© life_edu lecture 33 part ii. the national forensic debate: public safety vs. the right of privacy...

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Lecture 33

Part II. The National Forensic Debate: Public Safety vs. the Right of Privacy

Issues in Biotechnology:The Way We Work With Life

Dr. Albert P. Kausch

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Forensics

Issues in Biotechnology:Biotechnology, Our Society and Our Future

OnCampus LiveOnCampus LiveBCH 190, MIC 190, AFS 190, NRS 190, PLS 190BCH 190, MIC 190, AFS 190, NRS 190, PLS 190

OnLine BCH 190OnLine BCH 190

A Sweeping General Survey on Life and BiotechnologyA Public Access College Course

The University of Rhode Island

Kimberly Nelson



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© life_edu

A Sweeping General Survey on Life and Biotechnology

The University of Rhode Island



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BCH 190BCH 190 Section II.

The Applications of Biotechnology

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Lecture 32

Part I. DNA-Based Forensics: The Real Story



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Forensics

© life_edu

Lecture 33

Part II. The National Forensic Debate: Public Safety vs. the Right of Privacy



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Forensics

National Forensic Debate:Public Safety vs. Individual Rights

1. Role of the Forensic Scientist

2. Oversight of Forensic casework

3. Balancing Civil Liberties & Public Safety

Two Competing Views:1. Public Safety: DNA solves crimes.

Only criminals should fear DNA testing.

2. Privacy concerns. DNA is different. Significant potential for abuse.

– Chance of misidentification/false arrest. UK 2000.

Public Safety vs. Individual Rights

The Forensic Policy Debate:

Forensic Bias?

1. The forensic laboratory works for whom?- An arm of the prosecution?- Independent scientific organization?

2. Is the person conducting the cross- examination the enemy?….or a vital part of the process?

Failures in Forensics

• Ethics, attitude, judgment:• Interpretational issues. What does

a DNA match mean? Linkage! • Human error.• Analysts lose sight of their proper

role—succumb to emotional pressures of the case and the

adversary system.

• Generally, not fraud.

Why Balancing Can be Difficult?

Emotional Impact of Crime

Homicide by Starvation

J Forensic Sci. 2004. 49:1073-1076.

Victim - 3 years old, 5kg at time of death

The Death Penalty

(A) for(B) against

The Death Penalty

The Death Penalty

The Death PenaltyFor:

DeterrenceJusticePunishmentClosure

The Death PenaltyAgainst:

InhumaneExonerationMoralityIneffective

The DNA Debate:

Expand DNA Databases?

Who should be included?

The National Debate: Issues under consideration

• Constitutionality of taking DNA samples from arrestees and suspects.

• Practical/financial considerations of Expanding DNA Databanks.

• What happens to the sample after profiling?

• Post-conviction DNA testing. >150 Exonerated-August 2004.

Crime Genes

• Could felon samples be used to identify

“crime genes”?

• Discrimination by insurance companies or employers.– “Vague regulations leave the system open

to abuse”. Chris Asplen, Director of

National Commission.

UK Databank Misidentification

660,000 samples in databank. Random match probability of 1 in 37

million.– Wrong man arrested.

Databank match probability of 1 in 56.

What Samples are in the CT CODIS Database?

1. Convicted Offender Samples All Felony Convictions (03/01/04)

2. Forensic Unknowns: Any DNA profile from an evidentiary sample that does not match the victim or

an elimination known.

Qualifying OffensesOffenses # States that DrawSex offenses 55Against children 54Murder 54Assault & Battery 51Robbery 52Kidnapping 54Burglary 50Juveniles 31All felonies 37

Includes P.R., Guam, Fed., D.C., D.O.D.

The "investigations aided" is defined as the number of criminal investigations where CODIS has added value to the investigative process (Exclusions in addition to hits can aide an investigation. CODIS can only aid an investigation one time).

23 (US Army)

3,579 (FL)

(Puerto Rico)

(Hawaii)2

0

Investigations Aided Through August 2005

27,079 Inve stiga tio n A ided in 49 S ta tes a nd 2 Federa l La bora tories

The “ Investiga tions A ided” is de fined as the num ber o f crim ina l investiga tions where C O D IS has added va lue to the investiga tive p rocess. (Exclusions in add ition to h its can a id an investiga tion . C O D IS can on ly a id an investiga tion one tim e.)

9

282

8224

12

1,066

434

123

771

188

151 (C T )

2 (D E )

97 (F B I)

24 (U S Arm y)

56

369 (M D )

(N J)

(M A)

(N H )

361

198

3,343

656

2,877

263

275

7

3,837 (F L )

(P u erto R ico )

(H aw aii)2

1 ,444457

2,838

154

96

1,115695

5

32

338

5

635

360

147

80

1373

3

1,002

465

3

2

591

(R I)2

0 (V T )

0

282

8224

12

1,066

434

123

771 86

188

56

3,343

656

2,877

263

275

7

1,444457

2,838

154

96

1,115695

5

32

338

5

635

360

147

80

1373

1,002

465

212

3

2

591

Why Expand DNA Databases?

