ANTH 245 1st Edition Lecture 29Outline of Last Lecture- The OJ Simpson Case- Basic Problems and Lessons Learned- Search and Recovery at Outdoor Scenes- The four types of Outdoor Scenes- Search Strategies Outline of Current Lecture- Recovery of Body and Associated Evidence- Surface Deposition- Buried Bodies- Characteristics of a Grave- Eyewitness Testimony- Miss identificationCurrent LectureDocument Scene- Precise maps a must - Establish a datum (single immovable point)- Spatial organization among evidence- Photos, videos of all evidence- Examine walls and floors of burial to identify: - Tools used to dig grave- Perpetrator footprints- Evidence of clothing type- Total station- Takes points that can later be used to make maps Recovery of Body and Associated Evidence- Proper equipment - Never remove anything until everything is exposed - Exception: remove potentially dangerous evidence from body- Remove soil in small increments; document very step- Excavate under body after recovery:- Sterile soil- Insect evidence- Bullets- Clothing remnants- Even if body is in a bag, still need to look for additional evidence- Screen all excavated soil Surface Deposition- Typically a pedestrian survey search strategy is used to recover evidence - Decomposing kills vegetation - Ring of dead grass evidence that something died there- Evidence could be widely scattered due to:- Water- Wind- Scavenger activity- Human activity- Not always clear what evidence is relevantBuried Bodies- Principle: constant interaction between decomposing body and its environment- A buried body decomposes slower than a body left of the surface - Changes in:- Soil color and texture- PH- Vegetation- Animal activities- Scavenging (if burial is shallow enough)- Burrowing Characteristics of a grave- Grave digging- Darker disturbed soil due to mixing of strata- Vegetation will die- New graveo Soil less compacto Mound on top o Darker color than surrounding soil o No vegetation on top- Aging graveo Primary depression - soil sinks at edges to delimit outline of grave o Secondary depression - soil sinks over abdomeno Body releases nitrogen into the soil, causing more abundant, greener, and faster-growing plants on top of the grave o Darker, Looser soil Sketch- Measurements important- Can also map out points on skeleton using a total station Eyewitness Testimony Types of Evidence- Physical - Testimonial- Something seen, heard, or otherwise experienced = eyewitness testimony Innocence Project - Group of lawyers working pro-bono to work on cases of people on death row to exonerate them - Uses DNA (typically) to exonerate wrongfully convicted- www.innoceneproject.org- 316 conviction overturned with DNA testing - More than 75% of those were due to eyewitness misidentification- Average incarceration time 13.5 years, but some more than 20 years - Movie Conviction (2010)Why are there problems with eyewitness testimony?- Memory is Mutable- Have to know how to collect and analyze it o Memories can be modified after evento Memory is "blurry"- Memories are not perfect records of events - Memory can be contaminated by:o Suggestion and misleading information o Imagination Time- Multiple exposures False Memories - Memory of an event that was never witnessed- Can be instilled by suggestion - "Memory" strength increased with each recountVariables that Affect Misidentifications- Estimator variables- System variables - Witness characteristics- Age- Race- Characteristics of the crime- Whether perpetrator has a distinctive face- Race of perpetrator (if different)- Duration - Weapon
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