Richard Ramirez

1. Provide a brief, general introduction and description of

the case study you have chosen. Ensure you include
reason/s why this is considered to be a Forensic Science
Investigation
The case study I have chosen Richard Ramirez. Between June
1984 and August 1985, from Southern California, serial killer also
known as the Night Stalker broke into victims homes as they
slept and attacked, murdering 13 and assaulting numerous
others. On August 24 1984, a vigilant teenager noticed an
apprehensive vehicle driving through his neighbourhood. He
wrote down the number plate in that area and informed the
police. That night, the Night Stalkers latest attack happened in
that area, so the police tracked down the car. It was abandoned,
but the police found key evidence inside: a fingerprint. Using new
computer system, investigators rapidly matched the fingerprint to
Richard Ramirez and put his name in the media. Ramirez was
recognised by local residents and was condemned to death.
2. Research the history of EACH of the following
techniques/methods used in Forensic Science. Give a
description of the technique and how it was developed,
evaluate its impact on society and its effectiveness in
successfully solving crime/s, as well as assess he
application / use of advances in science and technology
Fingerprints: The study of fingerprints is one of the most
prominent aspects of criminal investigations and forensic
detections. This is because fingerprint identification is far too
distinctive, its success rate tops DNA identification. Fingerprints
dated way back to the ancient times.
It wasnt until 1877 in India when a British administrative officer,
Sir William Herschel, would unintentionally discover the practical
application of fingerprints. He discovered that the fingerprints
greatly helped in the identification of a person.
This was done by rubbing the palm of the hand with ink and
stamping the print onto paper. These prints were then used as
means of identifications to halt forgeries. After some experiments
and observations, Sir Herschel realised that no two prints are the
same. Each persons prints are distinguishable with high
persistence and cannot be altered. His discovery became a major
stepping-stone for fingerprint applications in crime science.

Sir Edward Henry researched more about fingerprints, when he

helped solve a murder crime in India. He did this examining the
bloodstained fingerprints found at the scene based on a
classification system he had devised in his research. Henrys
classification was developed in a criminal prosecution. Based on
the evidence, the defendant was found guilty for burglary.
The application of fingerprint science continues to evolve
throughout the years. The study of fingerprints is known as
dactyloscopy. Many more inventions were made to develop the
forensic aspect of fingerprints. Aluminium powder was introduced
as means to process fingerprints at a crime scene. With the
evolution of technology, today the Federal Bureau of
Investigations and many law agencies around the world have be
relying on AFIS (Automated Fingerprint Identification System) for
a speedy fingerprint search database, replacing the old card
search system, which was thoroughly slow and would take days.
Fingerprints will always remain as the essential of forensic science
and crime solving. Not even the ever-growing evolution of DNA
testing and identification could agitate the fingerprints
importance.

DNA Analysis: DNA analysis has significantly improved police

investigations by providing the potential to contribute to
investigations in the following ways:
Solve particularly difficult cases where all other investigative
techniques have failed
Provide clues where there are no witnesses
Find application in an ever-widening range of cases
Reduce the number of wrongful arrests
Increase the reliability of evidence
Link together cases that otherwise could not be connected,
such as local cases ranging from breaking and entering to
homicide, multijurisdictional cases such as gang crimes, serial
sexual assaults or murders, and major international
investigations
DNA analysis was introduced into policing in 1986. The cautious
application of forensic science early in an investigation can lead
to the development of investigative information that can save
money, time, and resources for police agencies. The whole
investigative process can be shortened by the influence of such

analysis on the direction of an investigation, by providing

information that can be used to enhance regular interrogative
strategies and by limiting the contesting of the evidence in court.
In many instances, trials are shortened or the need for a trial is
eliminated altogether, further saving resources that can instead
be deployed elsewhere, both for the police and the broader
justice system. In instances of a guilty plea resulting from
convincing evidence, the benefit is not limited to financial
savings: victims are spared the emotional of reliving the crime
trial.
With the creation of state and national DNA databanks,
investigators have another important tool that can provide
investigative information. Although jurisdictions differ in the
types of offenses that qualify for inclusion in their databanks,
there is no doubt that these resources are helping to solve crimes
that would have otherwise been left unsolved. In England, where
the first national DNA databank was created, samples can be
collected for all offenses on arrest; therefore, England has the
largest per capita databank in the world. As the value of these
databanks has become apparent, legislators continue to broaden
the base of qualifying crimes, and some jurisdictions have
enacted legislation requiring samples from all felons.
The benefit of Canadas National DNA Databank was
demonstrated within months of its creation. A murder case that
had remained unsolved for 12 years and had encompassed more
than 1,000 suspects was reinvestigated due to the advent of the
DNA databank. When the perpetrators DNA profile was loaded
into the databank as a result of his incarceration from an
unrelated conviction, police investigators were provided with the
information with which to solve the crime. Due to the passage of
time, prosecutors had to rely on the DNA results as the
cornerstone of their evidence at the trial, in which the individual
was found guilty of the murder.
DNA analysis also provides police investigators with not only the
ability to develop leads for current active cases but also the
opportunity to return to older, unsolved investigations. By
working in partnership with scientists in the forensic science
laboratory, investigators can review evidence that might have
been collected for another purpose or that might have been of
limited value when examined by the conventional technologies
available at the time of the original investigation.
One of the difficulties associated with DNA analysis is that if a

