Forensic Approaches to Death, Disaster and Abuse

332 Pages·2008·13.47 MB·English

by  Marc Oxenham

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Forensic Approaches
to Death, Disaster
and Abuse
edited by
Marc Oxenham
The Australian National University
First published in 2008 from a completed manuscript presented to
Australian Academic Press
32 Jeays Street
Bowen Hills Qld 4006
Australia
www.australianacademicpress.com.au
© 2008. Copyright for each contribution in the book rests with the listed authors.
All responsibility for editorial matter rests with the authors. Any views or opinions expressed are therefore
not necessarily those of Australian Academic Press.
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National Library of Australia cataloguing-in-publication data:
Oxenham, Marc.
Forensic approaches to death, disaster and abuse / editor,
Marc Oxenham.
1st ed.
eBook ISBN 9781921513077
Forensic sciences.
Forensic anthropology.
Criminal investigation.
363.25
Editing and typesetting by Australian Academic Press, Brisbane.
ii
Contents
CHAPTER 1:
The Forensic Sciences, Anthropology and Investigations
Into Abuse and the Loss of Life..........................................................1
Marc Oxenham
Section 1:
Forensic Archaeology
CHAPTER 2:
Forensic Archaeology: Approaches to International Investigations....17
Ian Hanson
CHAPTER 3:
The Basics of Forensic Taphonomy: Understanding Cadaver
Decomposition in Terrestrial Gravesites............................................29
Mark Tibbett
CHAPTER 4:
Identification of Australian Aboriginal Mortuary Remains ................37
Marc F. Oxenham, Tom Knight and Michael Westaway
CHAPTER 5:
The Role of the Biological Anthropologist
in Mass Grave Investigations ............................................................55
Tim Anson and Michael Trimble
CHAPTER 6:
Human, Sheep or Kangaroo: A Practical Guide
to Identifying Human Skeletal Remains in Australia..........................63
Marc Oxenham and Richard Barwick
Section 2:
Techniques of Human Identification
CHAPTER 7:
Forensic Anthropology in Australia:
A Brief History and Review of Casework..........................................97
Denise Donlon
(continued over)
iii
Contents
(continued)
CHAPTER 8:
Detection of Likely Ancestry Using CRANID................................111
Richard Wright
CHAPTER 9:
Identifying Child Abuse in Skeletonised Subadult Remains ............123
Hallie R Buckley and Kelly Whittle
CHAPTER 10:
Methods of Facial Approximation and Skull-Face
Superimposition, With Special Consideration
of Method Development in Australia..............................................133
Carl N. Stephan, Ronn G. Taylor and Jane A. Taylor
CHAPTER 11:
Ancestry, Age, Sex, and Stature: Identification in a Diverse Space......155
Judith Littleton and Rebecca Kinaston
CHAPTER 12:
Geographic Origin and Mobility Recorded
in the Chemical Composition of Human Tissues..............................177
Donald Pate
Section 3:
Determining Time, Manner and Cause of Death
CHAPTER 13:
The Role of the Coroner................................................................191
David Ranson
CHAPTER 14:
The Use of Insects and Associated Arthropods in Legal Cases:
A Historical and Practical Perspective..............................................225
Ian R. Dadour and Michelle L. Harvey
CHAPTER 15:
Forensic Chemistry:
Applications to Decomposition and Preservation............................233
Shari Forbes
CHAPTER 16:
Forensic Identification in Fatal Crocodile Attacks............................243
Walter B. Wood
iv
Contents
(continued)
Section 4:
Legal, Ethical and Procedural Issues
CHAPTER 17:
The Role of an International Law Enforcement Agency
in the Identification of Deceased Persons and Remains ..................263
James Robertson
CHAPTER 18:
Forensic Nanotechnology, Biosecurity and Medical
Professionalism: Improving the Australian Health Care
System’s Response to Terrorist Bombings ......................................289
Thomas Alured Faunce
CHAPTER 19:
Institutions and the Health of Prisoners and Detainees ..................299
Christine Phillips
CHAPTER 20:
Expert Witness in a Courtroom: Australian Experience ..................307
Maciej Henneberg
CONTRIBUTORS ............................................................................................319
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1
CHAPTER
The Forensic Sciences,
Anthropology and
Investigations Into Abuse
and the Loss of Life
Marc Oxenham
Mention the word forensics and most people will conjure up images of popular
television shows such as CSI, where you will find Gil Grissom pondering a crime
scene, or Bones, where you find Temperance Brennan reading the clues trapped in
grisly human remains. That CSI (Las Vegas version) won the 2004 Saturn award, and
was nominated for the same award in 2005, from the Academy of Science Fiction,
Fantasy & Horror Films, United States, underlines the fact that these popular depic-
tions of forensic investigations, particularly many of the gadgets and techniques
employed, often stray into the realms of total fantasy. In contrast to such forms of
forensic entertainment, and considering the Asia–Pacific region only, the devastating
affects of the Asian (Boxing Day) Tsunami in late December 2004 where almost
230,000 people died (UN Office of the Envoy for Tsunami Recovery, n.d.), the
terrible aftermath of the Bali bombings in October 2002 killing 202 including 38
Indonesians and 88 Australians (AFP, n.d.), and the senseless killings, tortures and
rapes in the Solomon islands between 1998 and 2003 (Amnesty International,
2004), bring home the realities of both natural and human engineered death,
destruction and abuse.
