By ACFEI Member Dean R. Cauley
C. Certified in Homeland Security Polo (available only to CHS members) (Black, Sizes: M to XXL)—$48
A. ACFEI Jacket (Navy, Sizes: M to XXL)—$60
B. ACFEI Camp Shirts—$55 (Navy, Sizes: S to XXL)
D. ACFEI T-shirt (pictured front & back) (Navy, Sizes: M to XXL)—$24 E. Certified in Homeland Security Jacket (available only to CHS members) (Black, Sizes: M to XXL)—$60 *These jackets run small
H. Certified in Homeland Security T-shirt (available only to CHS members) (Black, Sizes: M to XXL)—$24
F. Certified in Homeland Security Jacket (available only to CHS members) (Black, Sizes: M to XXL)—$60
THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
G. ACFEI Polo (Navy, Sizes: M to XXL)—$48
*Visit www.acfei.com for a full catalog of logo merchandise and to order online! K. Luggage Tag—$5
I. Pen & Letter Opener Set—$12
J. The Forensic Examiner® T-shirt (pictured front & back) Mens: (Black, Sizes: M to XXL)—$24 Womens: (Black, Sizes: M to XL)—$24 (please indicate mens or womens) L. ACFEI Padfolio (pictured front & inside)—$20 M. ACFEI Lapel Pin—$5
N. Pocket Bouillon (Shipping/Engraving Included)—$60
Member Name
Item
Size
Quantity
Total
Member I.D. Number Address City/State/Zip Daytime Phone (
)
Deliver To (Street Address Only): Company Name
Sub-Total Shipping & Handling (See chart on right) Rush Delivery Total
Payment Method (Please do not send cash.) rCheck/Money Order rMastercard/Visa rAm.Express
Address
Credit Card Number
City/State/Zip
Exp. Date
Signature
Shipping Costs: 1 item: $7.50 2 items: $8.75 3 items: $10.25 4 items: $11.75 5 items: $13.25 6 items: $14.75 7 items: $16.50 8 items: $18.25 9 items: $20.00 10 items:$21.75
Order your logo products today! Add $1.75 for each additional item.
Overnight: additional $20.00.
2750 E. Sunshine • Springfield, MO 65804 Phone: (800) 423-9737 • Fax: (417) 881-4702 www.acfei.com
Spring 2007 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER
2007 Editorial Advisory Board
ACFEI Executive Advisory Board Chair of the Executive Board of Advisors: David E. Rosengard, RPh, MD, PhD, MPH, FACFEI, DABFE, DABFM, FACA (apoth.), Chair, American Board of Forensic Medicine Vice Chair of the Executive Board of Advisors: Michael A. Baer, PhD, FACFEI, DABPS, DABFE, DABFM, Chair, American Board Psychological Specialties Members of the Executive Board of Advisors: John H. Bridges III, DSc (Hon.), CHS-V, DABCHS, FACFEI, Chair, American Board for Certification in Homeland Security Michael W. Homick, PhD, CHS-V, DABCHS, Chair, American Board of Law Enforcement Experts James L. Greenstone, EdD, JD, FACFEI, DABECI, DABLEE, DABPS, DABFE, CHS-V, CMI-I, Chair, American Board of Examiners in Crisis Intervention David Albert Hoeltzel, PhD, DABFET, DABFE, Chair, American Board of Forensic Engineering and Technology Brian L. Karasic, DMD, DABFD, DABFM, DABFE, Chair, American Board of Forensic Dentistry J. Bradley Sargent, CPA, CFS, Cr.FA, Chair, American Board of Forensic Accounting Russell R. Rooms, MSN, RN, CMI-III, CFN, Chair, American Board of Forensic Nursing Marilyn J. Nolan, MS, DABFC, Chair, American Board of Forensic Counselors Thomas J. Owen, BA, FACFEI, DABRE, DABFE, Chair, American Board of Recorded Evidence Michael Fitting Karagiozis, DO, MBA, CMI-V, Chair, American Board of Forensic Examiners Daniel S. Guerra, PhD, FACFEI, DABFSW, DABFE, Chair, American Board of Forensic Social Workers
Louay Al-Alousi, MB, ChB, PhD, FRCPath, FRCP(Glasg), FACFE, DMJPath, DABFM, FFFFLM Nicholas G. Apostolou, DBA, DABFA, CPA Larry Barksdale, BS, MA E. Robert Bertolli, OD, FACFEI, CHS-V, CMI-V Kenneth E. Blackstone, BA, MS, CFC David T. Boyd, DBA, CPA, CMA, CFM, Cr.FA Jules Brayman, CPA, CVA, CFD, DABFA John Brick, PhD, MA, DABFE, DABFM Richard C. Brooks, PhD, CGFM, DABFE Steve Cain, MFS, MF--SQD, DABFE, DABRE, FACFE Dennis L. Caputo, MS, DABFET, REM, CEP, CHMM, QEP Donald Geoffrey Carter, PE, DABFET David F. Ciampi, PhD, FACFEI, DABPS Leanne Courtney, BSN, DABFN, DABFE Larry Crumbley, PhD, CPA, DABFE Jean L. Curtit, BS, DC Andrew Neal Dentino, MD, FACFEI, DABFE, DABFM Francisco J. Diaz, MD James A. DiGabriele, DPS, CPA, CFSA, DABFA, Cr.FA, CVA John Shelby DuPont, Jr., DDS, DABFD Scott Fairgrieve, Hons. BSc, MPhil, PhD, FAAFS Edmund Fenton, DBA, CPA, CMA, Cr.FA Per Freitag, PhD, MD, FACFEI, DABFE, DABFM Nicholas Giardino, ScD, DABFE David H. Glusman, CPA, DABFA, CFS, Cr.FA Karen L. Gold, PysD, FACFEI, DABPS Ron Grassi, DC, MS, FACFEI, DABFM James Greenstone, EdD, JD, FACFEI, DABFE, DABFM, DABPS, DABECI Roy C. Grzesiak, PhD, PC Raymond Hanbury, Jr., PhD, DABFE, DABPS James Hanley III, MD, DABFM Nelson Hendler, MD, DABFM David L. Holmes, EdD, BCFE, BCAP, BCPS, BCBS, FACFEI, DABFE, DABPS Leo L. Holzenthal, Jr., PE, DACFE, MSE, BSEE Linda Hopkins, PhD, CFC John R. Hummel, PhD, CHS-III Edward J. Hyman, PhD, FACFEI, DABFE, DABFM, DABPS Zafar M. Iqbal, PhD, FACFEI, DABFE, DABFM Nursine S. Jackson, MSN, RN, DABFN Paul Jerry, MA, C.Psych., PhD, DAPA, DABFC Scott A. Johnson, MA, DABPS, DAACCE Philip Kaushall, PhD, DABFE, DABPS
Eric Kreuter, PhD, CPA, CMA, CFM, DABFA, FACEI, SPHR Ronald G. Lanfranchi, DC, PhD, DABFE, DABFM, DABLEE, CMI-IV Richard Levenson, Jr., PsyD, DABFE, DABPS Monique Levermore, PhD, FACFEI, DABPS Jonathon Lipman, PhD, FACFEI, DABFE, DABPS, DABFM Judith Logue, PhD, FACFEI Jennie Martin-Gall, CMT, CMI-I Mike Meacham, PhD, LCSW, DCSW, DABFSW David Miller, DDS, FACFEI, DABFE, DABFM, DABFD John V. Nyfeler, FAIA, LEED-AP Jacques Ama Okonji, PhD, FACFEI Norva Elaine Osborne, OD, FAAO, CMI-III Terrence O’Shaughnessy, DDS, FACFEI, DABFD George Palermo, MD, FACFEI, DABFE, DABFM Ronald J. Panunto, PE, CFEI, BSEE Larry H. Pastor, MD, FAPA, FACFEI, DABFE, DABFM Theodore G. Phelps, CPA, DABFA Marc Rabinoff, EdD, FACFEI, DABFE Harold F. Risk, PhD, DABPS Susan P. Robbins, PhD, LCSW, DCSW, BCD, LCDC, DFSW, DABFSW Jane R. Rosen-Grandon, PhD, DABFC Douglas Ruben, PhD, FACFEI, DABFE, DABFM, DABPS J. Bradley Sargent, CPA, CFS, Cr.FA, DABFA William Sawyer, PhD, FACFEI, DABFE, DABFM Victoria Schiffler, RN, DABFN John V. Scialli, MD, FAACAP, DFAPA, DABFE, DABFM Howard A. Shaw, MD, DABFM Henry A. Spiller, MS, DABFE, DABA Marylin Stagno, PsyD, RN, DABFE, DABFM, DABPS Richard I. Sternberg, PhD, DABFE, DABPS, FABVE, FFAPP James R. Stone, MD, MBA, CHS-III, DABFE, DABFM Johann F. Szautner, PE, PLS William A. Tobin, MA, DABFET, DABLEE Robert Tovar, BS, MA, DABFE, DABPS, CHS-III Brett C. Trowbirdge, PhD, JD, DABPS Jeff Victoroff, MA, MD, DABFE, DABFM Patricia Ann Wallace, PhD, FACFEI, DABFE, DABFM Raymond Webster, PhD, FACFEI, DABFE, DABFM Dean A. Wideman, MSc, MBA, CFC
Publisher: Robert L. O’Block, MDiv, PhD, PsyD, DMin (rloblock@aol.com) Editor in Chief: Leann Long (editor@acfei.com) Associate Editor: John Lechliter (john@acfei.com) Assistant Editor: Kristin Crowe (kristin@acfei.com) Editorial Intern: Joe Donohue Art Director: Brandon Alms (brandon@acfei.com) Photography: www.istockphoto.com
The Forensic Examiner® (ISSN 1084-5569) is published quarterly by The American College of Forensic Examiners International, Inc. (ACFEI). Annual membership for a year in the American College of Forensic Examiners International is $145. Abstracts of articles published in The Forensic Examiner® appear in National Criminal Justice Reference Service, Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, Criminal Justice Abstracts, Gale Group Publishing’s InfoTrac Database, e-psyche database, and psycINFO database. Periodicals Postage Paid at Springfield, Missouri, and additional mailing offices. ©Copyright 2007 by the American College of Forensic Examiners International. All rights reserved. No part of this work can be distributed or otherwise used without the express permission of the American College of Forensic Examiners International. The views expressed in The Forensic Examiner® are those of the authors and may not reflect the official policies of the American College of Forensic Examiners International.