1. More hits. Approximately half all violentcriminals have non-violent prior convictions.

If only collected from violent offenders, the likelihood of a hit (rape/homicide case is reduced by ~ 85%.

2. Exclude more people who could not be thesource of the DNA profile.

3. Protect public safety.

Why Burglary Convictions? There is a 67% recidivism rate among

convicted sex offenders and the average number of sexual assaults per offender is 8-13.

52% of the offenders linked to sexual assaults and homicides by DNA Database matches have had prior burglaries.

Collecting samples from offenders convicted of burglary could help insure their DNA profiles are in the Database before commission of their first violent act.

Save Women: Take all Felons’ DNA

Amy Holmes. USA Today 10/3/01

Virginia study found that 40% of men arrested for rape previously committed property crimes.

1998 British study found that more than 75% of UK rapists were first burglars.

Database Expansion Cont.

• In England (All felon collected) get > 700 hits/week.

• Virginia All Felon database generates > 1 hit/day.

• “Approximately 85% of hits would have been missedif the database were limited to violent offenders.”

Paul Ferrara, Director of Virginia Crime Lab

• 52% of Florida offenders linked to sexual assaults and homicides have prior burglary convictions.

Future Directions?

1. Mobile PCR labs. PCR at the crime scene?

2. All Arrestee DNA Databases? All Population Database?

3. Familial Searches?

4. Racial DNA profiling? Biogeographical Ancestry(BGA) admixture within individuals.

5. Greater use of non-human DNA?

Rape in the U.S. Sexual assault…it’s not about lust and desire, it’s a

violent crime of POWER, CONTROL and DOMINANCE.

The United States has the world’s highest rape rate of all countries that publish such data - 13 times higher than England and more than 20 times higher than Japan (12).

An American woman is 10 times more likely to be raped than to die in a car crash (13).

61% of rape victims are females under the age of 18 (14).

Rape in the U.S. Sexual assault…it’s not about lust and

desire, it’s a violent crime of POWER, CONTROL and DOMINANCE.

Every 45 seconds someone in the United States is sexually assaulted (1).

1 out of every 7 women currently in college has been raped (2), however, 9 out of 10 women raped on campus never tell anyone about the rape (3).

Rape in the U.S. Sexual assault…it’s not about lust

and desire, it’s a violent crime of POWER, CONTROL and DOMINANCE.

1 in 10 men is raped in his lifetime (4), 1 in 7 of those victims will have been assaulted before the age of 18.

Rape in the U.S. Sexual assault…it’s not about lust and desire, it’s a violent

crime of POWER, CONTROL and DOMINANCE.

More than 61.5% of rapes are never reported to law enforcement (5).

Approximately 28% of rape victims are raped by their husbands, 35% by an acquaintance, and 17% by a relative other than spouse (6).

74% of sexual assaults are perpetrated by assailants well known to the victim (7).

Rape in the U.S. Sexual assault…it’s not about lust and

desire, it’s a violent crime of POWER, CONTROL and DOMINANCE.

A female child victim is 7 times more likely to be re-victimized as an adult (8).

Nearly 6 out of 10 sexual assaults occur at the victim’s home or the home of a friend, relative, or neighbor (9).

1 in 15 rape victims contract a sexually transmitted disease (STD) as a result of being raped (10). 1 in 15 rape victims become pregnant as a result of being raped (11).

Rape in the U.S. Sexual assault…it’s not about lust and desire, it’s

a violent crime of POWER, CONTROL and DOMINANCE.

Contrary to common belief that violent crime rates are notably lower in rural areas, a recent analysis of location data collected for the 1999 National Women’s Study found that 10.1% of women living in rural areas had experienced a completed rape as compared to 13.6% of women living in urban and suburban communities—hardly a notably lower rate.

Rape in the U.S. Sexual assault…it’s not about lust and desire, it’s a violent

crime of POWER, CONTROL and DOMINANCE. Lewis, S. 2003. Unspoken Crimes: Sexual Assault in Rural America,

Enola, PA: National Sexual Violence Resource Center References: U.S. Department of Justice, 1994

Statistics on Sexual Violence Against Women, 1990; Woodruff & Koss Rape Treatment Center of Santa Monica Longitudinal Study, 1995 Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 2002 & The American Medical Association, 2000 Indiana Coalition Against Sexual Assault, 2002 U.S. Department of Justice, 1994 U.S. Department of Justice, 1994 Indiana Coalition Against Sexual Assault, 2002 National Crime Victimization Survey, 1996 Statistics on Sexual Violence Against Women: A Criminological Study, 1990 Ibid. #10 Senate Judiciary Committee, 1990 Ibid. #12 American Medical Association, 2000