sample contains DNA from more than one individual (known as a

mixed profile), the profiles cannot be easily separated, reducing
the overall success of the testing. The solution to this problem
will be aided by the ongoing development and refinement of
computer software to assist scientists in reaching objective and
unbiased interpretations. In the future, continued improvements
in technology will permit laboratories to process more samples
and improve their ability to interpret mixed profiles.
However, a new technique being applied more extensively in
such cases is Y-STR analysis. The Y chromosome is a malespecific identifier, and typing techniques are now available that
develop profiles specific to the male contributor of the DNA. The
advantage of this test is in its high level of sensitivity; the test is
able to generate a profile of a male perpetrator in the presence
of DNA from a female contributor.
Since the introduction of DNA evidence, it has played a key role
in the investigation of numerous crimes; police now rely on DNA
analysis to provide intelligence that was previously unavailable.
The compelling evidentiary value of this technology has resulted
in an increased expectation of impartial scientific evidence in the
courts. It has been used as a part of impartial reviews of post
conviction cases, and its convincing discriminatory ability has
been instrumental in demonstrating support for exonerations and
convictions alike.
Pathology: Forensic pathology is a branch of pathology that
establishes the cause of death by conducting an autopsy on a
body. Coroners usually request that an autopsy be taken out if
there are any discrepancies as to the cause of death, particularly
in cases of criminal law. Forensic pathology can also be used to
identify a body when the cause of death has left a body
unidentifiable by eye.
Pathology is a medical specialty that looks at diseases, and often
they must conduct an examination of a body to discover the
disease. Forensic pathology conducts similar work but is done so
in a legal context.
The history of forensic pathology dates back to 1959 in the USA.
Although there were people performing similar duties prior to this
date, forensic pathology was only officially recognized in this year
by the American Board of Pathology. In Canada, it was only
formally recognized in 2003. A formal training program for those
wishing to study forensic pathology is currently being established
at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.
A forensic pathologist must determine the cause of death,

whether it be a homicide (murder); suicide; accidental or natural

causes. There are various ways that they can establish the cause
of death, and some of the terms that are used in forensic
pathology include: lacerations; incised wound; puncture;
abrasion; contusion; gunshot wound (then if it was a contact,
close range, intermediate range, or distant range).
Lacerations and incised wounds are very similar, and are usually
caused by a blade-like object that may have caused the death in
a criminal manner. A puncture is an injury that may have caused
death by the penetration of a non-blade like object such as an ice
pick. Abrasions are when skin has been cut or scratched at the
surface removing skin. Abrasions may not appear straight away
on a wet body, but once they have been dried in the morgue
refrigerator they may show up. In forensic pathology, a contusion
is a bruise. This can either be internally on the organs or
externally.
The examination of gunshot wounds is an important part of
forensic pathology, and can say a lot about the cause of death.
From an autopsy, forensic pathology can determine what type of
firearm was used, the distance of the victim from the firearm at
the time of shooting, whether the wound is an exit or entrance
wound, and they can also track the projectile through the body.
Forensic pathology is a very hard area of medicine to get into,
and it requires years of study to become qualified. In the USA, it
typical takes 14 years after high school to qualify as a forensic
pathologist. There is also a very high fail rate on courses.