Popular, and somewhat unrealistic, portrayals of what forensic science is all about,
as well as the recent spate of real human disasters, have no doubt fuelled much public
and government awareness in the forensic sciences. The glamour and perceived infal-
libility of forensic experts and what they can do (never what they cannot achieve) has
had a major influence on the court system in recent years, so much so that it has been
coined ‘the CSI effect’ (see Toobin, 2007). The general interest has also spilled into
the education sector, with an influx of students interested in enrolling in forensic
courses. An increase in the popularity of such courses, which have been taught in
many tertiary institutions for years, albeit without a particularly high profile, has been
met by a multiplication in Australia-wide university offerings. A perusal of Hobsons’
online Good Universities Guides(2007) shows 26 Australian tertiary institutions cur-
rently offering 69 academic qualifications in the form of various certificates,
diplomas, bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees in various subdisciplines of the
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Forensic Approaches to Death, Disaster and Abuse
forensic sciences (Table 1). Many of the qualifications listed in Table 1 are quite spe-
cialised, particularly those relating to forensic medicine, psychology, chemistry and
computing, while others are poorly represented in the academic curricula: forensic
archaeology and anthropology are good examples.
One of the chief motivations behind the development of this edited book was a
desire to bring together as many of the disparate forensic subdisciplines as possible
into a single volume in order to: (a) show where and how they articulate with each
other; and (b) introduce the role and importance of forensic anthropology and
archaeology; under (c) the umbrella of a specific theme: forensic approaches to
death, disaster and abuse. The genesis of this project extends back to late 2003 when
Michael Westaway, an Executive Officer at the Willandra Lakes World Heritage Area
and PhD candidate at the ANU, approached me to jointly organise and convene a 2-
day conference and series of workshops titled Forensic Anthropology for Australian
Field Conditions and Beyond, held between March 5 and 6, 2004, at the National
Museum of Australia. This conference turned out to be extremely popular and made
me realise how much interest there was in such issues in Australia generally. At
around the same time, late 2003, I became involved in teaching forensic anthropol-
ogy and archaeology at the Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) as part of their
Bachelor of Applied Science (Forensic Investigation). The success of the aforemen-
tioned conference and my CIT teaching led me to develop a major in forensic
anthropology at the Australian National University as part of the program in expand-
ing the School of Archaeology and Anthropology’s interests into human skeletal
biology, both past and present. The ANU now offers Australia’s only, to my knowl-
edge, Master of Arts — Forensic Anthropology.
Like many people, I am not immune to the lure of analysing clues or evidence in the
form of human remains and associated archaeological artefacts to reconstruct aspects of
the lives of those once living: putting flesh back on their bones! Broad research and cur-
ricular interests have led me to become involved with diagnosing disease and trauma in
ancient skeletal material (Oxenham, Walters Nguyen, & Nguyen, 2001; Oxenham,
Nguyen, & Nguyen, 2005; Oxenham, Matsumura, & Nishimoto, 2006; Oxenham,
2006); determining what people ate in the past and other aspects of their subsistence and
adaptive behaviours by looking at their oral health (Oxenham, Locher, Nguyen, &
Nguyen, 2002; Oxenham, Nguyen, & Nguyen, 2006; Oxenham & Matsumura, 2008;
Bower, Yasutomo, Oxenham, Nguyen, & Nguyen, 2006); the history of human skeletal
research in South-East Asia (Tayles & Oxenham, 2006); human and comparative
anatomy (Oxenham & Whitworth, 2006: Chapter 6) and, more recently, investigating
more abstract aspects of human behaviour by examining and interpreting burial or
mortuary practices — particularly aspects of childhood (Oxenham, Matsumura, Domett,
Nguyen, Nguyen et al., in press) — and Australian mortuary practices (Oxenham et al.,
in press: Chapter 4). With this background in biological anthropology and archaeology,
including consulting experience relating to the identification of human remains both in
the United States and Australia, I have been particularly keen to develop and promote,
primarily through the auspices of tertiary education and curricular development, the
forensic sciences generally and their articulation and relationship to forensic anthropol-
ogy and archaeology in particular.
