News
Advances and Current Status in the Use of Cuticular Hydrocarbons for Forensic Entomology Applications
By David Stewart-Yates, Garth L Maker, Stefano D’errico (Published 1st February 2025)
ABSTRACT: Cuticular hydrocarbons present a valuable tool in forensic entomology, aiding species identification and age estimation of necrophagous insects, particularly blow flies. This review provides a detailed overview of recent advancements in the applications of cuticular hydrocarbons, such as in post-mortem interval estimation. Additionally, it explores the factors contributing to intra-species variation, including age, sex, temperature, and geographical origin, and details how these variations can provide additional insight during legal investigations. While promising, challenges remain in the use of cuticular hydrocarbons in forensic investigations, and further research is required to enhance reliability of this method.
Pressure injury detection using alternate light: a proof-of-concept study
By: Katherine N Scafide, Linda Arundel, Ghadeer Assas, Erica L King (Published 10th February 2025)
ABSTRACT: Identification of early-stage pressure injuries (PIs) during visual skin assessment may be subjective and unreliable. An alternate light source (ALS) has been shown to increase the probability of detecting evidence of bruises on individuals with darker skin tones. Bruises and early-stage PIs are often difficult to identify, especially in those with darker skin tones, where melanin concentration is high. Given the effect skin pigmentation has on detecting both types of cutaneous injuries, this proof-of-concept study aimed to describe the characteristics of Stage 1 PIs and deep tissue PIs as viewed under an ALS.
Factors influencing Swedish citizens’ willingness to provide their mobile phones to forensic examination
By: Jonas Ingermarsson, Marcus Birath, Joakim Kavrestad. (Published in International Journal of Information Security V24, No 42 2025)
ABSTRACT: The willingness of victims to report crimes is declining, which leads to an increase in the dark figure of crime and undermines effective crime control. One possible reason is that victims are reluctant to report crimes if they are required to submit their digital devices for forensic examination. Today, a mobile phone holds vast amounts of information that may be valuable for police forensics experts, showing that victims’ phones could be critical in crime investigations. This interview study has investigated the factors that influence Swedish citizens’ willingness to report crimes when reporting involves surrendering their own mobile phones for forensic analysis. The study also uncovered factors that increase their willingness to report crimes under the same circumstances. The gathered data was subjected to a qualitative analysis with thematic coding, resulting in four distinct themes with 12 categories distributed among them. The analysis reveals that the primary factors affecting Swedish citizens’ willingness to report crimes are privacy concerns, with participants feeling uneasy about others accessing their private data, and anxiety over being separated from their mobile phones. Furthermore, the study yields that the most significant factors for increasing the willingness to report crimes are enhanced information and transparency from the police. Participants suggested that better understanding of the process, and increased openness would increase their willingness to report.