Biometric Facial Recognition: Just like automated fingerprint

identification, facial recognition can provide law enforcement
agencies with a valuable tool for multiple public safety
applications. While fingerprints assure higher rates of accuracy
than face recognition can, facial recognition provides benefits
when fingerprint data does not exist, is not easily shared
between agencies, or when multiple independent verification
methods are desired. Additional applications include identity
verification in the field and intelligence gathering, as well as
crime prevention and investigation.
Since the advent of photography, both government agencies and
private organizations have kept photo collections of people.
Indeed, photos have made their way onto personal identification
documents, from passports to informal membership cards issued
by schools and athletic clubs.
Before the use of computers to recognize faces was even

considered a possibility, facial recognition was already the

subject of a great deal of research. Examples include:
Development of identification line-up techniques in which a
witness is confronted with a group of physically similar people,
one of whom is a suspect. The witness must then decide whether
one of the persons in the group was present at the scene of the
crime or not.
Work done by Bertillon1 on face classification. In order to
recognize individuals who were repeatedly arrested, Bertillon
developed means by which portraits could be sorted by common
morphological characteristicsthe specific shapes of the
different parts of the faceand thus an individuals prior photo
could be found without having to resort to browsing through large
collections of portraits. This classification is known as the
portrait parl or spoken portrait.
Facial recognition with good quality images
The first attempts to automate facial recognition started in the
1960s in semi-automated mode. The approach essentially
consisted of checking the correspondence of measurements
between different facial feature locations (the corners of the
eyes, the hair line, etc.) These first attempts were not very
successful as faces are by nature very animated and
measurements between characteristic points are also affected by
viewing orientation.
Toward the end of the 1980s, the development of the eigenfaces2
technique prompted more intense research efforts. This
technique is used to find a face in a photo and to compare
images of faces. Researchers quickly found that facial recognition
was complex but could be simplified by only taking into
consideration images that are similar in terms of orientation,
lighting, expression, and image quality. Research focused on this
problem and, as a means by which to mitigate these challenges,
the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) defined
criteria to obtain controlled portraits and created meaningful test
sets.
In early 2007, the National Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST) published the results of its Face Recognition Vendor Test
(FRVT) 2006. The conclusions were clear. Research had reached a
point where the operational use of facial recognition on highresolution frontal images taken in a controlled environment was
now feasible. Naturally, these results did not put an end to work
on the recognition of facial images captured in controlled
conditions. And while more improvements are expected, facial
recognition has become a biometric technique in its own right.

General facial recognition

Since 2007, research has been focusing on significantly more
difficult problems where faces are not viewed frontally, resolution
is low, or the image quality is poor.With the Multi Biometric Grand
Challenge (MBGC) series of benchmarks, NIST is again seeking to
assess performance and has provided researchers with data that
is representative of real world problems (images and videos of
faces under non-controlled conditions). This heralds the start of a
new era in facial recognition and we can expect to see significant
progress in the coming years.
Criminal Justice Applications
Just like automated fingerprint identification, facial recognition
provides law enforcement and government agencies a way to
manage the records of people of interest. Among other tasks, it
provides an alternate, or additional,method to make sure that
databases do not contain multiple records for a single individual.
While this task is routinely performed by police agencies using
fingerprints, facial recognition provides benefits when fingerprint
data either does not exist or is not easily shared between
agencies:
It allows people to be identified, even when it is not possible to
take fingerprints for physical or legal reasons.
By combining the two biometric techniques, the workload
involved in the verification process is reduced and the efficiency
and accuracy of the process increases.
Indeed, Pierce County Sheriffs Office in Washington state has
demonstrated a previously unimagined accuracy rate of 94% in
the first candidate spot, when using mug photos for automated
facial identification of individuals during the booking process.
Identity checks in the field
With a simple camera and a means of transmission, it is also
possible to check the identity of a person in the field using face
recognition. Police officers equipped with PDAs can quickly
capture facial images and submit search requests to remote
facial recognition systems, quickly determining whether an
individual is known to law enforcement.
ID checks can be carried out on just the face or on both the
fingerprints and the face, if the officer has the required
equipment to take fingerprints. The combination of the two
biometric techniques increases the accuracy of searches and
allows reliable, automated decisions to be sent to the field,
without requiring expert analysis.
Criminal investigations and information
Images are often made available for investigations. These can

