Medicine,Science and the Law

Tyre imprints on the skin are usually considered to be the result of being run over by a motor vehicle. This article reports a traffic accident in which tyre marks on the victim’s skin were caused by a collision rather than by being run over. The mechanism of the injury in this case is analysed and discussed. A 23-year-old male drove a motorcycle while under the influence of alcohol and collided with a sign pillar on the side of the road. Both the victim and the motorcycle careened into the bottom of a tractor-trailer. No witnesses or surveillance videos could confirm the process of the accident. Because tyre imprints were found on the victim’s skin, traffic police believed that he had been run over during the accident. However, forensic autopsy and analysis of the accident process revealed that the true cause of the imprints was a collision between the victim’s body and a tyre.

Forensic examination of human remains is a complex process that relies on the contribution of multidisciplinary forensic medicine specialties. Here we present a complex forensic case regarding a double murder whose victims were found almost completely skeletonized. Post-mortem investigations allowed us to define the biological profile of the two bodies (ancestry, sex, age and stature), to discover their identity through forensic DNA analysis, and to detect peri-mortem injuries caused by firearms and stabbing weapons. Three men were recognized as involved in the crime and two of them were condemned to life imprisonment for homicide. The judges accepted the reconstruction of the crime promoted by the Prosecutor (double firearm murder).

Traumatic dissection of the carotid arteries is a rare cause of delayed death due to hanging. We report a case of delayed death two and a half months following attempted suicide by hanging where the patient was able to talk after being released from neck compression. The cause of death was aspiration pneumonia due to cerebral infarction secondary to traumatic dissection of the left common carotid artery due to attempted suicide by hanging. Carotid artery injuries should be examined in patients who were able to talk after an unsuccessful suicide attempt by hanging but who later died.

This study formulated a regression equation to estimate the maximum overhead reach of a person using his/her height. Height and maximum overhead reach of participants aged 21–30 years were measured. A regression equation was formulated to find the relation between height and maximum overhead reach. The regression equation to estimate maximum overhead reach from height for all the participants was calculated to be 1.46×h+0.02. Based on sex, for males, the equation was 1.40×h+11.22, and for females it was 1.22×h+33.34. Coefficients of determination for these equations were 0.89, 0.76 and 0.80, respectively, with a p-value of <0.001 for all of them. This study showed that there is a positive correlation between height and maximum overhead reach. The formulated equation can estimate maximum overhead reach within ±6 cm for 80% of all the participants and, based on sex, within ±6 cm for 80% of males and within ±5 cm for 80% of females. This estimation is useful in scenarios, such as hanging, where the maximum overhead reach of a person is in question.

The Scottish legal system is a unique jurisdiction, as jurors are able to give not proven verdicts in addition to the well-known Anglo-American verdicts (guilty and not guilty). The not proven verdict has never been legally defined, meaning that currently legal practitioners can only estimate why a not proven verdict has been given. The main aim of this study was to investigate if jurors violate the regularity principle, which is commonly incorporated in many rational choice models, by testing if the introduction of the not proven verdict has an impact on the outcomes given by jurors. In addition, this study aimed to test if the introduction of the not proven verdict has an impact upon how the not guilty verdict is perceived by jurors. In this study, 128 participants listened to two vignettes centred on homicide trials. Jurors could give one of two verdicts in one of the vignettes and one of three verdicts in the other vignette. The vignettes were counterbalanced in regard to how many verdicts could be given at the end of them. It was found that jurors in a three-verdict system were less likely to give a not guilty verdict in comparison to jurors in a two-verdict system, showing that jurors violate the regularity principle and that the not proven verdict may change how the not guilty verdict is perceived. The findings of this research have implications in relation to juror communication, article 6 of the European Convention of Human Rights and juror rationality.

