Archiwum Medycyny Sadowej i Kryminologii最新文献

The beginnings of forensic genetics, one of the most rapidly growing fields of research, can be traced to Great Britain in 1985. It appeared in Poland in 1989. It uses the most advanced technologies, including the investigation of the variability of the human genome through mass parallel sequencing, which help, among other things, to analyze features of human appearance and origin. These technologies coexist with well standardized techniques of multiplex short tandem repeat analysis based on capillary electrophoresis, which allows to obtain a unique individual profile at a minimal cost. Legislation, research standards and guidelines developed by opinion-forming institutions and expert teams play a key role in the field of genetic forensic examinations. This study presents the current normative state of this area. It precedes the presentation of guidelines concerning the main aspects of research in the field of forensic genetics in Poland, prepared by a team of experts gathered within the Polish Speaking Working Group of the International Forensic Genetics Society and the Forensic Genetics Committee of the Polish Society of Forensic Medicine and Criminology.

Although mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) testing has been used in forensic genetics only since the mid-1990s, forensic DNA laboratories have been recently increasing the range of mtDNA sequencing, employing new analytical approaches and methods of data analysis. Therefore, it seems fitting to gather and systematize existing recommendations in the field of mtDNA analysis for forensic purposes, and formulate a set of interpretative guidelines which are especially relevant in view of recent developments in the forensic casework. The starting point is the recommendations of the International Society for Forensic Genetics (ISFG) which, in the opinion of the Polish Speaking Working Group of the ISFG (ISFG- PL), should be followed by all Polish laboratories conducting forensic testing.

One of the tasks of the forensic specialist is to attempt to determine the interval between fatal injuries and death, and to assess whether the victim could be physically active before death and, if so, to what extent. There is ongoing research aimed at the application of additional tests (histological, immunohistochemical and others) to answer these questions. Unfortunately, currently used methods have numerous limitations and require further improvements. Moreover, they are not commonly employed in medicolegal practice in Poland. The greatest difficulty in assessing the time of survival and activity occurs when the period is relatively short (seconds-minutes-hours). Therefore, in practice, injury examination is often the only tool to assess the interval between fatal injuries and death, and the possibility of physical activity during that time. The aim of the paper is review the literature on this topic with a focus on biological methods and attempt to find a correlation between the nature of injuries and survival time, and between the nature of injuries and the capability to be physically active. An analysis of available cases has shown that unfortunately, on account of numerous limitations, the approach with the exception of specific situations, allows determining at most an approximate time interval during which the victim could be alive and active.

Aim of the study: The paper presents the principles which govern evaluation of poaching crimes with the use of firearms during preparation of court opinions based on secured forensic traces. In many cases, secured evidence does not allow for post-mortem examination; it becomes necessary to use other methods of assessing the evidence.

Material and methods: Such assessments are based on photographic documentation of the scene, as well as secured fragments of tissue, and sometimes also bullets or their parts. In many cases, the secured evidence allows for the use of simple research methods or experiments that make it possible to determine the facts.

Results: Such comprehensive analyses lead to precise determination of both the species of animals and the cause of their death and should be used in forensic and veterinary opinions.

The psychophysical impairment of drivers caused by psychoactive substances is still a common and important factor in road accidents. While in the case of ethyl alcohol the initial detection of drivers who have consumed alcohol is not a problem due to the widespread use of breathalyzers, other psychoactive substances are a problem. These substances are a group of numerous, variously acting and regularly growing compounds. In this publication, the authors have reviewed the methods used worldwide for the initial detection of psychoactive substances, i.e. saliva testers and elements of the medical examination grouped into test kits, which can be used as part of routine police control, and have also assessed their usefulness. New methods of detection based on the evaluation of pupils and eyeball mobility, which are still in the process of improvement, were also discussed.

Introduction: The term "overkilling" is not clearly defined in medico-legal literature; it is used freely in reference to homicides with extremely numerous injuries.

Aim of the study: The authors' objective was to find relationships between the extent and nature of injuries, the impact of the victims' sex and blood alcohol content.

Material and methods: The authors analyzed 160 cases of homicides from 2004-2011 examined in the Department of Forensic Medicine of the Jagiellonian University Medical College in Krakow, committed with a sharp or blunt instrument.

Results: The authors found differences in the location of wounds on the body, depending on the type of tool used, the differences in the number of wounds in relation to the victim's sex and disproportion of the number of fatal injuries in relation to the total number of injuries increasing with the total number of injuries. Alcohol in the victims' blood was found as frequently in cases with defensive injuries, as in other cases.

Conclusions: Most of the homicide victims are men, but in cases involving particularly numerous wounds the proportion of male and female victims becomes more balanced. In the case of a very high number of wounds, the share of lethal injuries remains small. The presence of alcohol in the blood has no effect on defense attempts of homicide victims.

The author attempts to present Professor Jakliński paying particular attention to what created such a great personality of Polish forensic medicine. Professor Andrzej Jakliński grew up in difficult times, which required a lot of sacrifice, even self-sacrifice and making choices that not always depended on him. That is why this article focuses on Professor Jakliński's childhood and adolescence, his escape from the Russian occupation zone to the German General Government, as well as the battles which he fought within the structures of the Home Army against the Germans and the incident that determined his life and brought him to Lublin.

Self-inflicted abdominal injuries are uncommon. Fatal self-inflicted abdominal injury is a rare occurrence, especially as a custodial death. A prisoner under-trial for attempted suicide was in judicial custody and was found unconscious in a pool of blood in the bathroom with cut open abdomen and exposed coils of intestine. The bathroom was found locked from inside and had to be forcibly opened. In spite of immediate hospitalisation and appropriate emergency surgical treatment, he succumbed on the same day. As the person had previously made several futile attempts to commit suicide and was in fact under trial for the crime of attempted suicide (section 309 of Indian Penal Code), the prison authorities had already taken good precautions to prevent access to any type of weapon, instrument, or material that could rekindle the thought of another attempt. In spite of all this, he successfully committed suicide with an apparently innocuous object, a disposable razor. This case is reported for the rarity of occurrence of this type of suicide, and it highlights the importance of utmost precautions to be taken in dealing with prisoners having suicidal tendencies.

Aim of the study: The aim of the paper is analysis of the impact of immobilization treatment of "less severe" motor organ injuries affecting soft tissues on the position of medical experts and court decisions in crimes against health. We also analysed the attitude of courts to expert opinions and present a proposal for a model of judicial and medical opinion in such cases.

Material and methods: In the study, we analysed judgments of the criminal divisions of common courts, in which the use of medical immobilization of a given part of the body or lack thereof could have an impact on the degree of health impairment determined by the medical expert.

Results: Some experts consider medical immobilization to be tantamount to an impairment of the function of a body organ, and the courts rarely reject such opinions. For some experts, the key is not the actual function of the immobilized part of the musculoskeletal system after 7 days from injury, but the immobilization treatment itself, and not the time it takes. In addition, experts determine the severity of injuries when immobilization is/is not used.

Conclusions: The degree of health impairment, as defined in the Penal Code, should be determined by a medical check-up carried out 7 days after the injury, with an assessment of its "biological" effects, and not by the use of immobilization treatment and the time for which it is maintained.