Under an adversarial legal system, witnesses� testimony may be challenged by the opposing lawyer during cross-examination. Cross-examination has been shown to negatively affect the accuracy of children�s event reports, but as yet, the mechanisms driving this effect are unknown. Experiment 1 aimed to tease apart the roles of question type and repeated interviewing in mediating children�s cross-examination performance. Five- and 6-year-olds (N = 82) and 9- and 10-year-olds (N = 103) took part in a staged event, and 1 to 2 days later they took part in a direct examination interview. Next, either 1 to 3 days or 6 months later, all children were interviewed for a second time. For half of the children, this second interview was a repeat of their direct examination interview. The remaining children were interviewed in a cross-examination format. A second interview reduced response accuracy after both short and long delays, however, cross-examination questioning impaired the accuracy of children�s reports the most. Although, overall, children have considerable difficulty answering cross-examination questions correctly, variation in their performance has been observed. Experiment 2 assessed whether individual differences in cognitive abilities mediate cross-examination performance. Five- and 6-year-olds (N = 116) and 9- and 10-year-olds (N = 58) visited the police station and subsequently reported their experiences in direct examination and cross-examination interviews. Children�s memory, receptive language ability, expressive language ability, and intelligence were also measured. Age, intelligence, and memory predicted aspects of cross-examination performance. Overall, these cognitive factors accounted for between 16.6% and 19.5% of the variance in cross-examination outcome measures. Given the negative effect of cross-examination on children�s responding, and our inability to identify the children who are most at risk of poor performance during this interview, Experiment 3 assessed our ability to facilitate children�s responding to cross-examination questioning. Specifically, the effect of manipulating the timing of a pre-trial intervention, which gives children practice and feedback at cross-examination questioning, was investigated. Five- and 6-year-olds (N = 88) and 9- and 10-year-olds (N = 108) visited the police station. One to 3 days later they completed the direct examination interview and 6 months after the event, children were cross-examined. The timing of the preparation intervention was varied (1-day, 1-week, 1-month before cross-examination), and the children�s subsequent cross-examination performance was compared to that of children in the control group. When the preparation intervention was delivered 1 day or 1 week before the cross-examination interview, children�s cross-examination performance was significantly improved. The findings from the three experiments suggest that cross-examination is likely to pose considerable problems for children, especially younger children. Our greater understanding of factors that influence children�s responding to cross-examination questioning may guide reform of the cross-examination process for child witnesses. Bottom-up initiatives, such as pre-trial preparation, and top-down changes, including educating professionals, expert testimony, and reducing the delay to cross-examination, may improve the reliability of child witnesses� testimony during cross-examination.

This study investigated the use of UV-visible spectral imaging for the location and enhancement of substances of forensic interest using targeted approaches based on the spectrum of the substance. Spectral enhancement procedures were developed for blood with and without chemical enhancement, and for latent fingermarks after chemical enhancement. Focus was on substances whose spectrum exhibited a steep change in absorbance or fluorescence over a small wavelength range. Substances with such spectral features were able to be enhanced using arithmetic combinations of two or three spectral images taken at wavelengths near the steep spectral feature. Some enhancement reagents do not react to produce a product with a steep spectral feature suitable for photographic enhancement. In such cases reagents that compliment spectral imaging can be developed. A tridentate ligand for iron(II), BBIDMAPP, which forms a complex with a narrow intense charge-transfer band, was synthesised and was used to visualise muddy shoemarks. UV-visible spectral imaging systems based on a liquid crystal filter or a filter wheel were constructed to facilitate the acquisition of the spectral images and to perform the enhancement operations. A thorough characterisation of the imaging systems determined their limitations and sources of artefacts which could lead to complications in interpreting the enhanced images. The spectral imaging procedure used to visualise blood was incorporated into a near-real-time, hand-held imaging system for the location of blood staining. This prototype imaging system is capable of acquiring two spectral images simultaneously, perform the enhancement procedure, and display the enhanced image within 5 s, which would make it suitable as a non-chemical presumptive screening test for blood at crime scenes.

This study investigated the use of UV-visible spectral imaging for the location and enhancement of substances of forensic interest using targeted approaches based on the spectrum of the substance. Spectral enhancement procedures were developed for blood with and without chemical enhancement, and for latent fingermarks after chemical enhancement. Focus was on substances whose spectrum exhibited a steep change in absorbance or fluorescence over a small wavelength range. Substances with such spectral features were able to be enhanced using arithmetic combinations of two or three spectral images taken at wavelengths near the steep spectral feature. Some enhancement reagents do not react to produce a product with a steep spectral feature suitable for photographic enhancement. In such cases reagents that compliment spectral imaging can be developed. A tridentate ligand for iron(II), BBIDMAPP, which forms a complex with a narrow intense charge-transfer band, was synthesised and was used to visualise muddy shoemarks. UV-visible spectral imaging systems based on a liquid crystal filter or a filter wheel were constructed to facilitate the acquisition of the spectral images and to perform the enhancement operations. A thorough characterisation of the imaging systems determined their limitations and sources of artefacts which could lead to complications in interpreting the enhanced images. The spectral imaging procedure used to visualise blood was incorporated into a near-real-time, hand-held imaging system for the location of blood staining. This prototype imaging system is capable of acquiring two spectral images simultaneously, perform the enhancement procedure, and display the enhanced image within 5 s, which would make it suitable as a non-chemical presumptive screening test for blood at crime scenes.