Recidivism Rates

Mean Age at First Offense 18.8 Estimated 8-13 rapes per offender Detected Sexual Assaults 2.8 Undetected Sexual Assaults 5.2 More than 1 Offense 67.1%

Source: “Undetected Recidivism among Rapists and Child Molesters” Groth, Longo, McFadin

They’re On the Street…Care, Custody, and Control of Convicted Sex

Offenders

State & Fed. Prisons

38%

Parole12%

Local Jails4%

Probation46%

Source: “Sex Offenses and Offenders” Bureau of Justice Statistics, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs

Rape is Wrong

Date Rape

Date Rape is Wrong

No does not mean Yes

No means No

Date Rape is Wrong

Rape is Wrong

Take back the Night

Take back the Night

Advocate an All population

DNA database

Rape is Wrong

Take back the Night

Case #1 1994 adjudicated

1. Sex assault by unknown cab driver. 2. DNA extracted from unsolved rape.3. Database search “hit” on an individual

incarcerated for similar crime.4. Individual dropped appeal of 1st

conviction, pled guilty to the rape,additional time was attached tohis current sentence.

5. Closure for the victim.

Elderly housing project

1. 80+ female victim was talked into allowing suspect to gain entrance.

2. Victim was sexually assaulted and semen recovered.

What is the next step in the investigation?

Case #2 2007

Elderly housing project

3. DNA profile matched to a sex offender in the DNA database.

4. Investigative lead for a case w/ similar modus operandi where no semen but a cigarette butt was recovered=match.

Case #2 2007

Case #3 2007

1. Victim awoke to find an intruder in her bedroom at 5:30 am.

2. Victim was told to cover her face with a pillow-never saw her rapist.

3. Victim calls police and reports that she has been sexually assaulted.

What is the next step in the investigation?

No visual identification

Case #3 2007

No visual identification

4. Recover a semen sample. 5. DNA database “hit” on a previous sex

offender.6. DNA is the ONLY physical evidence

placing this individual at the scene.

Case #4 1995Recidivism-a real case history

1. Victim was sexually assaulted by male motorist who stopped to aid her while she was changing a flat tire.2. DNA database “hit” identified the rapist.3. His history:

1991 3 rapes within 2 days, convicted& served 2.5 yrs before parole.

1995 18 months of parole before arrestfor sex assault #4.

1997 3 arrests for sex assaults (#5-#7)DNA database match (#8)investigative leads for 2 more serving 25+ yrs.

Case #5 1994

DNA exonerates and aids investigation

1. 12 yrs old girl is walking home from school.2. Victim is sexually assaulted at knifepoint.3. Since the assault, victim has misidentified 3 potential rapists.

- DNA testing has exonerated all 3 men.4. In 1998, DNA database “hit” identifies

the real rapist.5. Closure for the victim.

Armed Robbery

1. Bank teller robbed at gunpoint by man with a ski mask.

2. Police dogs track down a ski mask discarded in a nearby alley.3. DNA collected off ski mask matched to

a DNA profile in the database to provide an investigative lead.

Case #6 1999

Case #7 2001Serial Rape/Homicide Task Force

1. 7 women raped and bludgeoned.

2. Police link 7 Rape/Homicides by M.O.

3. Semen evidence from 3 victims matched to CT Convicted Offender.

4. State’s Attorney joins 4 remaining cases to matched offender.

Task force investigates other violent unsolved Sexual assaults. DNA (semen) testing generates 1 offender hit (2nd individual) and 1 case-to-case hit.

Sexual Assault1. A woman was sexually assaulted in Waterbury, CT in 1994.2. CT DNA database expansion 2003 to all felony convictions.3. Under funding by an NIJ grant archived no-suspect cases are processed – 2005.4. Under funding by an NIJ grant backlogged offender samples are processed.5. CO with only a burglary conviction matches to the 1994 sexual assault.

Case #8 2005

1. Leslie Buck was a middle school teacher At Dean’s Mill School in Stonington, CT.

2. She was kidnapped by husband’s associate, Kirby, in 2002 and suffered head injury, but escaped, when he got out to check the car.

3. Treated and released from L&M Hospital she taught the next day (Friday).

4. She was found dead at bottom of stairs (Saturday afternoon).

5. Lots of circumstantial evidence. No DNA evidence.

What is the next step for this investigation?

Case #9 2002 Investigation Into Leslie Buck's Death

When Stonington police detective Cody Floyd walked into their Mystic home on May 4, 2002, he saw Leslie Buck’s lifeless body at the bottom of the stairwell, he said, “It was clear things just didn’t look right.”



Medical examiner says Buck death scene altered before 911 call.