Forensic pathologists use post-mortem phenomena to estimate the post-mortem interval (PMI). We have reported on the usefulness of post-mortem lividity spectrophotometric values to estimate PMIs. Here, we focused on blood colour, looking for associations between blood colour, age and PMI. We generated predictive equations for blood-colour values and the PMI. We included data from a total of 129 cadavers (84 males and 45 females). We measured the colour of 124 left ventricular blood (L*_l, a*_l, b*_l), 123 right ventricular blood (L*_r, a*_r, b*_r) and 57 femoral blood (L*_f, a*_f, b*_f) samples. We found no significant associations between blood colour and age or between blood colour and the PMI, but the values of a*_l, b*_l, a*_r and b*_r were significantly increased with increased age, and those of L*_f, a*_f and b*_f were significantly decreased with increased PMI. We created equations to estimate blood colour. The equations for femoral blood colour had higher adjusted R² values and lower root mean square error values than those for left and right ventricular blood colours. We generated equations to estimate PMIs using blood-colour values and autopsy findings. Our estimated PMIs up to 67 hours had accuracies within 8.84 hours, without measuring post-mortem lividity colour or considering the age of the deceased. This is the first study to estimate PMIs based on blood-colour spectrophotometric values.

This paper uses data produced by the Ministry of Justice to look for trends in the numbers of various categories of patients detained under the Mental Health Act in England and Wales between 2003 and 2016. Specifically, we have focussed on patients detained with Ministry of Justice restrictions in place. The number of ‘restricted’ patients, who are largely detained in secure psychiatric hospitals, has risen substantially during this period. If this trend continues, there will be the need for further expansion of secure psychiatric beds in the years ahead. Factors driving the increased number of restricted patients are discussed in this paper.

Suicide pacts usually result in simultaneous deaths by mutual arrangement. While nitrogen and helium gas inhalation are being increasingly used in solitary suicide attempts, for some reason they have been rarely utilised in suicide pacts. A search of autopsy files at Forensic Science SA over a 15-year period (2003–2017) was undertaken to determine how often this method of joint suicide occurs. Only two cases were found. Case 1 comprised a 64-year-old husband and wife (who had a history of multiple sclerosis). They were found deceased in a vehicle with two empty cylinders of nitrogen gas. Case 2 comprised an 87-year-old man (who had a history of ischaemic heart disease) and his 81-year-old wife who were found deceased with plastic bags over their heads, with plastic tubes connecting the bags to opened cylinders of nitrogen. The deaths in all cases were due to nitrogen-induced asphyxiation, in the latter instance augmenting plastic-bag asphyxia. Although suicide pacts have previously usually involved carbon-monoxide toxicity or drug overdose, it is possible that dissemination of information on the use of inert gases in individual suicide attempts may alter the methods used in future.

Forensic anthropology deals with the identification of human remains in a legal setting. The primary role of a forensic anthropologist is to evaluate human skeletal remains and ascertain the biological profile of the deceased. Forensic anthropologists thus use their expertise to assist medical examiners, as well as law enforcement agencies. Forensic anthropology was not recognised as a subject specialty of much significance in most parts of the world for a long time. However, now its status has changed, mostly in the USA and parts of Europe. The scope of the subject ranges from evaluation of human skeletal remains to the identification of the living. In the new millennium, the role of forensic anthropologists includes disaster victim identification, photographic superimposition, facial image reconstruction in CCTV footage, gait pattern analysis from video surveillance, ascertaining the age of an individual in absence of legal documents and paedo-pornographic materials. Despite its relevance in human identification, the development of forensic anthropology in India is not very encouraging. Only a few institutions in India include forensic anthropology as a part of the forensic science degree programme, and there are no certified courses in anthropology either. Likewise, there are limited employment opportunities for forensic anthropologists in medical institutes/organisations/universities. This comprehensive review focuses on the status and development of forensic anthropology in India and emphasises the need for its recognition as a specialty of significance. The article also throws light on the comparison of its status in the Indian context vis a vis developed nations.