This study investigated the use of UV-visible spectral imaging for the location and enhancement of substances of forensic interest using targeted approaches based on the spectrum of the substance. Spectral enhancement procedures were developed for blood with and without chemical enhancement, and for latent fingermarks after chemical enhancement. Focus was on substances whose spectrum exhibited a steep change in absorbance or fluorescence over a small wavelength range. Substances with such spectral features were able to be enhanced using arithmetic combinations of two or three spectral images taken at wavelengths near the steep spectral feature. Some enhancement reagents do not react to produce a product with a steep spectral feature suitable for photographic enhancement. In such cases reagents that compliment spectral imaging can be developed. A tridentate ligand for iron(II), BBIDMAPP, which forms a complex with a narrow intense charge-transfer band, was synthesised and was used to visualise muddy shoemarks. UV-visible spectral imaging systems based on a liquid crystal filter or a filter wheel were constructed to facilitate the acquisition of the spectral images and to perform the enhancement operations. A thorough characterisation of the imaging systems determined their limitations and sources of artefacts which could lead to complications in interpreting the enhanced images. The spectral imaging procedure used to visualise blood was incorporated into a near-real-time, hand-held imaging system for the location of blood staining. This prototype imaging system is capable of acquiring two spectral images simultaneously, perform the enhancement procedure, and display the enhanced image within 5 s, which would make it suitable as a non-chemical presumptive screening test for blood at crime scenes.

Assessing time of death is a notoriously difficult, yet critical component of coronial death investigations. Forensic entomoloy can provide reliable death time estimates using knowledge of local carrion insect species ecology and larval development times. However, inadequate data are available for Victoria, and thus forensic entomology techniques cannot be fully exploited in this jurisdiction. This study aimed to provide data that will enable a basic forensic entomology service to be provided in Victoria, as well as initiate further development of forensic entomology in this state. There are few quantitative data available on the carcass colonisation patterns of blowflies and flesh flies, however these data are forensically valuable. Colonising maggots form feeding masses that generate heat, and therefore speed the growth of their members. This should be integrated into larval age estimates, however there is little knowledge of the factors controlling mass size and persistence. Additionally, it is important to understand more clearly the behaviour of larvi- and ovipositing female flies since qualitative assessments of abnormal colonisation patterns may be used to indicate pre-mortem trauma to a body.

This study investigated the use of UV-visible spectral imaging for the location and enhancement of substances of forensic interest using targeted approaches based on the spectrum of the substance. Spectral enhancement procedures were developed for blood with and without chemical enhancement, and for latent fingermarks after chemical enhancement. Focus was on substances whose spectrum exhibited a steep change in absorbance or fluorescence over a small wavelength range. Substances with such spectral features were able to be enhanced using arithmetic combinations of two or three spectral images taken at wavelengths near the steep spectral feature. Some enhancement reagents do not react to produce a product with a steep spectral feature suitable for photographic enhancement. In such cases reagents that compliment spectral imaging can be developed. A tridentate ligand for iron(II), BBIDMAPP, which forms a complex with a narrow intense charge-transfer band, was synthesised and was used to visualise muddy shoemarks. UV-visible spectral imaging systems based on a liquid crystal filter or a filter wheel were constructed to facilitate the acquisition of the spectral images and to perform the enhancement operations. A thorough characterisation of the imaging systems determined their limitations and sources of artefacts which could lead to complications in interpreting the enhanced images. The spectral imaging procedure used to visualise blood was incorporated into a near-real-time, hand-held imaging system for the location of blood staining. This prototype imaging system is capable of acquiring two spectral images simultaneously, perform the enhancement procedure, and display the enhanced image within 5 s, which would make it suitable as a non-chemical presumptive screening test for blood at crime scenes.

The estimation of age at time of death is often an important step in the identification of human remains. If this age can be accurately estimated, it will significantly narrow the field of possible identities that will have to be compared to the remains in order to establish a positive identification. Some of the more accurate methods of age estimation, in the juvenile and younger adult, have been based on the assessment of the degree of dental development as it relates to chronological age. The purpose of this current study was to test the applicability of one such system, the Demirjian system, to a Sydney sample population, and to develop and test age prediction models using a large sample of Sydney children (1624 girls, 1637 boys). The use of the Demirjian standards resulted in consistent overestimates of chronological age in children under the age of 14 years by as much as a mean of 0.97 years, and underestimates of chronological age in children over 14 years by as much as a mean of 2.18 years in 16 year-old females. Of the alternative predictive models derived from the Sydney sample, those that provided the most accurate age estimates are applicable for the age ranges 2-14 years, with a coefficient of determination value of R-square=0.94 and a 95% confidence interval of �1.8 years. The Sydney based standards provided significantly different and more accurate estimates of age for that sample when compared to the published standards of Demirjian.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Anthropology, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-05, Section: A, page: 2031. Advisers: Della Collins Cook; David Burr. Title from dissertation home page (viewed Jan. 9, 2008).

Thesis (M. Med. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2007.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Zoology & Entomology)) - Rhodes University, 2008.