The Science - the value of pathology and forensics at the Crime Scene.

Previously we discussed the whole procedure of how the criminal investigation is conducted; years of knowledge and development of science made it effective due to pathology. This relatively new research made a revolutionary step forward in solving crime investigation, for one it is still unethical, for others crucial to understand what was going on into the body shortly it gave its last breath. It was developed to study the problems related to unnatural death and various types of trauma to the living.

The two systems which are applicable in the Netherlands are – the medical examiner system and the coroner system. 

The classification of death differs accordingly to the cause and manner of it. We may enumerate just few of them such as: deaths occurring during the medical treatment, all violent and suspicious deaths, deaths occurring to individuals working in industrial hazards etc... . The investigation may be followed by post-mortem examination; the pathologist establishes the manner and cause of death. To link all the pieces together it involves in-crime-scene investigation. It is crucial before the autopsy is preformed. The autopsy is one step, the next one are taking samples to toxicologist, serologist, criminalist, dentist, anthropologist.

Biological testing of evidence takes into consideration blood typing and identification of stains and content. It all depends on the case what kind of material is collected, in case of rape not only blood is taken but also saliva, semen, which help to determine the identity of an assault, an individual. Do not be misguided – in some cases – not only a human blood is examined; an animal blood as well. It involves botanical and entomological evidence.

The experience of the pathologist gives a factor to the case; of seen/ unseen cases. The analyses of tissue and chemicals are preformed to establish an exposure to environmental hazards in industry or home e.g

• carbon monoxide;
• drugs;
• harmful metals (mercury; lead)
• overdose of drugs;

The circumstances may be accidental yet fatal in case of death of a child or a suicide, therefore it is analysed in pathologist-directed laboratories.

The consciousnesses and awareness in all cases is a must, often – suspects give themselves self-injuries to be excluded out of the investigation; it may vary from bloody cough, bloody vomiting, hematuria to a solitary area of the body.

Another area is within iatrogenic issue which are the results directly form medical treatment. They derive from drug complications; new forms of therapy, surgery, new medical instrumentation. It is such a liability to the responsibilities of the health care professional and the hospital. The law enforcement member and the pathologist are the first to see and analyse this kind of problem.

The task of the pathologist is to examine the deceased person; when it happens in the hospital the pathologist has to have (according to the Dutch law) the permission of the family. It also provides an evidence to possible misconduct of medical treatment, an unexpected outcome of the treatment of the disease. A mistake a leading doctor would have to be investigated upon.

Dissection is followed by examination of tissue; chemical or bacteriologic examinations are also required; all is photographed (the body before and after autopsy; the internal organs before and after examination, the samples, entirely everything and every single step).

The autopsy has got one purpose – to document the identification of the victim, to determine the cause of death, to document any injuries that might be lethal and cause death. It is a crucial step to write in the report which death it was, namely, the police and the pathologist identified it as:

• accidental;
• homicidal;
• suicidal;

The cause is written in the report which is certified; the death certificate is submitted.

The common drugs of all are a cigarette and a bottle of beer! Yet, be careful; we are not going to tell you how harmful it is – You already know it, we are going to explain something more dangerous which is called alcohol intoxication.

It is the most common cause of accidents presented. It involves the accuracy of testing, specimen taking, validity of the results, variations of the level of alcohol due to the time the blood sample was taken in relation of the time of the accident.

The individual's history of alcoholism, serious disease of the liver or kidneys, metabolic disease such as diabetes are all important in case of alcohol use. Intoxication cases involve new alcohol unfamiliar to the market which causes death because the person couldn't handle it – a small dose, even. The examination of injuries on suspected murderers, rapists, opens a large areas of expertise. The potential killers may be identified by their peculiar manner of selection of their victims, the weapons they used, etc ... .

During the investigation the toxicological test is conduced to detect any substances or drugs in body tissues and fluids, the biological fluids are analyzed. The forbidden substances are hoped to be found in blood, urine, spinal fluid, gastric contents, bile, tissues.

The investigation does not close itself behind the mortuary's door. The manner of identifying someone's handwriting appears quite intriguing one, it is an area of expertise called Questioned Documents (QD) which is as old as hills and dated back to Roman times, when the cases of forged documents were described. The QD examiner's work includes the examination of handwriting, ink, paper, typewriter, printer expressions, detection of counterfeiting, various types of fraud such as government paper, checks, forms, money, credit cards etc... .

The firearms section examines bullets which were extracted from the body, during the homicide investigation. It is responsible for a large area of investigation not only a small bullet but also explosives examination, tool-mark examination, document examination, biologic examination, physical analysis, chemical analysis, all the procedure of identification. It is something, isn't it?!

Notwithstanding all the facts and pieces of evidence the documentation is crucial especially for the pathologist who has got three major means of it:

• by photograph;
• by diagram;
• by dictation of the protocol;

The autopsy protocol is unbiased; it doesn't include any interpretations and opinions, merely the findings and pure facts based on scientific evidence. The conclusions are derived from the practical experimentation; there are problems presented by the evidence.

There is not only a human mind that solves and sees the crimes – there are various types of sciences that are applied to the documentation of evidence and to the solution of criminal and civil problems. It shows how immerse the value of law enforcement and justice really is.

Bibliography:

1. Criminal Investigations – Crime Scene Investigation.2000
2. Forensic Science.2006
3. Techniques of Crime Scene Investigation.2012
4. Forensics Pathology.2001
5. Pathology.2005   

Acknowledgements: 

The Police Department; 

https://www.politie.nl/mijn-buurt/politiebureaus/05/burgwallen.html and a Chief Inspector – Mr. Erik Akerboom                                               ©