce what type of weapon was used, or where the perpetrator
and victim were standing during the attack.

ii) DNA Evidence:

DNA evidence uses the unique genetic markers that identify
individuals to determine whether a person was at a scene, or to
identify a piece of property as belonging to a specific person. In
order to identify an individual's DNA it must be extracted from a
piece of property that a person has had contact with, and has left a
bodily fluid such as semen, blood or saliva on. The scientist
performs tests that identify genetic markers and create a profile
that is unique to that person, and can be compared to a sample
taken from any individual. Scientists may also attempt to get
enough blood from evidence to conduct toxicology testing, to
determine the presence of alcohol, drugs, poisons or chemicals.

iii) Trace Evidence:

Trace evidence is found where two objects have made contact with
each other. When a person or an object touches another object,
some 'trace' of the two will be exchanged. This is the theory behind
the analysis of fingerprints, tire and footprints, and fiber analysis.
Technicians lift fingerprints from surfaces by dusting the area with
a powder which sticks to the oils in the fingerprint. She then
employs fingerprint lifting tape to take the print from the surface to
the lab, where it can be analyzed. In the case of a footprint, tire
track or other pattern that was left in an outdoor area, a forensic
scientist can fill in the depression with plaster, which can be
removed after it sets up. The casting is taken to a lab where it is
stored until needed, or compared against a known sample, such as
a suspect's shoe.

iv) Ballistics:
Some forensic scientists specialize in the field of ballistics testing.
Ballistics is a science that involves the science of the flight path
that a bullet takes as it travels to its target. Trained ballistics
specialists can glean a tremendous amount of information about
the type of weapon that was used, the path of the bullet and more
through the examination of the bullet itself. Guns produce a
specific pattern of wear and grooves on bullets as they are fired, and
this pattern is unique. By examining the bullets and test-firing
weapons, an investigator can frequently either identify the type of
firearm that was used, where it was fired from, or even match the
bullet with a specific weapon.

Scope of Forensic Science:

Forensic science has shaped the world of justice, fuelling crime
investigations and signifying the progress of modern technology.
Forensic science of today covers :
· Modern computer/clay facial reconstruction;
· DNA fingerprinting;
· Autopsy techniques;
· Forensic anthropology;
· Toxicology and much more.

What more reliable method is there to prove innocent or guilty other

than through science?

Forensic Psychology:
Psychological evaluation is regarded as the key to human brain in
crime investigation.

There are certain steps to be followed in psychological evaluation,

which includes:
i) Psychological profiling
ii) Psychological assessment
iii) Polygraph
iv) Brain Electrical Oscillation Signature Profile (BEOS)
v) Narcoanalysis

Psychological Profiling:
Psychological Profiling is the study of the psychological background
of the person. This is done for the complete understanding of the
individual. It consists of the following:

a) Personal History: Family, childhood behaviour, education,

occupation, health, sex marriage, emotional and fantasy life, habits,
moral life alcohol or substance use, religious and other cultural
ballets, interpersonal and social relationships.

b) Mental Status Examination: Presence of psychiatric and

neurological symptoms, abnormality in orientation, attention,
concentration, memory, speech, perception, mood, thought
processes, judgement, incite and other behavioural manipulations
are assessed.

Psychological Assessment:
This assessment helps us to understand the personality, attitudes,
beliefs, moral values, behavioural patterns of the individuals and
specially their tendency to commit crimes.

Assessment also aims at cheching for the presence or absence of

various forms of abnormal behaviour and personality disorders that
can lead to criminal behaviour.

It also reveals a person’s tendencies to lie, fake, manipulate, put

himself in good or bad light etc. especially in a standard social
situation.

Polygraph:
It measures physiological responses produced by inducing stress by
asking questions.

This is done by:

· Verifying the veracity of statements of suspect, witness and
complainant in crimes.
· Economize the process of investigation by creening large number
of suspects.
· Corroborates or rules out the possibility of someone’s involvement
and helps investigation.
· Variety of testing formats available based on the nature of case
and information available.

Brain Electrical Oscillation Signature Profile (BEOS):

This was developed by Dr. Mukundan based on the concept of
Experiential Knowledge (EK). EK is the memory acquired when an
individual participates and is fully involved in an event (Crime)
which becomes an experience.

Probes related to the crime activates memory (EK) related to the

experience of committing the crime causing significant electrical
changes in the brain.

Scope of BEOS:
· Checks for the individuals involvement in a crime.
· Differentiates the extent of participation of each individual in the
crime.
· Various possibilities about the way the crime was committed can
be tested.
· Acquires information directly from the brain and does not require
the person’s participation leaving no scope for manipulation.

Narcoanalysis:
It is an invasive technique in which sodium pentothal, a drug is
injected to the subject to induce a semiconscious state and
disinhibition and he is interviewed on the details of the crime.
Sodium Pentothal removes conscious control and makes the person
disinhibited. It makes him more relaxed, comfortable, open, free
and conversant.