CONTACT US:
Publication, editorial, and advertising offices of ACFEI, 2750 East Sunshine Street, Springfield, MO 65804. Phone: (417) 881- 3818, Fax: (417) 881- 4702, E-mail: editor@acfei.com. Subscription changes should be sent to ACFEI, 2750 East Sunshine, Springfield, MO 65804.
POSTMASTER:
Send address changes to American College of Forensic Examiners International, 2750 East Sunshine Street, Springfield, MO 65804.
THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
The American College of Forensic Examiners Executive Advisory Boards AMERICAN BOARD OF EXAMINERS IN CRISIS INTERVENTION Chair of the Executive Board of Crisis Intervention Advisors: James L. Greenstone, EdD, JD, FACFEI, DABECI, DABLEE, DABPS, DABFE, CHS-V, CMI-I Vice Chair of the Executive Board of Crisis Intervention Advisors: Sharon C. Leviton, PhD, DABECI Second Vice Chair: Kent Rensin, PhD, DABECI Honorary: Edward S. Rosenbluh, PhD, DABECI (1937-2000) Members of the Executive Board of Crisis Intervention Advisors: Sam D. Bernard, PhD, DABECI John H. Bridges, III, CHS-V Marie Geron, DABECI Major Stephen B. Ijames, BS, FACFEI, DABECI, DABLEE Marilyn Nolan, MS, DABFC David E. Rosengard, RPh, MD, PhD, MPH, FACFEI, DABECI, DABFE, DABFM, FACA AMERICAN BOARD OF FORENSIC ACCOUNTING Chair of the Executive Board of Accounting Advisors: J. Bradley Sargent, CPA, CFS, Cr.FA Members of the Executive Board of Accounting Advisors: Stewart L. Appelrouth, CPA, Cr.FA, CFLM, CVA, DABFA Gary Bloome, CPA D. Larry Crumbley, PhD, CPA, DABFA, Cr.FA James A. DiGabriele, CPA, Cr.FA, DABFA David Firestone, CPA Michael G. Kessler, FACFEI, Cr.FA, DABFA, DABFE Eric A. Kreuter, PhD, CPA, CMA, CFM, FACFEI, DABFA, SPHR Dennis S. Neier, CPA, DABFA Sandi Peters, CPA, Cr.FA AMERICAN BOARD OF FORENSIC COUNSELORS Chair of the Executive Board of Counseling Advisors: Marilyn J. Nolan, MS, DABFC Vice Chair of the Executive Board of Counseling Advisors: Steven M. Crimando, MA, CHS-III Chair Emeritus: Dow R. Pursley, EdD, DABFC Members of the Executive Board of Counseling Advisors: Sandra L. Adams, PhD, DABFC, DABECI Laura Kelley, PhD, DABFC Kathleen Joy Walsh Moore, DABFC, CHS-II DeeAnna Merz Nagel, MEd, LPC Irene Nicolet, MA, DABFC Hirsch L. Silverman, PhD, FACFEI, DABFC, DABFE, DABFM, DABPS William M. Sloane, LLM, PhD, FACFEI, DABFC Gary Smith, MEd, FACFEI, DABFE Ava Gay Taylor, MS, LPC, DABFC AMERICAN BOARD OF FORENSIC DENTISTRY Chair of the Executive Board of Forensic Dentistry: Brian L. Karasic, DMD, DABFD, DABFM, DABFE Members of the Executive Board of Dental Advisors: Bill B. Akpinar, DDS, FACFEI, DABFD, DABFE Stephanie L. Anton-Bettey, DDS, CMI-V Susan A. Bollinger, DDS, CMI-IV, CHS-III Michael H. Chema, DDS, FACFEI, DABFD, DABFE James H. Hutson, DDS, CMI-V, DABFD John P. Irey, DDS, CMI-V Morley M. Lem, DDS, FACFEI, DABFD, DABFM, DABFE John P. LeMaster, DMD, DABFD, CMI-V, CHS-III Jeannine L. Weiss, DDS AMERICAN BOARD OF FORENSIC ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY Chair of the Executive Board of Engineering & Technological Advisors: David Albert Hoeltzel, PhD, DABFET, DABFE Vice Chair: Ben Venktash, MS, PEng, DABFET, DABFE Chair Emeritus: Kandiah Sivakumaran, MS, PE, DABFET Members of the Executive Board of Engineering & Technological Advisors: Nicholas Albergo, DABFET Kyle J. Clark, DABFET Cam Cope, BS, DABFET, DABFE George C. Frank, DABFE Robert K. Kochan, BS, DABFET, DABFE Michael E. Nunez, PhD, PE, DABFET John W. Petrelli, Jr., AIA, NCABB, TAID, DABFET Max L. Porter, PhD, DABFET, DABFE Peter H. Rast, PhD, DABFET, DABFE, DABLEE Ronald G. Schenk, MSc, CHS-III, CMI-I Oliver W. Siebert, PE, DABFET, FACFEI James W. St.Ville, MD, FACFEI, DABFET, DABFM Malcolm H. Skolnick, PhD, JD, FACFEI, DABFET, DABFE AMERICAN BOARD OF FORENSIC EXAMINERS Chair of the Executive Board of Forensic Examiners: Michael Fitting Karagiozis, DO, MBA, CMI-V Chair Emeritus: Zug G. Standing Bear, PhD, FACFEI, DABFE, DABFM
Members of the Executive Board of Forensic Examiners: Jess P. Armine, DC, DABFE, DABFM Phillip F. Asencio-Lane, FACFEI, DABFE John H. Bridges, III, CHS-V, DABCHS Ronna F. Dillon, PhD, DABFE, DABPS, CMI-V, CHS-III Nicholas J. Giardino, ScD, DABFE Bruce H. Gross, PhD, JD, MBA, DABFE, DABFM, FACFEI, DAPA Kenneth M. Gross, DC, DABFE, CMI-I Darrell C. Hawkins, JD, FACFEI, DABFE, DABLEE, CMI-IV, CHS-III Michael W. Homick, PhD, DABCHS, CHS-V John L. Laseter, PhD, FACFEI, DABFE, DABFM, CMI-IV, CHS-III Jonathan J. Lipman, PhD, FACFEI, DABFE, DABFM, DABPS Leonard K. Lucenko, PhD, FACFEI, DABFE Edward M. Perreault, PhD, DABFE Marc A. Rabinoff, EdD, FACFEI, DABFE David E. Rosengard, RPh, MD, PhD, MPH, FACFEI, DABFE, DABFM, FACA Janet M. Schwartz, PhD, FACFEI, DABFE, DABFM, DABPS Richard Sgaglio, PhD, CMI-IV Gere N. Unger, MD, JD, LLM, FACFEI, DABFE, DABFM AMERICAN BOARD OF LAW ENFORCEMENT EXPERTS Chair of the Executive Board of Law Enforcement Advisor: Michael W. Homick, PhD, DABCHS, CHS-V Vice Chair of the American Board of Law Enforcement Experts: Darrell C. Hawkins, JD, DABLEE, DABFE Chair Emeritus: John Muldown, JD, FACFEI, DABLEE Members of the Executive Board of Law Enforcement Advisors: Dickson S. Diamond, MD, DABLEE, DABFE James L. Greenstone, EdD, JD, FACFEI, DABLEE, DABFE, DABFM, DABPS, DABECI, CHS-V, CMI-I Les M. Landau, DO, FACFEI, DABLEE, DABFE, DABFM Ronald Lanfranchi, PhD, DABLEE, DABFE, CMHV, DABFM Henry A. Paine, III, PhD, DABFC John T. Pompi, BA, DABLEE, DABFE David E. Zeldin, MA, FACFEI, DABFE, CHS-III AMERICAN BOARD OF FORENSIC MEDICINE Chair of the Executive Board of Medical Advisors: David E. Rosengard, RPh, MD, PhD, MPH, FACFEI, DABFE, DABFM, FACA (apoth.) Honorary: James H. Carter, MD, FACFEI, DABFM, DABFE Members of the Executive Board of Medical Advisors: Terrance L. Baker, MD, FACFEI, DABFM John Steve Bohannon, MD, CMI-IV Edgar L. Cortes, MD, DABFM, DABFE, CMI-V Albert B. DeFranco, MD, FACFEI, DABFM, DABPS, CMI-V James B. Falterman, Sr., MD, DABFM, DABFE, DABPS, CMI-IV Vijay P. Gupta, PhD, DABFM James S. Harrold, Jr., MD, FACFEI, DABFM, CMI-V Louis W. Irmisch, III, MD, FACFEI, DABFM, DABFE, CMI-V E. Rackley Ivey, MD, FACFEI, DABFM, DABFE, CMI-V Basil Jackson, MD, PhD, ThD, JD, FACFEI, DABFM, DABFE Robert