A Florida medical examiner who testified for the state at the murder trial of Charles F. Buck said that the scene of Leslie Buck’s death appears to have been altered before Buck called 911 and that Mrs. Buck’s injuries do not appear to have been inflicted by a fall down the staircase at the couple’s Mystic home.



Buck’s reaction to wife’s death ‘seemed fake,’ best friend testifies.

One of Charlie Buck’s closest friends, testified he was shocked by Buck’s reaction to his wife’s death. Neil Baker, who said he knew Buck for more than 40 years and loved him like a brother, testified that he and his wife visited Buck the day after Leslie Buck’s death. Baker said he hugged Buck, and Buck “proceeded to whimper a bit.” “I was very surprised that the whimpering seemed to be fake and there were no tears,” Baker said. “I was with Charlie the night his father died, and believe me, there were a lot of tears.”


The state contends that Buck is guilty because he saw his wife last and found her dead and because he lied about his relationship with bartender Carol Perez.

The evidence showed that Mrs. Buck suffered head trauma and that there is no explanation for her death in the stairway where she was found. The two consulting medical examiners focused in on a neck injury that was not present when Buck left the house that afternoon.


Charlie and Carol

The circumstances of Buck’s relationship with Carol Perez, on whom Buck spent some $300,000 in a matter of months. Perez, had been a bartender at the now-defunct Drawbridge Inn in Mystic CT. Buck consistently lied to police and told Perez to lie during recorded conversations.

When asked about the gifts he had given to Perez, Buck’s response was, “I was just being a nice guy, that’s all.” He denied having sexual intercourse with Perez, but admitted he had touched her breasts.


Charles Buck 2010

• This is not a trick question

• “If you had to vote right now in this case, guilty or not guilty, what would you do?”

(A) guilty(B) not guilty(C) can’t vote; I don’t know the facts of the case

Acquittal ends 8-year Buck dramaCase #9 2010 Investigation Into Leslie Buck's Death

Reasonable doubt

One of the most fascinating criminal cases in the region’s history ended Wednesday with the acquittal of Charles F. Buck in the murder of his wife, Leslie Buck, 57. Suspicions have surrounded Mr. Buck since he contacted police on May 4, 2002, saying he had discovered his wife’s body at the bottom of a stairway in their Stonington home.


(A) for(B) against

The Death Penalty

V. Here we go round the prickly pear

Prickly pear prickly pear Here we go round the prickly pear At five o’clock in the morning.

Between the idea And the reality Between the motion And the act Falls the Shadow

For Thine is the Kingdom Between the conception And the creationBetween the emotion And the response Falls the Shadow

Life is very long Between the desire And the spasm Between the potency And the existence Between the essence And the descent Falls the Shadow For

Thine is the Kingdom …..For Thine is….. Life is ….For Thine is the….

This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper.

The Hollow Men T. S. Eliot

A Panel Discussion

(A) for(B) against

The Death Penalty

18. The numbers of repeat offenses is one reason people support felon DNA databases. Collecting samples from offenders convicted of all felonies could help insure their DNA profiles are in the Database before they commit their first violent act. There is a 67% recidivism rate among convicted sex offenders and the average number of sexual assaults per offender is 8-13. As it turns out felons are often opportunistic and commit more than one type of crime. 52% of the offenders linked to sexual assaults and homicides by DNA database matches had a prior conviction of what type of crime?

(A) burglary (B) assault & battery (C) kidnapping (D) sex offenses against children(E) white collar crimes

19. Why would analyzing the DNA of burglars reduce the violent crime rate, theoretically? (A) DNA testing would prove that criminals are genetically predisposed to crime (B) 50% of non-violent criminals go on to commit violent crimes, analysis would make proving guilt and making arrests easier (C) it wouldn’t (D) no answer listed is correct

20. Why should we expand forensic DNA databases? (A) more hits - approximately half all violent criminals have non-violent prior convictions, if only violent offenders are collected, the likelihood of a hit (rape/homicide case) is reduced by ~ 85%. (B) exclude more people who could not be the source of the DNA profile(C) protect public safety(D) all of these reasons

21. The world’s highest rape rate of all countries that publish such data is: (A) Japan(B) Canada(C) The United States(D) England(E) Italy

22. An American woman is X times more likely to be raped than to die in a car crash:

(A) two(B) five(C) ten(D) the same

23. X % of rape victims are females under the age of 18: (A) 12%(B) 28%(C) 37%(D) 61%

24. One out of every X women currently in college has been raped: (A) 5(B) 7(C) 17(D) 170

25. Approximately 28% of rape victims are raped by their husbands, and X % by an acquaintance: (A) 5%(B) 25%(C) 35%(D) 55%

26. X % of sexual assaults are perpetrated by assailants well known to the victim: (A) 21%(B) 31%(C) 51%(D) 71%

© life_edu lecture 33 part ii. the national forensic debate: public safety vs. the right of privacy...

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