Narcoanalysis is conducted at an operation theatre with the

necessary facilities for life support wherein the psychologist injects
the drug and retrieves vital physiological parameters and forensic
psychologist conducts the interview.

Scope of Narcoanalysis:
· Scientific technique but can help elicit concealed information
related to the crime.
· Helpful especially in cases of larger social interest like terrorism
· Results admissible in the court can help further investigation in a
case.
· Court order is mandatory for Narco analysis.

Cyber Forensics:
It is the art and science of applying computer science to aid the
legal process. Although plenty of science is attributable to computer
forensics, most successful investigators possess a nose for
investigations and a skill for solving puzzles, which is where the art
comes in. - Chris L.T. Brown, Computer Evidence Collection and
Preservation, 2006.

Thus, it is more than the technological, systematic inspection of the

computer system and its contents for evidence or supportive
evidence of a civil wrong or a criminal act. Computer forensics
requires specialized expertise and tools that goes above and beyond
the normal data collection and preservation techniques available to
end-users or system support personnel. One definition is analogous
to "Electronic Evidentiary Recovery, known also as e-discovery,
requires the proper tools and knowledge to meet the Court's
criteria, whereas Computer Forensics is simply the application of
computer investigation and analysis techniques in the interests of
determining potential legal evidence."[1] Another is "a process to
answer questions about digital states and events". This process
often involves the investigation and examination computer
system(s), including, but not limitied to the data acquisition that
resides on the media within the computer. The forensic examiner
renders an opinion, based upon the examination of the material
that has been recovered. After rendering an opinion and report, to
determine whether they are or have been used for criminal, civil or
unauthorized activities. Mostly, computer forensics experts
investigate data storage devices, these include but are not limited to
hard drives, portable data devices (USB Drives, External drives,
Micro Drives and many more).

Scope of Cyber Forensics:

Cyber experts provides various Forensic Science services including-
Forensic Expert Opinions Under Section 45 of Indian Evidence Act
on Questioned Document & Handwriting Analysis, Fingerprints,
Forged Electronic Documents, Digital Document Frauds, Disguised
Documents, Spoofed Emails, Phishing emails, Phishing sites,
Copyrighted Websites, Original Author, Real Creator, Designer or
Owner of Computer Files, eContracts, eAgreements, Authenticity of
Images, Photo, Camera, Video, Audio Files, Film, Tape, Picture,
Deleted Data Recovery, Digital Evidence Recovery, Location of
Email, IP Location, Website Registrar, Fake Content, Fake Profiles,
Porn Clips, Vulgar Emails, Spam Mails, Lottery Emails, Secure
Deletion of Sensitive Information, Retrieving user history, password
recovery, login details recovery, MMS, Sim Card Data Recovery, Call
History on Mobile Phone, Deleted SMS Recovery, Electronic
Evidences Collection, Mirror Imaging, Hash Value, Scanned
Documents, Duplicate Documents, Decipher, Invisible Writing,
Hidden Evidences, Blackmailing Messages, Suicide Notes, Disputed
Documents, Legal Softwares, Forensic Work Stations, EnCase,
Forensic Tool Kit, iLook, Xway, Cyber watch, Guidance, Access
Databases, Outlook Express Email Recovery, Web Mail Traces, PDF
Files, Excel Files, Litigation, Threatening or Anonymous Emails /
Chat, File or Folder Age / Date / Time Analysis, Cross Examination,
Expert Testimony, Typewritten Document Examination, Computer
Printout Examination, Infrared / Ultra Violet Examination of
Printed Papers, fake agreements, Consumer Court related
documents, Expert Consultation, Breach of Confidentiality, Legal
Consultancy, Wrongful Termination, Forensic Imaging, Forensic
Photography, and many more...

Common types of Cyber Crime in India:

· Financial Crimes
· Cyber Pornography
· Sale od illegal article
· Online gambling
· Intellectual Property Crimes
· Email Spoofing
· Forgery
· Cyber Defamation
· Cyber stalking

Digital Evidence Recovery:

This includes:
· Searching slack space
· Searching unallocated clusters
· Reconstructing the partitions if needed
· Extracting deleted files
· Reading operating system registry and logs
· Extracting emails, web addresses, internet history, credit card
numbers etc.
· Recovering the passwords set to the files
· Reading contents in printer spool files
· Reading mobile phone memory
· Reading contents of sim cards
· Reading contents of additional memory cards
· Extracting existing and deleted call logs, messages, address book,
images etc.