M. Lewis, Jr., MD, CMI-V E. Franklin Livingstone, MD, FAAPM&R, FACFEI, DABFM, DABFE, DAAPM John C. Lyons, MD, BSE, FACFEI, DABFM, DABFET, DABFE, CMI-IV Manijeh K. Nikakhtar, MD, MPH, DABFE, DABPS, CMI-IV, CHS-III Yoshiaki Omura, MD, ScD, FACFEI, DABFE, DABFM Gere N. Unger, MD, JD, LLM, FACFEI, DABFE, DABFM, CMI-V Anna Vertkin, MD, CMI-V Maryann M. Walthier, MD, FACFEI, DABFM, DABFE Cyril Wecht, MD, JD, FACFEI, CMI-V AMERICAN BOARD OF FORENSIC NURSING Chair of the Executive Board of Nursing Advisors: Russell R. Rooms, MSN, RN, CMI-III, CFN, DABFN Vice Chair of the Executive Board of Nursing Advisors: Jamie J. Ferrell, RN, BSN, FACFEI, DABFN, DABFE, CFN Chair Emeritus: Charla Jamerson, RN, BSN, CMI-III Members of the Executive Board of Nursing Advisors: Marilyn Bello, RNC, MS, CMI-V, CFC, CFN, SAFE, DABFN, DABFE J. Sue Champagne, BA, RN, CMI-III Rose Eva Bana Constantino, PhD, JD, RN, FACFEI, DABFN, DABFE, CFN Renae M. Diegel, RN, SANE, CMI-III, CFC, CFN Dianne T. Ditmer, MS, RN, DABFN, CMI-III, CFN Tara Ferguson, LT, RN, NP, CMI-III, CFN Michele R. Groff, PhN, MSN, DABFN, CMI-III, CFN Lo M. Lumsden, ANP, EdD, RN, DABFN Yvonne D. McKoy, PhD, RN, DABFN Suzette Rush-Drake, RN, BSN, PsyD, DABFN, DABFE Elizabeth N. Russell, RN, BSN, CCM, DABFN LeAnn Schlamb, RN-BC, MSN, CFN Sharon L. Walker, MPH, PhD, RN, CFN
AMERICAN BOARD PSYCHOLOGICAL SPECIALTIES Chair of the Executive Board of Psychological Advisors: Michael A. Baer, PhD, FACFEI, DABPS, DABFE, DABFM, CRS, Master Therapist Vice Chair of the Executive Board of Psychological Advisors: Raymond F. Hanbury, Jr., PhD, DABPS, DABFE Chair Emeritus: Carl N. Edwards, PhD, JD, FACFEI, DABPS, DABFE Members of the Executive Board of Psychological Advisors: Carol J. Armstrong, LPC, DABPS Robert J. Barth, PhD, DABPS Alan E. Brooker, PhD, FACFEI, DABPS, DABFE, CMI-III Brian R. Costello, PhD, FACFEI, DABPS, DABFE Ronna F. Dillon, PhD, DABPS, DABFE, CMI-V, CHS-III Douglas P. Gibson, PsyD, DABPS, CMI-V, CHS-III Raymond H. Hamden, PhD, FACFEI, DABPS, DABECI, CMI-V, CHS-V Thomas L. Hustak, PhD, FACFEI, DABPS, DABFE Richard Lewis Levenson, Jr., PsyD, FACFEI, DABPS, DABFE Stephen P. McCary, PhD, JD, DABFE, DABFM, DABPS Douglas H. Ruben, PhD, FACFEI, DABPS, DABFE, DABFM Richard M. Skaff, PsyD, DABPS Charles R. Stern, PhD, DABPS, DABFE, CMI-V Joseph C. Yeager, PhD, DABFE, DABLEE, DABPS AMERICAN BOARD OF RECORDED EVIDENCE Chair of the Executive Board of Recorded Evidence Advisors: Thomas J. Owen, BA, FACFEI, DABRE, DABFE Committees of the American Board of Recorded Evidence Forensic Audio: Ryan Johnson, BA James A. Griffin, DABFE Forensic Voice Identification: Ernst F. W. Alexanderson, BA, MBA, DABRE, DABFE Members of the Executive Board of Recorded Evidence Advisors: Eddy B. Brixen, DABFET Charles K. Deak, BS, DABLEE Michael C. McDermott, JD, DABRE, DABFE Jennifer E. Owen, BA, DABRE, DABFE Lonnie L. Smrkovski, BS, DABRE, DABFE AMERICAN BOARD OF FORENSIC SOCIAL WORKERS Chair of the Executive Board of Social Work Advisors: Daniel S. Guerra, PhD, FACFEI, DABFSW, DABFE Chair Emeritus: Karen M. Zimmerman, MSW, DABFSW, DABFE Members of the Executive Board of Social Work Advisors: Susan L. Burton, MA, MSW, CSW, DABFSW, DABLEE Judith V. Caprez, MSW, DABFSW Peter W. Choate, BS, MSW, DABFSW, DABFE Joan M. Danto, MSW, LCSW, DABFSW, DABFE Douglas E. Fountain, PhD, DABFSW Judith Felton Logue, PhD, FACFEI, DABFSW, DABFE, DABFM, DABPS Michael G. Meacham, PhD, LCSW, DABFSW Kathleen Monahan, DSW, MSW, CFC, DABFE Steven J. Sprengelmeyer, MSW, MA, DABFSW, DABFE AMERICAN BOARD FOR CERTIFICATION IN HOMELAND SECURITY Chair of the Executive Board for Certification in Homeland Security: John H. Bridges, III, D.Sc. (Hon.) CHS-V, CHMM, CSHM, DABCHS Vice Chair of the Executive Board for Certification in Homeland Security: LZ Johnson, Col., Special Forces, U.S. Army (Ret.), CHS-V Members of the Executive Board for Certification in Homeland Security: David N. Appleby, CHS-V, BS, JD Nick Bacon, CHS-V, DABCHS Thomas Baines, MA, MPA, JD, CHS-V, CFC Donna Barbisch, CHS-V, MPH, DHA Brigadier General Robert C.G. Disney, U.S. Army (Ret.), CHS-V, CFSSP Paul P. Donahue, CHS-V, MBA, Cr.FA, CMA, CPP, CBM Ernest R. Frazier, Sr., Esq., CHS-V, DABLEE James L. Greenstone, CHS-V, EdD, JD, FACFEI, DABLEE, DABPS, CMI-I Brigadier General John J. Harty, CHS-V Keith Holtermann, Dr. PH, CHS-V Billy Ray Jackson, ATS, CSC, CHS-V John H. Lombardi, CHS-V, PhD, MBA, NAPS, CST, CSS, CPO, IAPSC, DABFE, DABLEE Lieutenant Colonel David Rosengard, United States Air Force (Ret.), CHS-V, MD, PhD, DABFE, DABFM, DABECI, CMI-V Robert R. Silver, CHS-V, PhD, MS, BS Lt. Colonel Herman C. Statum, United States Army (Ret.), CHS-V, CPP, MS, PI Edward W. Wallace, CHS-V, Detective 1st Grade (Ret.), MA, SCSA, LPI, CFI I & II, CLEI, CTO, CDHSI
Spring 2007 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER
THE
FORENSIC
EXAMINER
The Official Peer-Reviewed Journal of The American College of Forensic Examiners
®
VOLUME 16 • NUMBER 1 • SPRING 2007
Write about a fascinating forensic case. Case studies exploring forensic investigations on any topic, case, or crime—including fraud, theft, murder, historical cases, and any others—are welcome. These case studies could discuss serial killers, famous fraudsters, cold cases, or any other type of case. Case studies should focus on how forensic techniques, tools, and investigations were used to break the case or solve a mystery. These could be cases you’ve worked on or simply cases that fascinate you. Submit an article for peer review. The Forensic Examiner® is always looking for articles on research and new techniques and findings in the various fields of forensics. To submit an article for peer review, or for complete submission guidelines, please visit www.acfei.com or write to editor@acfei.com. How to Submit Whether you wish to submit an article for peer review, a fascinating case or forensic case profile, or an article on a current issue in the field of forensics, send your writing electronically (either in the body of an email or as an attachment) to editor@acfei.com. Or, send in your writing on a disc or CD to Editor, Association Headquarters, 2750 E. Sunshine, Springfield, MO 65804.