come from surveillance videos, a witness camera, Internet sites,

or copies of identification cards.
The first step is to extract the facial images from the available
evidence. In some investigations, hundreds of hours of video
footage are analyzed. The manual approach of searching for
video frames in which faces are visible is a long and painstaking
job. This is why automated assistance is necessary. Current
automated face extraction techniques work well with almost full
frontal views of faces when the video quality is sufficient. The
extraction of side and three-quarter views of faces is an active
area for current research.
Even if the quality of the extracted facial images is highly
variable, it is still possible to compare them with photographs of
persons known to the police. Experience shows that it is already
possible for these searches to solve and correlate crimes.
Investigators in the U.S., Europe, and Australia have scored
numerous hits with high-quality images, such as authentic or
false ID documents or images posted on the Internet. It is
interesting to note that criminal cases have even been solved
using low quality images.
Operational examples where surveillance videos are used exist
but are less common. Indeed, by way of example, images of
individuals caught on video by ATM cameras have been used to
solve crimes. However, they cannot be used to successfully close
investigations if the video only shows the top of the suspects
head or if the images are blurred. Hence, combined advances in
the deployment of video surveillance systems along with
improvements in facial recognition technology should enable
more crimes to be solved using video data in the next few years.
Prevention
Facial recognition can also be used for preventative purposes. For
example, if a database of pedophiles is available, then ID photos
can be used to check whether people who work with children are
in the file, and hence should not be in that environment.
In some cases, facial recognition can also be used to interactively
locate wanted persons in video footage. However, this
application is subject to controversy for several reasons,
including concerns that it may be an infringement of civil
liberties. In any case, it is not currently suited to instances in
which a very small number of persons need to be identified in a
large crowd. Even if this technique were to reach an accuracy
level of 90% of persons actually found with just 0.1% false
identification rate, looking for one person amongst a crowd of
100,000 passers-by would operationally generate 100 false

identifications; this would have a negative impact on the

vigilance of control operators.
On the other hand, interactive facial recognition is already in use
under controlled situations. For example, when travelers
approach border police for a travel document check, facial
biometrics can easily check travel documents and watch lists,
providing passport control officers an opportunity to spend more
time on higher risk travelers.
Identikit:
Sketched portraits have long been used as a method of
identification. At first professional artists drew these sketches
from descriptions from eyewitnesses. However, the quality of
these portraits depended as much on the ability of the artist as it
did on the accuracy of the eyewitness account. Identikit became
widely used after 1959. It used sets of pre-drawn facial features
(such as eyes, mouth and chin shape) that fit together to form a
portrait. Identikit had many advantages over artist-drawn
portraits:
Allowed a realistic image to be constructed at any police
station
Did not depend on the ability or availability of an artist
Allowed various combinations of features to be tried to
trigger the memory of the eyewitnesses
Today, police use computerised versions of identikit. The
computer-composite images are fast can be digitally enhanced to
make them even more realistic and can be three-dimensional.
Some can be incredibly accurate.
3.
a. Describe in detail and discuss (positives and negatives
of) the forensic methods and evidence used in your
chosen case study. Include a timeline/list of events that
took place as the case developed
The forensic method used to help solve the investigation of the
Night Stalker was the use of fingerprint analysis. Ramirez always
left evidence at the crime scene. He often left fingerprints on his
some of his fingerprints, and he always left a pentagram on the
wall.
Positives:

It was helpful in gathering evidence used in criminal trial to find

guilty. Investigators were able to quickly match the fingerprint to
Ramirez.
Negatives:
The accuracy and efficiency of the fingerprint depended on the
proficiency of equipment, lab employees and experience.
They could have found the wrong fingerprint and sent an innocent
person to jail
Since the citizens were on high alert after the amount of violence
and murders happening in the area, they were always attentive.
On the night of August 24 1985, a vigilant teenage boy saw a
suspicious motor vehicle driving through his neighbourhood. He
then wrote down the number plate and reported it to the police.
It just so happened that the Night Stalkers most recent assault
happened in that area that night. The police quickly tracked
down the car, but it had been abandoned. Even though the car
had been abandoned, they found a source of evidence inside the
car: a fingerprint. Using new computer systems, researchers
rapidly matched the fingerprint to Ramirez. After identifying him,
the cops put his name in the media, and within a week Ramirez
was recognised and detained by local residents.
b. Analyse the effectiveness of the forensic method/s and
evidence used by the investigators in the case and
whether or not the crime was solved or whether or not
the case remains open/unsolved, and therefore, why there
may only be existing theories about what happened
The use of fingerprinting was effective because they were able to
catch Ramirez and close all the cases where he was the prime
suspect. With the new development of technology in the 1980s,
the investigators were able to match the print to Ramirez and
quickly convict him.
With the evolution of technology, today the Federal Bureau of
Investigations and many law agencies around the world have be
relying on AFIS (Automated Fingerprint Identification System) for
a speedy fingerprint search database, replacing the old card
search system, which was thoroughly slow and would take days.
The use fingerprint analysis in this investigation was successful as
they caught Ramirez and were able to quickly sentence him for
the murders and assaults he was the suspect of. After they
sentenced him, it would of offered a peace of mind for parents

and friends looking for him, and without the evolution of

technology, they would still be distressed not knowing who had
assaulted and killed their loved one.