Steps involved in Cyber forensics:

· Identification: identify the media to be seized
· Seizure: use the right technique to seize the media
· Acquisition: making a forensic duplicate of the media
· Authentication: validation of forensic duplicate
· Analysis: techniques to look for evidence
· Presentation: putting together all the findings
· Preservation: storage of the suspect media

Explanation:
Speaker Identification:
It is the way of identifying a person solely by their speech. The aim
of speaker identification is to compare the sample from the
unknown speaker with the known set of samples and determine
whether it was produced by any of the known speakers.

Importance of Speaker Identification Technique in Crime

Investigation:
It plays a major role in solving the following types of cases:
· Bribery cases
· Kidnapping for ransom
· Call girl rackets
· Obscene telephone calls
· Bomb threat calls
· Terrorist to claim credit for a terrorist action
· False telephonic message
· False fire alarms
Tape Authentication:

To determine whether or not a tape has been edited, tampered with,

or altered in any way. Video authentication is a process that is used
to ascertain the trustworthiness of a digital video.

In other words, a video authentication system ensures the integrity

of digital video, and verifies that the video taken into use has not
been tampered.

Toxicology:
It is a science embodying the knowledge, source, character, fatal
effect, lethal dose, analysis of poisons and the remedial measures.

Poison:
It is a substance which is capable of producing injury or death to
living beings, when ingested or absorbed.
Eg: LD 50 (Lethal Dose): It is a dose of a substance causing death of
50% animals.
Extremely toxic substance weighs less than 5mg

Toxicology can pull the following sections:

· Section 174 of Cr.P.C: Poison Consumption
· Section 302 of IPC: Murder
· Section 279 of IPC and Motor Vehicle Act: Accidents
· Section 309 of IPC: Suicide
· Section 498(A) of IPC: Dowry Death

TLC: (Thin Layer Chromatography):

This is a simple and sensitive technique routinely used in forensic
science laboratories. In this technique glass plates of size 20x20 cm
are coated with slurry of silica gel G. dried in oven at 110 oC.
Extracts of the matrices are spotted on these plates. Then plates are
eluted in the developing chamber containing solvent mixtures
hexane: Acetone 8:8 v/v as a mobile phase. When solvent reaches
upto 10cm height, plates are removed, dried and sprayed with
different visualizing reagents. In TLC Rf – value is an important
measure.

All pesticides, insecticdes, plant growth regulators, weedicides,

herbicides, fungicides and most of the drugs can be detected using
this technique.

Visualization reagents for insecticides:

Organophosphorous: Rogor, Thimet: Mercurous nitrate, Mercuric
nitrate-DPC

Organochlorine: Endosulfan: NaOH followed by Nickel Amine

Carbamate insecticides: Bagon: Tollen’s reagent, Diazophenol

reagent

Pyrethroids: NaOH followed by FeSO4 followed by HCl, Resorcinon

in NaOH

For Phenois, Cresois: Iodine vapours, FeCl3 followed by K4Fe(CN)6

Drugs, Plant Poisons: Dragandorff’s reagent, acidic KMnO4,

Chromic acid

Steps to be followed in investigation of death by Poison

Consumption:
· Crime Scene Observation
· Hospitalisation to victim
· Collection of stomach aspirates by M.O.
· Collection of poison bottles, drug strip
· Suspicious articles
· Stained clothes

Collection of Viscera in post mortem be CMO:

· Stomach intestine contents,
· Heart, Liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys
· Blood
· Preservatives

Tools that are used in Forensic Examination & Investigation:

Forensic examination and investigation is a field of science that is
employed every day to help bring criminals to justice. Television
shows, such as "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," have popularized
the field. But in real life, forensic examination involves long hours of
careful observation, testing and study. A number of special tools
and techniques have been developed to help investigators do their
job.
Blood Testing
While not as accurate as genetic fingerprinting, testing for a blood
type is still a useful tool for helping to determine guilt or innocence.
If a victim has type A blood and a drop on a suspect's shirt turns
out to be type B, it cannot have come from the victim.

Comparison microscopes
These specialized microscopes allow forensic scientists to compare
two bullets at the same time. An evidence bullet is compared to one
fired from a suspect's gun under controlled circumstances. The
comparison lets scientists tell if the evidence bullet was also fired
from the suspect's gun.

Neutron Activation Analysis

This process allows forensic scientists to compare shards of a
shattered bullet on an atomic level. The shards can then be
compared with the metallic makeup of bullets found in a suspect's
possession.

Autopsies
Autopsies are used to determine the time and cause of death. For
example, if a person has drowned, the blood on the left side of the
heart will be diluted with water. If a body has been found in a pool
with undiluted blood, forensic scientists know that the person was
not breathing when they went into the water and was possibly killed
first.

Electron Microscopes
Electron microscopes can magnify surfaces as much as 200,000
times.

Chemical analyzers
Mass spectrometers and gas cinematographers are used to analyze
and separate chemical components, which is particularly useful in
drug-related crimes.