Continuing Education Articles
p. 18
p. 26
p. 34
p. 38
p. 44
p. 50
18 Risk Assessment of Civilly Committed Sexually Violent Predators: Static Verses Dynamic Orientations By Dean R. Cauley, PhD, MBA
26
A Behavioral Optometry/Vision Science Perspective on the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus Exam for DUI Enforcement By Eugene R. Bertolli, OD, FACFEI, DABCHS, CMI-V, CHS-V; Constantine Forkiotis, OD, FCOVD, FAAO, CHS-III; Dominic R. Pannone, OD, CMI-V, CHS-III; and Hazel Dawkins
34 Reverse Suspensions By Carlos A. Foresca, MD
38 Explicit Alternative Testing: Applications of the Binomial Probability Distribution to Clinical-Forensic Evaluations By Harold V. Hall, PhD, DABPS, and Jane S. Thompson, PhD
44 The Role of Forensic Auditing Techniques in Restoring Public Trust and Investor Confidence in Financial Information
By Zabihollah Rezaee, PhD, CPA, CMA, CIA, CGFM. and Larry Crumbley, CPA, Cr.FA, CFD, FCPA
50 In the Pursuit of Justice: Audio and Video Recordings—Weapons of Terrorism By Barry Dickey, DABRE
THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
Case Studies/Current Issues Exploring the Mind of a Spy
p. 10
10 56
62
p. 56
p. 64
p. 62
p. 69
p. 72
Inside the Mind of the Mind Hunter: An Interview with Legendary FBI Agent John Douglas Elderly Offenders: Implications for Corrections Personnel By Bruce Gross, PhD, JD, MBA, FACFEI, DABFE, DABPS, DABFM, DAPA
Conducting an Observed Document Examination By Larry C. Liebscher, BA
64
When Woman Kill Together
67
Psychological Profiles of Spies
69
A Sharp Eye in the Autopsy: Profile of Keith Simpson
72
The Importance of Certification: An Expert Panel
p. 67
By Katherine Ramsland, PhD, CMI-V
By Janet M. Schwartz, PhD, DABFE, DABFM, DABPS, FACFEI, CHS-III
By Katherine Ramsland, PhD, CMI-V
Also in This Issue
p. 02
p. 14
p. 76
p. 75
p. 80
p. 81
02 ACFEI and The Forensic Examiner Logo Products 14 Register for the 2007 National Conference in Kansas City, Missouri 75 Register for the 2007 Regional Conference in Dallas, Texas 76 CE Test Pages: 6 Continuing Education Credits in This Issue 80 Publications by ACFEI Members 81 Falsely Accused: Profiles of Individuals Wrongly Accused or Convicted of Crimes ®
The American College of Forensic Examiners International (ACFEI) does not endorse, guarantee, or warrant the credentials, work, or opinions of any individual member. Membership in ACFEI does not constitute the grant of a license or other licensing authority by or on behalf of the organization as to a member’s qualifications, abilities, or expertise. The publications and activities of ACFEI are solely for informative and educational purposes with respect to its members. The opinions and views expressed by the authors, publishers, or presenters are their sole and separate views and opinions and do not necessarily reflect those of ACFEI, nor does ACFEI adopt such opinions or views as its own. The American College of Forensic Examiners International disclaims and does not assume any responsibility or liability with respect to the opinions, views, and factual statements of such authors, publishers, or presenters, nor with respect to any actions, qualifications, or representations of its members or subscriber’s efforts in connection with the application or utilization of any information, suggestions, or recommendations made by ACFEI, or any of its boards, committees, or publications, resources, or activities thereof.
Spring 2007 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER
Welcome New ACFEI Members! Due to space limitations, members’ academic degrees and professional designations are not listed.
Mark Abramson
James M. Clery
Danny Guerra
Jorge A. Mendez
Callie C. Seigler
Keith R. Adams
Bryan D. Copas
James O. Hall
Phyllis J. Miller
Julia A. Shaw
Hussam A. Al-Abed
Cheryl B. Cummings
Rob A. Hawkins
John S. Negus III
Heather Mary Ann
Jennifer Amman
Charles J. Cummiskey
Arthur C. Hayes
Michael E. Nelson
Richard J. Aufderheide
William R. Daniel
Barbara Lenette Hodge-
Michelle A. Neville
Connie Spinelli
Samy A. Azer
Didier Daniellou
William R. Nolan
Nancy L. Susco
Michael E. Balcom
Michael Delph
Erica Y. Holmes
Robert J. Nowlin Jr.
Robert S. Taylor
Marvin Bales
G. Gary Demerjian
Robert B. Hooie
Cheryl A. Oetjen
Alexandra Taylor
Russell A. Beaty
Michael J. DeSantis
Robert M. Hudson
Robert Palma
Warren M. Torchinsky
Rodney P. Blount
Dan P. Dimberio
David Izquierdo
Aeklavya Panjali
Melvin E. Turner
Edward F. Bowe
Helen M. DiScala
Tina Jaeckle
Harold I. Passes
Herman Underwood
Duncan Garve Boyer
Matthew C. Doan
James Changryul Ji
Kathleen Peregrim
Rosemarie A. Urbanski
Charles W. Boylen
Elaine Brook Durham
Amritpal S. Johar
Andrew Poulos
Judy Waldman
Jeff L. Brown
Anthony Egan
Takoma M. Kero
N.K.M. Prasad
Henry S. Walton
Raymond F. Bruzzese
Floyd P. Eisenberg
E. David Ladd
Angelo D. Rainone
Lori F. Werthmiller
Dennis A. Burdette
Mary Espieg-Keet
Ryan E. Lasch
Joseph Ranucci
Arlo E. West
Diane C. Burkart
Kathleen M. Fabregas
Shane T. Lawson
Juan Reyes
Calvin P. Wills
Walter R. Campbell
Carl A. Flecker Jr.
Steve S. Lee
Marissa A. Rich
James C. Wilson Jr.
David L. Cargile
Armand L. Gadoury
William Leiser Jr.
Bobby E. Rogers Jr.
Douglas J. Witsken
Derek Chakos
Debra A. Garner
Anna Helena Lubieniecka
Robert W. Rowald II
Richard G. Woods
Yolanda J. Chavez
Zoraida Garrison
Arthur E. MacMenomay
Llewellyn Rowe Jr.
Wolfgang Ziegler
Mathew K. Cherian
Kimberly R. Goldstein
Todd Makinen
Jerry Saucedo
John V. Ciocca
Eldridge Gordon Jr.
Edmond K. Melville
Allyn R. Schug
Tolton
Smith
Letter to the Editor Dear Editor, I wanted to thank Dr. Robert O’Block and the rest of the association staff for the honor of being recognized at the 2006 ACFEI national conference in Orlando, Florida. I am truly humbled, as the members and leaders of this outstanding organization are all exceptional, highly regarded professionals in their respective disciplines. It is a sincere privilege to actively participate and contribute to the lifelong learning and professional development of forensic nurses by serving on the board. I look forward to continuing to serve and offer educational support to the American Board of Forensic Nursing and the American College of Forensic Examiners. With sincere gratitude, Diane Ditmer, PhD, RN, CFN, DABFN, CMI-III, CHS-III THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
Diane Ditmer
Inside the Mind of the Mind Hunter:
ar y FBI Agent John
Legend An Interview with
Douglas
Meet Criminal Profiler John Douglas at the 2007 ACFEI National Conference! John Douglas, former head of the FBI’s Investigative Support Unit, has hunted some of the most notorious and sadistic criminals of our time: the “trailside killer” in San Francisco, the “Atlanta child murderer,” the “Tylenol poisoner,” the man who hunted prostitutes for sport in the woods of Alaska, and Seattle’s “Green River killer,” a case that nearly ended his own life. 10 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
Despite the FBI’s original lack of support and attempts to ignore his pioneering techniques and methods, he developed the first psychological profile of the Unabomber. He has confronted, interviewed, and studied dozens of serial killers and assassins—including Charles Manson, Sirhan Sirhan, Richard Speck, John Wayne Gacy, David Berkowitz (Son of Sam), and James Earl Ray—to understand their motives and motivations and get inside their minds. He is able to become both predator and prey. He examines a crime scene and creates profiles of the perpetrators, describing their habits and predicting their next moves. Douglas can help build a strategy for interrogating and prosecuting any of the criminals he helped capture. He is a renowned figure in law enforcement and the model for the Scott Glenn character in The Silence of the Lambs. As chief of the FBI’s Investigative Support Unit—the team that tackles the most baffling and senseless of unsolved violent crimes—Douglas ushered in a new age in behavioral science and criminal profiling. After 25 years of service, he has retired and can finally tell his unique and compelling story. And now, you have the opportunity to hear Douglas speak at the 2007 ACFEI National Conference in Kansas City, Missouri! Expanding on his national best sellers, Obsession, Mind Hunter, and Unabomber: On the Trail of America’s Most Wanted Serial Killer, Douglas’ presentation will deliver a fascinating inside look at some of the most intriguing criminal cases of our time. His most recent book, The Anatomy of Motive, analyzes such
notorious criminal minds as Lee Harvey Oswald, Theodore Kaczynski, and Timothy McVeigh and will help you learn how to anticipate potential violent behavior before it’s too late. Drawing from his long and extraordinary career, Douglas will take you inside the cat-andmouse struggle between his elite squad of investigators and a chilling rogues gallery of assailants, a sort of surreal chess game with life-and-death consequences. The Forensic Examiner® interviewed Douglas about his career and his upcoming presentation at the 2007 National ACFEI Conference. You are well known for your exceptional career in criminal profiling. Please tell our readers about your background and how you became a famous FBI profiler. As a child I watched a popular television show called The FBI starring Efrem Zimbalist Jr., who played the part of Inspector Erskine. This show was on television for 9 years (1965–74) and had 240 episodes based on the work of Inspector Erskine, who was all business. He didn’t laugh, didn’t love, and didn’t play. He worked every type of case and flew in a private jet to wherever the action was. In truth, this type of position was non-existent at the time. An FBI agent was, and still is, assigned to 1 of 59 field offices and generally remains in that office unless transferred. Little did I know in 1970 when I joined the FBI, that one day I would actually create a position within the FBI based on Inspector Erskine that would have me traveling throughout the United States and abroad providing on-site consultations in the form of crime analysis and criminal profiling.