In facilitating this aim I have been keen to place the substantive contributions to
forensic investigations available through archaeological and osteological techniques
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The Forensic Sciences, Anthropology and Investigations Into Abuse and the Loss of Life
Table 1
Australian Tertiary Institutions Offering Qualifications in Forensic Disciplines
Institution Degree
Australian National University Master of Arts: Forensic Anthropology
Graduate Diploma: Forensic Anthropology
Bond University Master of Psychology: Forensic
Master of Forensic Science
Bachelor of Forensic Science
Canberra Institute of Technology Bachelor of Applied Science: Forensic Investigation
Diploma of Public Safety: Forensic Investigations
Advanced Diploma of Computer Forensics
Advanced Diploma of Applied Science: Forensic Investigation
Advanced Diploma of Computer Forensics
Charles Sturt University Bachelor of Biotechnology: Medical/Forensic
Curtain University of Technology Master of Internet Security and Forensics
Master of Forensic Sexology
Postgraduate Diploma of Forensic Sexology
Bachelor of Science: Forensic and Analytical Chemistry
Deakin University Doctor of Psychology: Forensic
Bachelor of Forensic Science
Edith Cowan University Postgraduate Certificate in Forensic Mental Health Nursing
Graduate Certificate in Nursing: Forensic
Bachelor of Forensic Investigation
Bachelor of Science: Environmental Forensics
Bachelor of Science: Forensic and Biomolecular Science
Flinders University Graduate Diploma of Forensic Science: DNA Technology
Bachelor of Technology: Forensic and Analytical Chemistry
Griffith University Doctor of Psychology: Forensic
Master of Forensic Psychology
Master of Forensic Mental Health
Master of Science: Forensic Science
Bachelor of Forensic Science/Bachelor of Arts: Criminology and Criminal Justice
Bachelor of Forensic Science
Graduate Certificate in Forensic Mental Health
James Cook University Master of Forensic Mental Health
Postgraduate Diploma of Forensic Psychology
Postgraduate Certificate in Forensic Psychology
Graduate Diploma of Forensic Mental Health
Graduate Certificate in Forensic Mental Health
La Trobe University Postgraduate Diploma of Forensic Science
Monash University Master of Forensic Medicine
Graduate Diploma of Forensic Medicine
Graduate Diploma of Forensic Pathology
Graduate Certificate in Forensic Medicine
Graduate Certificate in Forensic Studies: Construction and Engineering
Graduate Certificate in Forensic Behavioural Science
Graduate Certificate in Forensic Studies: Accounting
Murdoch University Postgraduate Diploma of Environmental Forensics
Bachelor of Science: Forensic Biology and Toxicology
Swinburne University of Technology Certificate IV in Forensic Science
TAFE, NSW, Hunter Institute Diploma of Laboratory Technology: Chem. and Foren. Testing
TAFE, NSW, South West. Syd. Inst. Diploma of Laboratory Technology: Chem. and Foren. Testing
Victoria University Master of Social Science: Forensic and Crime Studies
Bachelor of Science: Medical, Forensic and Analyt. Chemistry
University of Adelaide Graduate Diploma of Forensic Odontology
University of Canberra Bachelor of Forensic Studies/Bachelor of Laws
Bachelor of Forensic Studies
University of South Australia Master of Psychology: Forensic
University of Melbourne Master of Criminology: Forensic Psychology
Graduate Diploma of Forensic Odontology
Graduate Certificate in Criminology: Forensic Disability
Graduate Certificate in Business Forensics
University of New South Wales Master of Psychology: Forensic
University of Technology, Sydney Bachelor of Science: Applied Chemistry: Foren. Sci. (Hons)
Bachelor of Science: Biomedical Science: Forensic Biology
Bachelor of Science: Environmental Forensics
University of Western Australia Master of Forensic Science
Graduate Diploma of Forensic Science
Graduate Diploma of Forensic Science: Odontology
University of Western Sydney Master of Psychology: Forensic Psychology
Bachelor of Science: Forensic Science
University of Wollongong Master of Forensic Accounting
3