Cold Case Investigations - Research Paper Example

 Contents Introduction 3 Reasons for Cold Cases: Falling Clearance Rates 3 The Rise of DNA 4 Different Types of Cold Cases 4 Cold Case Investigation Methods 5 Reconstruction of Crime Scene 5 Canvassing 6 Family and Associates 6 Psychology 7 Identifying the Victim 7 Forensic Evidence on the victim or the object 8 Financial Information of the Victim 9 Cyber Profiling: Internet Transactions 9 Conclusion. 10 Bibliography 10 COLD CASE INVESTIGATIONS Introduction Cold Case Investigations have recently caught the imagination of general public at large as well as crime control agencies. A cold case investigation in simple terms refers to a crime that happened sometime in the past and has not been solved to the fullest. The investigations into such cold cases may be resumed by investigative authorities if a new witness appears, some material evidence resurfaces or DNA analysis is done. With the recent advancement is DNA analysis techniques, criminal investigators are looking into a number of cold cases which were left unsolved previously. Many police organizations have dedicated cold cases units whose only function is to revive these cases and try to solve them. We will try to analyze the investigation of cold cases in this research paper. Reasons for Cold Cases: Falling Clearance Rates The primary reason for many police organizations having dedicated Cold case units is the falling clearance rates. Clearance rates can be simply defined as the number of cases solved divided by the total number of cases. The overall homicide clearance rates in USA has fallen from 91% in 1965 to just 64% in 2008. (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2009).Due to this tremendous fall in the clearance rates and the advent of new technologies such as DNA convinced investigators that various unsolved cases can now be solved and thus the concept of cold case investigation was born. (C.L, 1997).Many reasons have been cited for the falling clearance rates. Some of them are increase in stranger crimes; drug related activities, lack of witnesses, fear of retaliation among the witness and distrust between police and society have been cited as the main reasons for the declining clearance rates of cases. (Rinehart, 1996). The Rise of DNA Historically the investigation of a case required a number of witnesses in order to prove that a particular person was present at the crime scene .However with the advent of DNA testing in 1980s brought about a major revolution. Initially DNA was used by investigators in order to strengthen their case against an individual who has already been identified as a suspect but crime experts are now using DNA in order to identify suspects in cases which have gone cold .The federal government has even developed a system of national DNA databases which is called as CODIS(Combined DNA Index System).CODIS can be used by police officers to match DNA at the crime scene against the database and has significantly helped in solving many cases. Today all 50 states of America have been given instructions to collect DNA samples from certain class of offenders. These DNA samples have helped in capturing various repeat offenders and can be a starting point for investigators in stranger on stranger cases. (Justice, 2003) Different Types of Cold Cases According to research conducted by (Robert C.Davis, 2011) cold case investigations can be classified in to three types. The first types of cold cases are those which are picked up by an investigator because of family or media pressures or during the review of the case done as part of the department procedures. These types of cold cases are declared as the ones which incur the highest cost and will have the least chances of success. Second type of cold cases is defined as those in which new evidence has come to light because of development in the DNA technique. These types of cold cases are the most inexpensive and have the highest chances of being solved. Even in these cases the national average of successful conviction rate in only 50%.The investigators may be able to prove the presence of an individual at the crime scene though DNA but it is altogether a different thing to actually prove that the crime was done by him. The third types of cold cases are those in which an individual confesses to an old crime as part of a plea deal or due to some other reasons. These kind of cold cases require the least amount of effort on the part of the investigators and they have the highest likelihood of being solved. A large majority of the third type of cases are likely to lead to conviction. Cold Case Investigation Methods Reconstruction of Crime Scene The biggest disadvantage that a cold case investigator has is that he is not able to visit the scene of the crime. The crime scene might have been significantly altered in the case of major towns and cities which witness major alteration every day. In order to analyze the crime; the investigators need to reconstruct the crime scene as close as possible to the original scène. Photographs taken from the earlier investigation, requisitioning of the witnesses, aerial photographs from city planning departments and even newspaper reports can be used to re-construct the crime scene by investigators. This is an important first step in solving a cold case. It is absolutely essential if the investigator is looking forward to use technical evidence such as DNA. Only after reconstruction of the crime scene will he is able to analyze where to look for DNA footprints of the criminal. Canvassing Every case that is assigned to the police department is not a priority case. The priority may be defined by the media attention or any other event taking place at that point of time. Due to this there is always a constraint on the budget and number of personnel which can be appointed to a case. Due to this constraint initial investigators might have left many potential witnesses. A cold case investigator needs to do a thorough canvassing of the place where crime took place and try to find out potential witnesses. Some witnesses might have been afraid to come out in the open when the case first happened. This might not be the case now. The fear usually reduces with time and they might be more willing to share details with police. However it is absolutely essential to ensure that such witnesses will be able to go through the scrutiny when questioned in the court. They might not be able to remember full details or the details might be fuzzy if the case took place long ago. It is the duty of the investigator to find such witnesses and to ensure that their testimony is complete and provides full justice to the case. Family and Associates Ronald L.Mendell in his book probing Into Cold Cases says that family is the most important source of information