As a young FBI agent I enjoyed investigations that included interpersonal violence, cases where the subjects were attempting to avoid prosecution or confinement, and cases where the subjects were fugitives from justice. While the investigations and arrests were fun, I was really interested in learning something about who the subjects were and why they perpetrated their crimes, particularly violent crimes, against innocent people. I obtained graduate degrees in educational psychology, guidance and counseling, and adult education. I enrolled in many abnormal and clinical psychology courses, but while I found the classes interesting, they never addressed the question of motive. Perhaps because the professors teaching those courses had little, if any, experience with the criminal element. In 1977, when I was promoted and transferred to the Behavioral Science Unit at the FBI Academy, I hoped I would learn more about the motives behind criminal behavior. The students (law enforcement officers enrolled in the criminal psychology classes taught at the FBI Academy) and I found the classes entertaining and sometimes humorous, and the instructors received the highest praises each semester from their students. Yet, I still felt there was something missing. None of the instructors had actually gone into prisons and personally asked violent offenders about the specifics of their crimes. I wanted to know about the offenders’ pre-offense behaviors, victim selections, personal backgrounds, motivations, and post offense behaviors and how they were identified so I could apply that information to present-day cases.
Sign up for John Douglas’ Presentation! DATE: October 5th PRICE: $110 Price includes an autographed copy of his upcoming book Inside the Mind of BTK: The True Story Behind 30 Years of Hunting for the Wichita Serial Killer.
SIGN UP AT WWW.ACFEI.COM TODAY!
For more information about John Douglas, visit www.johndouglasmindhunter.com.
Spring 2007 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER 11
By the early 1980s, another colleague and I received a federal grant to conduct research on serial murderers. It seemed obvious to me that to learn from the “experts,” it was necessary to speak with them. My personal mantras in all of my books have always been the following: “To understand the artist, look at the art work.” “Behavior reflects personality.” “The crime is a reflection of the offender.” The above seemed obvious, so I was surprised and amused when some people and organizations began praising this enlightenment into the criminal mind. However, not everyone praised my ideas. Individuals in mental health, probation and parole, and corrections did not like what I was advocating. In sum, all I said was that anyone in such positions of responsibility must not base their findings and conclusions on an offender’s self-reporting. The interview is only one piece of the puzzle. The criminal case, which includes analyzing the complete crime scene and autopsy photos (in the case of a homicide); the autopsy protocol; and law enforcement preliminary reports must all be reviewed, and how the offenders were apprehended must be determined. Relying on self-reporting alone is a disservice to the criminal justice system and threatens those who want to live and work in a safe community. A few years ago on a book tour in New Zealand, I spoke before a group of psychologists and psychiatrists at their institution for the criminally insane. Before I began my lecture I could tell by their body language that they had a problem with me. Apparently, they had read some 12 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
of my books where I criticized making evaluations of an inmate without ever looking at the facts of the case. Their response to me was that by looking at the crime scene photos or reading preliminary police reports they would unfairly pre-judge the patient/inmate. I responded by saying that if they don’t take time to look at those types of case information then they, as mental health professionals, would have no idea to whom they were talking. I told them they cannot and should not rely on self-reporting alone because the bad guys lie. They may not have liked what I said, but that is the truth based on my own experiences. During the span of your career, the progression of criminal profiling made vast advancements. Can you describe your position as an FBI profiler and your role in implementing the expansion of this field? In 1977, when I was transferred to the FBI Academy as a criminal psychology instructor, the criminal profiler position did not exist. After first conducting the research and then passing on what I learned in classes, we began to receive cases for analysis. In 1981 I began creating a criminal profiling program within the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit. During the first year we received approximately 54 cases, and every subsequent year the case load expanded. By the time I retired from the FBI in 1995, we were analyzing more than 1,000 cases a year. When I retired I had 43 employees in my unit. Only 12 of those employees profiled, so it was very stressful for all of us. We had to deal with life and death situations with very short deadlines.
Even today, there are many people who think the FBI only profiles serial murder cases. In reality, the majority of cases are single homicides, and every type of violent crime has been researched and analyzed by profilers. Profiling is not the only investigative tool available. For example, there are some cases where profiling an unknown offender would not be suitable because of the high risk-level of the victim. What could possibly still be provided are proactive techniques: research-based probable cause for search warrants, interview and interrogation techniques, prosecution and defense counseling, and possibly expert testimony. Criminal profiling is a rough line of work. Please describe some of the more difficult aspects of the job. The very nature of profiling violent crimes makes for a highly stressful job. One must be able to identify with both the subject and victim in order to answer the investigative formula of why + how = who. It has been my experience that if a profiler uses the defense mechanism of “isolation of affect” he or she will not be successful. When I train profilers I tell them they must walk in the shoes of both the subject and victim. You have to experience the feelings and emotions of both. There is danger in this technique. In 1983 I nearly died in Seattle, Washington, while working on the Green River murder case. I was found in my hotel room in a coma caused by a body temperature between 104 and 107 degrees. After 5 days in a coma, I woke up and found myself paralyzed on my left side.
I had viral encephalitis and doctors attributed my weakened immune system to high stress levels. I was later treated for post-traumatic stress disorder. Please describe the most fascinating case of which you have been a part. There have been many interesting and personally rewarding cases in my career. Most recently I was able to interview Dennis Rader, the “BTK Strangler,” whose murders resurfaced after 30 years. I did the original profile in 1979 and later updated it with my colleagues. I briefly wrote and profiled the BTK Strangler in my book Obsession. When I interviewed Rader he told me he read Obsession and personally critiqued my analysis. He said my analysis was very good, but his identification, arrest, and conviction were not attributed to it. In August 2007, Jossey-Bass will be publishing my book on the BTK and during the 2007 ACFEI National Conference I will be presenting this case along with many others. What else can attendees expect to learn from your presentation at the 2007 ACFEI National Conference? Profiling, in the right hands and with good training, can be a viable investigative tool. Those attending the seminar will have a better appreciation and understanding of the overall profiling process. Criminal profiling is not accurately portrayed in the movies or on television. Attendees will learn the process of criminal profiling, and I will demonstrate that criminal investigative analysis is very similar to a physician’s act of diagnosing a patient with an unknown illness or disease. Both the medical doctor and
criminal profiler can be wrong at times. We are only as good as the information provided to us for analysis. Unfortunately, not every case investigated is a perfect one, but it is important to recognize the imperfections and consider them in the overall analysis.
Sign up for John Douglas’ Presentation!
ACFEI is made up of members from a wide array of forensic backgrounds. How will your presentation relate to all attendees’ professions? In the past I’ve spoken to college students, physicians, lawyers, school teachers, nurses, stock brokers, sales personnel, and many other persons from a variety of occupations. At the very least the audience will be entertained in a forensic area with which most are not intimately familiar. Others will find that the seminar will have direct application to their forensic specialty. I hope that everyone attending the seminar will take the information provided, digest it, and then apply it, not only to their work, but also to their lives.
PRICE: $110
Douglas will speak October 5, 2007, at the Hyatt Regency in Kansas City, Missouri. Don’t miss your opportunity to learn from this distinguished criminal profiler. There will also be many other in-depth presentations, networking opportunities, and many more exciting events at the 2007 National Conference. To register call toll free (800) 4239737 or go online to www.acfei.com/ conference.php. See you in Kansas City!
DATE: October 5th
Price includes an autographed copy of his upcoming book Inside the Mind of BTK: The True Story Behind 30 Years of Hunting for the Wichita Serial Killer.
SIGN UP AT WWW.ACFEI.COM TODAY!
For more information about John Douglas, visit www.johndouglasmindhunter.com.
Spring 2007 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER 13
** SAVE 30% when you register for the CHS Conference and the ACFEI, APA, or AAIM Conference **
2007 NATIONAL CONFERENCE/AWARDS BANQUET Kansas City, Missouri • Hyatt Regency • October 2007
JOHN DOUGLAS
October 1–2, 2007
Historical Behavioral Profiler FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5TH.
CHS CERTIFICATION CONFERENCE REGISTRATION The Certified in Homeland Security (CHS) Levels IV & V Certification Conference
See page 10 for more details.
❑ CHS-IV: Incident Awareness, Response, and Terrorism (Monday, October 1, 2007)
$425
❑ CHS-V: CBRNE (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosives) Preparedness (Tuesday, October 2, 2007)
$495
Note: You must be Certified in Homeland Security at Level III and have completed the IS 700 and IS 800A prerequisites to take the CHS-IV Course and Exam. Upon successful completion of the CHS-IV exam, you will earn CHS-IV status.
You may enroll in both the CHS-IV and CHS-V courses, but you must successfully complete BOTH the CHS-IV and CHS-V courses to earn CHS-V status.
If you are not currently Certified in Homeland Security or need further information, please call (800) 423-9737 or email marianne@acfei.com. The CHS-IV course is also available online; call (800) 423-9737 for more information.
*You may also choose to audit either course. No certification will be awarded for auditing courses.
