Define evidence with individual characteristics and evidence with class characteristics. For each of the following pieces of evidence, indicate whether the item is more likely to possess class or individual characteristics, and explain your answer.
Category: Criminology
An investigation
Officer Bill Walter arrives at the scene of an apparent murder: a body bearing several gunshot wounds lies on the floor of a small, unairconditioned house in late July. A pungent odor almost overwhelms him when he enters the house, so he opens a window to allow him to breathe so he can investigate the scene. While airing out the house, he secures the scene and interviews bystanders. When he inspects the scene, he discovers very little blood in the room and little evidence of a struggle. What mistakes, if any, did Officer Walter make in his investigation? What conclusions did he draw about the scene from his observations?
Circumstantial evidence and inductive reasoning
While investigating a murder scene, police gather evidence that includes a dead body riddled with stab sounds, fingerprints on a bloody knife found near the body, and a ticket stub from a theater several miles away from the scene. Detectives determine that the knife belongs to the victim, but matched prints on the knife to an acquaintance of the victim. When questioned, the acquaintance claims he was at the movies at the time of the murder – the same movie shown on the ticket stub at the scene. What direct physical evidence connects the acquaintance to the crime scene? What circumstantial evidence connects him to the scene? What can you conclude about the acquaintance’s involvement solely from direct physical evidence and deductive reasoning? What could you conclude considering circumstantial evidence and inductive reasoning as well?
Feminism on criminological theory
What was the impact of third wave feminism on criminological theory? Support your answer with an example of how this perspective can help us understand criminal behavior.
Criminology question
Maria has been angry with Carlos for a very long time. She had threatened to kill Carlos on a couple of occasions. One day, Maria sees Carlos standing on a street corner waiting to cross the street. There are several people standing around Carlos, also waiting to cross. Maria pulls out a gun and fires at Carlos. The bullet grazes Carlos’s arm, injuring him. However, the same bullet strikes and kills Raquel, who was unknown to Maria.
1) Considering the ideas and concepts covered this week, what crime or crimes has Maria committed? Explain your reasoning, especially with regard to actus rea, mens rea and corpus delicti. What might be some valid defenses that Maria may assert?
2) Now, research the relevant statutes in your state that correspond to the crimes and defenses that you discussed in your answers to Q1. In light of what you see in your state statutes, how might your answers, including about possible defenses, change (if at all)?
3) How did conducting research and going through each step of legal analysis help you to reach this conclusion? Analyze how you applied critical thinking and legal analytical skills to assist you in this regard. What new research and/or analytical tool or method did you try for the first time this week? What do you think you do well and what would you like to strengthen so that you continue to improve?
The CMB
What is the CMB? What, in general, does it provide evidence for? What are the recent investigations into resolving information on the CMB?
The reason, nature, and extent of increased youth crime and violence.
In most jurisdictions, a person is considered an adult at the age of 18. As such, many juveniles who commit serious crimes are simply released to a parent or guardian without any repercussions.
Explain the reason, nature, and extent of increased youth crime and violence. What means are being used by law enforcement to prevent and deter delinquent behavior and youth crime and violence? What obstacles are officers facing in their efforts to fight said crime and violence?
Recommend changes in the criminal justice system that you feel would be effective in not only matching the punishment to the crime, but also reducing the amount of crime being perpetrated by the youth overall.
Physical and computer crime
Compare the physical crime and the computer crime from the standpoint of substantive law. What crimes did Fred commit when he entered the jewelry store with a gun and ordered the store clerk to hand over the jewelry? How serious are those crimes? What harms did Fred Cause? Why should the law deter such activity, and why was it morally culpable?
A criminal case investigation
During a criminal case investigation, a computer was taken as part of the evidence. The computer was found with a flash drive connected to one of the USB ports. It is suspected that this flash drive contains image files relevant to the case. Preliminary investigation revealed that the owner of the computer had the chance to delete some of image files. Other files were renamed so that they do not look like image files. It is also suspected that steganography was used with some of the files to conceal important information. The passphrase used for this purpose is hidden in the device slack space.
List the general steps and tools required to begin investigation. In addition, because it is a high level profile case, processes must be carefully documented.
Perform and document the following so that the findings are court ready:
Acquire a bit-stream copy from the flash drive
Recover deleted files
Analyze all files (including recovered) using WinHex and look for image files analyzing the file headers
Try to identify image files concealing information (steganography)
Look for the passphrase for steghide stored in the device’s slack space (look for: “steghide passphrase”)
Recover information with steghide
A criminal case investigation
During a criminal case investigation, a computer was taken as part of the evidence. The computer was found with a flash drive connected to one of the USB ports. It is suspected that this flash drive contains image files relevant to the case. Preliminary investigation revealed that the owner of the computer had the chance to delete some of image files. Other files were renamed so that they do not look like image files. It is also suspected that steganography was used with some of the files to conceal important information. The passphrase used for this purpose is hidden in the device slack space.
List the general steps and tools required to begin investigation. In addition, because it is a high level profile case, processes must be carefully documented.
Perform and document the following so that the findings are court ready:
Acquire a bit-stream copy from the flash drive
Recover deleted files
Analyze all files (including recovered) using WinHex and look for image files analyzing the file headers
Try to identify image files concealing information (steganography)
Look for the passphrase for steghide stored in the device’s slack space (look for: “steghide passphrase”)
Recover information with steghide