into cold cases. Investigating officers or witnesses may forget about the case but a family will remember every details. Beyond the obvious identifiers like date of birth, place of birth, social security number etc.; family members can drive and investigator to personal things like diaries or personal calendars maintained by the victim. These things can help a lot in finding out where to start the cold case investigation. They also offer insight into the victim’s financial and economic status and career information. All these questions are absolutely essential in trying to solve cases in which someone known to the victim is involved. Even in cases where the crime has been conducted by strangers; proper investigation of family members gives the investigators decent idea about the daily life of the victim and the kind of people he is likely to meet everyday which can help in starting the investigation. (Mendell, 2010) Psychology Understanding the psychology of the victim is one of the most essential factors which need to be considered while conducting a cold case investigation. Some of the questions which can be answered with this study is – was the victim leading a normal life when the incident happened? Was he leading a secret life which was unknown to his family members and associates? What was his state of mind during the time when the incident happened? Was there any reason of stress??Looking into the victim’s computer and tracking his social networking sites can be a great source of information for the investigators in order to crack a cold case. (Robert C.Davis, 2011).Research on the victim’s tattoos or body piercing can offer an insight into the kind of life he lived if these things had not been done already Identifying the Victim The Classic examples of cases which go cold are those in which the investigators are not able to put a name to the victim’s face. If they are not able to identify the victim; they have little to investigate with. The first thing which needs to be analyzed in this case is to analyze if the victim falls into a pattern of crime. Investigators should try to find out similarities between this victim and other victims of that particular time. These similarities can give an indication of the socio economic status of the victim and may even help the investigators narrow down the area he might have lived in. The second thing which should be looked into is the geographical movement of the victim’s body after the crime has been conducted. Repeat offenders often try to transport the body over large geographical locations in order to confuse the investigators whereas disorganized offenders will commit the crime near the place where the victim lives. Once an approximate geographical area has been established the investigators can move forward and canvass the area for witnesses in order to try and identify the victim. Forensic Evidence on the victim or the object Forensic evidence is literally the bread and butter of cold case investigators. They have to go through all the forensic tests that had been conducted on the body o the victim and try to find out a piece of evidence that had been missed during initial scrutiny of the case. The evidence includes stuff like bodily fluids, paint, glass, soil, dirt, metallic debris etc. Forensic evidence found can be classified into two types – the identity category and the associate evidence. The former is the type of evidence which gives clue regarding the identity of the suspect or the victim if the victim is unidentified. It is highly unlikely that such strong evidence is ignored during initial investigation. Identity Evidence is more often than not picked up by initial investigators. Associate Evidence is however the one which ties an offender to a location. This evidence might be ignored and needs to be focus of cold case investigators. However this evidence in itself will not be able to prove the guilt; but needs to be corroborated with other pieces of evidence to establish the guilt. Financial Information of the Victim An investigation of cold case is a special investigation in to the past of the individual. Financial data plays an important role in solving many cases. Financial transactions undertaken by the individual just before the incident may provide clue as to when the events took place. Financial Instruments can also answer the questions regarding the parties which might have been involved in the crime. Proper financial investigation increases the number of suspects and provides a spring board from where investigators can find out the motive of the crime and the culprit. Cyber Profiling: Internet Transactions Cold Cases investigators have started using the technique of cyber profiling from internet transactions. Cyber profiling can be said to involve 4 levels: 1st Level: Profiling Computer Criminals. This step can lead the investigators to the perpetrator; if it is not able to do so it will surely provide leads to track down the criminal. 2nd Level: Cold Case investigators online sources in order to develop background on individuals. The focus of this investigation is to gather corporate or business intelligence by focusing on key individuals. 3rd Level: at the third level of cyber profiling investigators try to focus on businesses and organizations .they try to find out business information at this level whose compromise or knowledge may have led to the crime. 4th Level: At the fourth level the investigator tries to examine the flow of information or commodity among the individuals, businesses and organizations. Conclusion. Cold Case investigation units are increasingly becoming part of different police organization now days. With the advent of technology it has become possible to solve cases which were considered unsolvable certain years back. Cold case investigation requires painstaking effort on the part of investigators and may not always lead to a conviction or arrest. Different methods need to be used by investigators in order to make a cold case reach to its logical conclusion. Some of these method used have been explained in the paper presented. Bibliography C.L, R. (1997). The Cold Case Concept. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin , 1 - 6. Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2009). Crime in the United States . Washington D.C.: US Government Printing Office. Justice, U. D. (2003). Retrieved 2011, from National Criminal Intelligence Sharing Plan: http://www.iir. com/global/products/NCISP_Plan.pdf. Mendell, R. L. (2010). Probing Into Cold Cases: A Guide for Investigators. Washington D.C.: Charles C Thomas Publisher. Rinehart, M. R. (1996). Murder Clearances and missing data . Journal of Crime and Justice , 19(2) , 83 - 102. Robert C.Davis, C. J. (2011). Cold Case Investigation. New York: Rand - Center on Quality Policing. Read More