October 2–4, 2007 CHS NATIONAL CONFERENCE REGISTRATION
❑ The Certified in Homeland Security (CHS) National Conference Early-Early Bird (before 4/18)
Early Bird (before 8/14)
Regular (before 10/1)
Late (10/2 or after)
Totals
CHS Certification Conference Attendee
$245
$245
$245
$245
$
Member
$295
$345
$395
$445
$
Non-Member
$440
$490
$540
$590
$
Life Member (save 10%)
$270
$320
$370
$420
$
Honor Awards Banquet & Reunion Tickets: $50 *no on-site tickets available
(must be purchased in advance by Friday, Sept. 28th)
x $50 = $
# of tickets:
October 4–6, 2007
❑ The American Psychotherapy Association (APA) 2007 National Conference ❑ The American College of Forensic Examiners (ACFEI) 2007 National Conference ❑ The American Association of Integrative Medicine (AAIM) 2007 National Conference
Please check which of the above three associations’ conferences you wish to attend. (Check only one.) Registration with APA, ACFEI, or AAIM grants you full access to the sessions of ALL three associations. However, you will only receive the complimentary conference merchandise for the association with which you register. Early-Early Bird (before 4/18)
Early Bird (before 8/14)
Regular (before 10/1)
Late (10/2 or after)
Totals
CHS Certification Conference Attendee
$245
$245
$245
$245
$
Member
$295
$345
$395
$445
$
Non-Member
$440
$490
$540
$590
$
Life Member (save 10%)
$270
$320
$370
$420
$
Honor Awards Banquet & Reunion Tickets: $50 *no on-site tickets available
(must be purchased in advance by Friday, Sept. 28th)
Members who wish to stay at the Hyatt Regency Hotel will receive a special group rate of $139/night. For room reservations call (800) 215-2167. Mention the discount code ACFEI.
# of tickets:
x $50 = $
SUBTOTAL $
** SAVE 30% when you register for the CHS Conference and the ACFEI, APA, or AAIM Conference **
2007 NATIONAL CONFERENCE/AWARDS BANQUET Kansas City, Missouri • Hyatt Regency • October 2007
PAYMENT INFORMATION (Please print or type)
Name
Designation
Address Phone (
Member ID #
City )
Fax (
Honor Award Recipient
See the next page for more details (fee covers preparation of honors award plaque)
State
)
Zip
$39
John Douglas Profiling Workshop See page 10 for more details Friday, October 5th (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.) Price includes an autographed copy of his latest book $110
Inside the Mind of BTK: The True Story Behind 30 Years of Hunting for the Witchita Serial Killer
SUBTOTAL page 1 $ SUBTOTAL page 2 $ TOTAL $ PAYMENT PROCESSING ❑ Check enclosed (payable to Association Headquarters)
Total Amount Due: $
Card Number
Exp
❑ Purchase Order ❑ MasterCard/Visa ❑ Am. Express
Name (as it appears on card) Signature
All requests for cancellation of conference registration must be made to Association Headquarters in writing by fax, mail, or email. Phone cancellations will not be accepted. All cancelled/refunded registrations will be assessed a $50 administrative fee. All refunds will be issued in the form of credit vouchers and are pro-rated as follows: cancellations received 4 or more weeks prior to the conference=100% refund (less $50 administrative fee); cancellations received less than 4 weeks but more than 1 week prior to the conference=50% refund (less $50 administrative fee); cancellations received 1 week or less prior to the conference=no refund. For more information on administrative policies, such as grievances, call (800) 423-9737, ext. 157. The performance of this conference is subject to the acts of God, war, government regulation, disaster, strikes, civil disorder, curtailment of transportation facilities, or any other emergency making it impossible to hold the conference. In the event of such occurrences, credit vouchers will be issued in lieu of cash. Conference schedule is subject to change. Please be prepared to show photo identification upon arrival at the conference. Special Services: ❑ Please check here if you require special accommodations to participate in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Attach a written description of your needs.
You may register online at www.mgmtexec.com FAX YOUR REGISTRATION FORM TO (417) 881-4702 MAIL TO Association Headquarters, 2750 E. Sunshine Springfield, MO 65804 PHONE toll free (800) 423-9737 EMAIL TO conference@mgmtexec.com
HONOR AWARDS REGISTRATION FORM •••••••••••••••••••
You may nominate yourself or another member ••••••••••••••••••• (Please print or type)
Award Nominee
Title
Address Phone (
City )
Fax (
State
)
Zip
Submitted By
Mark one of the following in each of the three categories. Please indicate the reason for your nomination and attach supporting documentation if applicable.
1. Association q APA
q ACFEI
q CHS
q AAIM
2. Boards q q q q q q q q q q q q q q q q
American Board of Forensic Accounting American Board of Forensic Examiners American Board of Forensic Dentistry American Board of Forensic Medicine American Board of Forensic Nursing American Board of Examiners in Crisis Intervention American Board of Psychological Specialties American Board of Recorded Evidence American Board of Forensic Counselors American Board of Forensic Engineering and Technology American Board of Law Enforcement Experts American Board of Forensic Social Workers American Board for Certification in Homeland Security Certified Relationship Advisory Board Executive Advisory Board American Board of Professional Counselors
3. Awards q q q q q q q q q q q q q q q
10 Years of Distinguished Service 15 Years of Distinguished Service 20 Years of Distinguished Service 25 Years of Distinguished Service 30 Years of Distinguished Service 35 Years of Distinguished Service Excellence in Service on the Board Leadership Award Life Member of the Year Member of the Year New Member of the Year Diplomate of the Year Outstanding Achievements Distinguished Contributions Fellow of the Year
Please submit a $39.00 award preparation fee with nomination.
FAX YOUR AWARDS REGISTRATION FORM TODAY to (417) 881-4702 MAIL TO Association Headquarters, 2750 E. Sunshine Springfield, MO 65804 PHONE toll free (800) 423-9737 EMAIL TO conference@mgmtexec.com
Make connections! Advertise and network in The Forensic Examiner ! ®
The Forensic Examiner® is the world’s leading forensic magazine. Read by thousands of professionals working in fields that interface with forensics, The Forensic Examiner® brings together all the forensic disciplines to form one powerful audience for your advertising or networking message.
By ACFEI Member Dean R. Cauley
• The Forensic Examiner® is now available on newsstands across the nation. • Ads are a great way to get more professional referrals or promote your product or service. • Many professionals not only read their copy of The Forensic Examiner®, but they also share it with their colleagues and coworkers and save it for future reference. • Full color ads are available throughout the publication. • Each issue of The Forensic Examiner® has a 3-month shelf life. • ACFEI members receive exclusive discounts on advertisements in the journal.
For more information or to place your ad, call (800) 423-9737 or email advertising@acfei.com.
By Dean R. Cauley, PhD, MBA This article is approved by the following for continuing education credit:
18 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
(ACFEI) The American College of Forensic Examiners International provides this continuing education credit for Diplomates.
Key Words: sex offender, sexually violent predator, civil commitment, static assessment, dynamic assessment
Abstract This article reviews the strengths and limitations of static as well as dynamic risk assessment of sexually violent predators. Static risk assessment is a powerful and useful risk assessment tool when offenders are initially screened for commitment. These are actuarial tools that examine features regarding the offense(s), the history of the offender, and other unchangeable factors relevant to the individual. Dynamic assessment becomes increasingly important as treatment proceeds. Dynamic tools focus on changeable factors, such as insight into the offense, victim empathy, and release plans. Relying on either approach at the wrong time in the assessment process will create serious concerns in the evaluation, as well as in the courts. This article will discuss why each procedure is powerful if used at the correct time and why the two approaches must be viewed as part of a continuum. Risk Assessment in Sexually Violent Predators: Static Versus Dynamic Orientations The civil commitment of sexually violent predators is now enacted as law in 14 states. Those states require that qualified forensic mental health experts conduct a determination of risk, which is the basis on which commitment decisions are reached, both in being referred to commitment as well as being recommended for release. These determinations are, in part, based on clinical opinions. However, the anchoring of that opinion typically rests on actuarial risk assessments. Clinicians use actuarial risk assessments such as the Static-99 (Hanson & Bussiere, 1998; Hanson & Thornton, 1999) the MnSOST-R (Epperson, Kaul, & Hesselton, 1998), or other such devices to determine a probability of future acts of sexual violence. The logistics and the utility of these actuarial devices are the subject of intense debate in the forensic mental health arena. Some authors suggest that actuarial risk assessments are a viable scientific approach to determining the probability of future risk (Doren, 1998; Doren, 2002). Other professionals think the mechanics of the actuarials are based on poor science, weak statistical inferences, and a failure to con-
sider the role of false positives (Campbell, 2004). Still, these devices are often the primary reference tools used in making recommendations for civil commitment throughout the county. When such a recommendation is made, the offender is sent to a civil commitment center until he is determined to no longer present a risk to society or until it is not likely that he will reoffend in a sexually violent manner. At that time, the offender is re-evaluated, often by the same evaluators who interviewed him 10 years ago before commitment. However, as this article will discuss, the actuarial risk assessments previously used no longer have the same level of utility. A new method to reach a determination of risk must be employed because of the effects of extensive treatment. Yet, all too often, the evaluators rely on the old, static tools that cannot make such a determination.
Static Perspectives The orientation of the static risk assessment is based on the outcomes of sex-offender research that explores commonalities related to high-risk groups. Statistical analysis (Hanson & Bussiere, 1998; Epperson et al., 1998) has determined what factors or features appear to be linked to groups that actually commit future sexually violent acts. Through retrospective analysis of sexually violent offenders who have actually reoffended, research uncovers the characteristics, social situations, or criminal histories those offenders had in common. With that knowledge, the evaluator attempts to determine if the person he or she is presently interviewing has similar traits. Hanson and Bussiere (1998) conducted one such meta-analysis with more than 34,000 sexual offenders. After discerning common elements of offenders who did reoffend, the authors isolated those factors with the highest correlation to future risk and used those factors in developing the Static-99. Similarly, Epperson et al. (1998) conducted research that showed elements that correlated with future risk and used the factors with the greatest correlation to develop the MnSOST-R. The MnSOST-R, however, does include such dynamic elements as “conduct in prison”
and “substance abuse treatment in prison,” but these dynamic elements do not apply well to civilly committed offenders. These items become unchangeable when the offender has entered civil detention, and change that is occurring in the civil commitment setting is not assessed. In the static actuarial perspective, the risk items are reduced to the few most powerful correlations to future sexual violence. These items are then given numerical risk values. For instance, on the Static-99, “having ever had male victims” would earn a score of 1. On the MnSOST-R, “committing a sexual crime in a public place” earns a score of 2. All of the items are then added up to arrive at a total numerical value. That number corresponds to a percentage of risk. It is this sequence of scoring and translating the scores into risk probabilities that make these test actuarials. Other devices, such as the HCR-20, have similar items, but they do not translate into a probability of risk. The risk percentage does not predict any single offender’s actual likelihood of risk, but rather the likelihood of risk presented by people who are like him. This is similar to insurance tables showing that a group of 17-year-old males with sports cars have a high risk of accident. However, it does not tell us which 17-year-old will get into an accident. Similarly, if a particular sex offender has similarities to that group of offenders who went on to commit new sexually violent crimes at a rate of 85%, the risk for our particular offender is quite high, and that offender should be viewed with caution. Once these probabilities are determined, they are used in the forensic evaluation to support the decision to recommend or not recommend civil commitment. Typically, the mental health expert denies relying on these outcomes to form an opinion, but will admit that the scores influence that opinion. If the risk of reoffense is “more likely than not,” one would anticipate that the offender would be referred for treatment at a civil commitment facility. When the offender is referred to the facility, he may or may not actually engage in treatment. We find nationally the level of civilly detained sexual offenders who are entering into treatment even after the Spring 2007 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER 19
referral is quite low. Also, the actual commitment trial may occur anywhere from 30 days to many years after the referral. In Florida, men at the civil commitment center who were referred in 1999 still had not had a trial by 2005. Only about 35% of the men at that facility have elected to enter into treatment. However, if the offender does elect to enter into treatment either before or after his trial, at some point he will need to be re-evaluated. Either his attorney will make a motion that the offender has reached optimal benefit subsequent to commitment or the offender will go to trial. In these situations, after several years of treatment, the offender must be re-reviewed to determine if he still meets criteria. When the evaluators return to re-assess the sexual offender, often the expert re-administers the same actuarials. However, logic would dictate that unless the test was scored improperly the first time, the score would not change. If the offender was on probation at the time of his offense, committed the crime against a stranger, or used a weapon, his risk is considered high in initial assessments. However, these are items that will never be subject to change. Still, it is common practice to resubmit static actuarial outcomes in the new assessment procedure.
Dynamic Perspective The dynamic perspective focuses on changeable features in the offender’s current life. That is, benefits from treatment, changes in distorted belief systems, understanding of relapse dynamics, and other benefits gained from the treatment process. Because the offender is detained or committed in a secured setting, it is sometimes more difficult to make determinations regarding peer groups, lifestyle instability, and sexual self-control. However, as anyone who has worked in such a facility knows, sexual acting-out is commonplace, alcohol and drug abuse is rampant, and negative peer groups are readily available. Therefore, if the evaluator chooses to conduct a dynamic assessment, all of the material to do so is available. In conducting such an assessment, two pathways can be followed. The first is to rely on dynamic factors found in literature, and the second is to conduct a structured dynamic interview. There is no reason why 20 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
both avenues cannot be followed and presented separately in the written evaluation.
Dynamic Factors from Literature Contributors to the dynamic assessment field have delineated certain domains of risk, and each domain may contain several items. For instance, Hanson and Harris (2000a, 2000b) have identified the domain of “attitudes.” Within that domain the evaluator determines if the offender displays little remorse for victims, sexualizes children, shows attitudes of sexual entitlement, and possesses general antisocial attitudes (see Table 1). All of these items can be discerned even though the offender is housed in a secured setting. Some insight will be found from the treatment notes, more will be gained from disciplinary reports, and even more will be learned with a structured dynamic interview. Hanson and Harris (2000a, 2000b) list five separate domains, with a total of 19 items. When conducting a dynamic assessment, it is advisable to work through this list, adapted into the SONAR (Sex Offender Needs Assessment Rating), as closely as possible. An even greater advantage is found with dynamic items that can be applied to the civilly committed offender—items that are products of treatment. Beech (1998) finds two such domains with eight items. These domains relate to social competency and pro-offending attitudes. All of the items could be affected by treatment, and information on the items comes through treatment notes, interviews with treatment providers, and/or a wellstructured dynamic interview. Even more comprehensive and viable for the civilly committed/detained offender is the work of Thornton (2002), who lists four domains with 10 items. All of these items would be affected by therapy and could be assessed through treatment notes or through interviews. As we would expect, there is a great deal of overlap across these dynamic assessment factors, with all three having a domain of social competence and a domain of pro-offending attitudes (see Table 1). Hanson and Harris (2000a) as well as Thornton list items under a selfmanagement/self-regulation category. The thorough evaluator will be familiar with all three lists and complete all three dynamic assessment protocols during the interview.
Table 1 shows the outcomes of the research conducted by these authors. The dynamic elements found to link to future re-offense are noted along with the features of each domain. The work of Hanson and Harris (2000a, 2000b) comprises the elements of the SONAR (Hanson, 2002; Hanson & Harris, 2000a), with additional items found on the SONAR. As Table 2 shows, the original five stable dynamic domains are on this test, with an additional four acute items. As a cautionary note, all of the tools described in this article require training before being used by any clinician. It is inadvisable to attempt to use these devices without proper training. As noted, the SONAR is a dynamic risk assessment with nine items. Five of those items have to do with issues of intimacy, social influences, attitudes of denial, sexual self-regulation, and general self-regulation. The remaining four items are related to issues of substance abuse, negative moods, anger/hostility, and victim access. These last items would be a little more difficult to apply to the civil commitment setting, as the offender should not have access to alcohol and drugs or to victims. This test shows the two main components of dynamic risk assessment. That is, it shows stable dynamic factors, or issues that are not likely to change quickly. Social associations, issues of self-regulation, and attitudes regarding offending will generally remain constant or stable from day to day. Acute dynamic actors, on the other hand, may change very quickly. Anger, alcohol abuse, or victim access could abruptly shift the offender into a higher-risk scenario. The astute evaluator needs to differentiate between stable and acute dynamic factors. In relapse prevention terminology, the acute dynamic factor would be referred to as the “trigger” or the contextual risk factor (Ward & Beech, 2004). A further consideration is protective factors, which are items that make re-offense unlikely. Viable plans for employment, aftercare or outpatient treatment, family support, and living arrangements are all protective factors. Additionally, external protective factors include probation/parole, drug screening, polygraphs, and curfew or electronic monitoring.
Hanson and Harris (2000a, 2000b)
Beech (1998)
Thornton (2002)
Intimacy Deficits • Grave difficulty establishing meaningful relationships • Poor empathy • Numerous uncommitted relationships
Social Competency • Self esteem • Emotional loneliness • Under assertive • Personal distress (general empathy) • Locus of Control
Socio-affective Functioning • Self esteem • Emotional loneliness • Emotional congruence • Rehearsal of negative emotions • Rminations of anger
Pro-offending Attitudes • Cognitive distortion • Victim empathy distortions • Emotional identification with children
Distorted Attitudes • Rape myths • Justification of sex with children
Social Influences • Negative peer association • Peers support denial • Peers facilitate victim access • Peers with antisocial attitudes Attitudes • Little remorse of victim empathy • Sexualization of children • Sexual entitlement • Antisocial attitudes Sexual Self-regulation • Strong sexual urges • Sexual activity increases social status • Sexual activity mitigates life stress • Negative affect leads to sexual imagery
Sexual Interests
General Self-regulation • Impulsivity • Lifestyle imblance/substance abuse • Non-compliance with supervision • No avoidance of high risk situations
Self-management • Benign control • Aggression control
Table 1: Dynamic Items
When the evaluator examines these dynamic items as listed by the researchers, it is even more reassuring to recognize that each item listed is often supported in isolation by additional researchers. For instance, the issue of “having attitudes tolerant of offending” is listed in all three dynamic assessment lists presented. Also, it has been researched as an isolated item (Bakker & Hudson, 1999; Bumby, 1996; Hanson & Bussiere, 1998; Hanson, Gizzarelli, & Scott, 1994). Emotional loneliness and attachment styles have also been explored (Marshall, 1993; Marshall, Anderson, & Fernandez, 1999; Ward, 1996; Ward, Hudson, & McCormack, 1997). Empathy deficits as a component in sexual violence was researched as a separate item by Cauley (2001), Marshall, and Marshall et al. among others. Therefore, the authors of the dynamic guide support each element of the dynamic assessment, and each item is a stand-alone research item. Of all the
individual elements of such an approach, the issue of “general self regulation” has the highest correlation to future success or failure (Andrews & Bonta, 1995; Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990; Hanson & Bussiere, 1998). Knowing the research on each item in the dynamic assessment helps the evaluator weigh the value and the importance of each item. It also assists in explaining these individual items for a jury.
Structured Dynamic Interview Another approach to the same subject is to conduct a structured dynamic risk assessment interview. Perhaps the most widely used at this time is the Relapse Prevention Interview (Mann, Beckett, Fischer, & Thornton, 1998). Although this structured interview guide is popular with those doing such assessments, it has its limitations. Still, it can direct the evaluator in covering the relevant points of the interview and serves the purpose of guiding the clinician
through the interview. This guide asks specific questions intended to elicit offender responses that will display the offender’s knowledge of relapse prevention, ability to identify high-risk situations, methods of interceding in risk cycles, and relevant input regarding distorted belief systems. This guide will allow the interviewer to touch upon all the critical fields of relapse prevention skills and knowledge. The assumption is that if the offender appears to possess the knowledge of relapse prevention he will employ those skills under the correct scenarios and actually intercede in high-risk scenarios. Knowledge-specific questions are asked regarding attitudes and beliefs, indicators of risk, self-recognition of risk, identification of actuating events or triggers to risk, and the use of mediators such as external support and attachment to the community.
Spring 2007 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER 21
Stable items Intimacy deficits
Score 0 = current lover, no troubles 1 = current lover, troubles 2 = no current lover
Social influences
0 = positive social balance of 2+ 1 = balance of 0 or +1 2 = balance less than zero
Attitudes
0 = no agreement with any 1 = agrees with some 2 = agrees with many
Sexual self-regulation
0 = no entitlement or preoccupations 1 = some entitlement or some sexual preoccupations 2 = strong entitlement or 3 = sexual preoccupations
General self-regulation
0 = no problem 1 = some problem 2 = serious problem
Acute risk factors
Score
Substance abuse
-1 = better 0 = same 1 = worse
Negative mood
-1 = better 0 = same 1 = worse
Anger/hostility
-1 = better 0 = same 1 = worse
Opportunities for victim access
-1 = better 0 = same 1 = more
Total
Table 2: SONAR Scoring Criteria
Empirically Guided Approach The final approach in a dynamic assessment is to blend the two approaches described above. Having a list of empirically validated items that correlate to recidivism as well as conducting a guided clinical interview can accomplish two goals at once. The format of the interview guide will offer a plan for the interview. The questions are presented in a logical flow, and the interviewer can record the responses. The Relapse Prevention Interview (Mann et al., 1998) identifies acceptable and un22 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
acceptable response sets and then offers a score at the end of the interview. When this interview is used in conjunction with the empirically validated items mentioned previously, the insight and the overall cohesiveness of the evaluation becomes more powerful. Now the format of the interview follows the structured interview, but the evaluator is able to key into the empirically validated set of dynamic assessment items. The evaluator can explore the relapse prevention issues as well as the features of the SONAR and the work of Thornton (2002)
all at once. This gives the evaluator the advantage of assessing the understanding and knowledge base of the offender as well as objectively assessing behavioral and social indicators of dynamic concern. Interestingly, the dynamic features on the structured interview guide and the features of the empirically based assessment link in a reassuring way. When one becomes familiar with the items on the guided interview as well as the individual dynamic items found in the research (see Table 1 and Table 2), connections will be found between the two sets of features. These are best displayed by referring to a typical relapse prevention flowchart (See Figure 1). For instance, the items regarding attitudes and beliefs systems as pointed out by Thornton (2002) as well as the SONAR (Hanson, 2002; Hanson & Harris, 2000a) are the same as the internal risk factors that can be found in the relapse prevention model (Figure 1). Environmental issues such as peer group affiliation, ties to the community, and support systems are noted in both the typical relapse prevention flow chart and the dynamic item checklists. In the relapse prevention interview, these environmental factors constitute the external risk factors. The result of the “lifestyle imbalance” found in the SONAR manifests itself as the poor self-efficacy, poor social support, and poor therapeutic ties noted under “ongoing environmental variables.” These items connect to further issues related to mediators or protective features as well as triggers and activators. Following these pathways on the relapse sequence (Figure 1), an investigator will find signs and symptoms of risks such as the use of dis-inhibiters (alcohol and drugs) and emotional issues such as isolation, inadequacy, and helplessness. These issues increase risk and are reflected in both the interview guide based on the offender knowledge base and in the checklists of risk factors. By looking at the objective factors and tying these factors into the relapse progression framework, the evaluators can assess risks and the probability of success. The evaluator now knows the current position of the offender in both the emotional and the knowledge factors and also knows how far along the offender is in the relapse progression sequence. Finally, the mental health
Developmental Issues Historical Facts Other Unchangeable Considerations
Attitudes Beliefs Values Self Efficacy
Internal Pressure Social Messages Life Events Social Inadequacy Dis-inhibitors
Internal Risk Factors
Risk Factors
Static
Environmental Peers External Events Social Messages Reference Groups Stakes in Community
External Risk Factors
Dynamic
Ongoing Environmental Variables
Protective Factors
Mediators Protective Factors
Triggers Activators
Social Support Attachment Social Success Self Efficacy Therapeutic Ties Positive Addictions
Therapeutic
Internal Pre-Triggers Distortions Depression Hopelessness etc.
Insufficient Continues Sequence
External Triggers Actuating Variables
RISK Triggers
External Changes
Motivation Judgement Empathy Internal Resources
Sufficient Use of Social Ties Counseling
External Inhibitors -probation -social relations -therapist
ARVE
No Relapse Continued Success
Violation Reoffense
expert can attempt to predict whether the offender would move along the flowchart in a relapse sequence and whether he possesses the tools and resources that would enable him to successfully intervene. If he were to continue along the progression and fail to successfully intervene, are there external supports, controls, and measures in place to stop the sequence from putting others at risk?
Figure 1: Relapse Sequence/Progression
Static or Dynamic? Caution Suggests the Combined Orientation Static and dynamic assessments each have their appropriate times and places in sexual offender commitment evaluations. When the offender is initially screened, before having received treatment, a good static assessment is the only thing on which the mental health professional has to rely. While the offender may assert change,
there has been no structured intervention, no therapeutic contact, no structured acquisition of knowledge, and no documented observation of investment in treatment. However, after the offender has invested into treatment and gained knowledge as a result, the static assessment becomes less informative and less meaningful. As the offender engages in treatment, begins to acquire the tools of relapse prevention, and invests into a well-structured forensic Spring 2007 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER 23
program, his risk level undergoes a change. In order to re-evaluate the offender after he has been in treatment, a dynamic assessment must occur. However, even at this point the clinician should remain aware of the initial static outcomes. If the offender showed an extraordinary initial risk level, the dynamic assessment must be weighed against that initial risk. Other matters, such as violence, length of offending history, and the predatory nature of the offenses, must also be considered during the dynamic re-evaluation. Therefore, when it comes to static or dynamic evaluations of sexually violent predators, the thorough forensic evaluator will have knowledge of both assessment orientations and use them as two parts of an assessment continuum.
References Andrews, D. A., & Bonta, J. (1995). LSI-R: The level of service inventory—revised. Toronto, Ontario: Multi-Health Systems. Bakker, L., Hudson, S., Wales, D., & Riley, D. (1999). “ . . . And there was light”: An evaluation of the Kia Marama Treatment Programme for New Zealand sex offenders against children. Unpublished manuscript. Christchurch, New Zealand. Beech, A. R. (1998). A psychometric typology of child abusers. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 42(4), 319–339. Bumby, K. M. (1996). Assessing the cognitive distortions of child molesters and rapists: Development and validation of the MOLEST and RAPE scales. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 8, 37–54. Campbell, T. W. (2004) Assessing sex offenders: Problems and pitfalls. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas. Cauley, D. (2001). Facilitating moral development in convicted sexual offenders (Doctoral dissertation, Wayne State University, 2001). Dissertation Abstracts: Published 4/12/02. Doren, D. M. (1998). Recidivism base rates, predictions of sex offender recidivism and the “sexual predator” commitment laws. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 16, 97–114. Doren, D. M. (2002). Evaluating sex offenders: A Manual for civil commitments and beyond. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage. Epperson, D. L., Kaul, J. D., & Hesselton, D. (1998). Minnesota Sex Offender Screening Tool – Revised (MnSOST-R): Development, performance, and recommended risk level cut scores. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Department of Corrections.
24 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
Gottfredson, M. R., & Hirschi, T. (1990). A general theory of crime. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Hanson, R. K., & Harris, A. J. R. (2000a). The Sex Offender Need Assessment Rating (SONAR): A method for measuring change in risk levels. Ottawa, Canada: Canadian Correctional Services. Hanson, K. R., & Harris A. J. R. (2000b). Where should we intervene? Dynamic predictors of sexual offence recidivism. Criminal Justice and Behavior 27, 6–35. Hanson, R. K., & Bussiere, M. T. (1998). Predicting relapse: A meta analysis of sexual offender recidivism studies. Journal of Consulting in Clinical Psychology, 66, 348–362. Hanson, R. K. (2002). Introduction to the special section on dynamic risk assessment of sex offenders. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 14, 99–102. Hanson, K. R., and Thornton, D. (1999). Static 99: Improving actuarial risk assessments for sex offenders. Ottawa, Canada: Canadian Correctional Services. Hanson, R. K., Gizzarelli, R., & Scott, H. (1994). The attitudes of incest offenders: Sexual entitlement and acceptance of sex with children. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 21, 187–202. Mann, R., Beckett, R., Fisher, D., & Thornton, D. (1998). Appendix A–Relapse prevention interview. In D. M. Doren (Ed.), Evaluating sex offenders 2001, (pp. 201–209). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Marshall, W. L. (1993). The role of attachment, intimacy, and loneliness in the etiology and maintenance of sexual offending. Sexual and Marital Therapy, 8, 109–121. Marshall, W. L., Anderson, D., & Fernandez, Y. (1999). Cognitive behavioural treatment of sexual offenders. Chichester, England: John Wiley. Thornton, D. (2002) Constructing and testing a framework for dynamic risk assessment. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 14 ,139–154. Ward, T., & Beech, A. (2004) The etiology of risk: A preliminary model. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 6(4), 271–284. Ward, T., Hudson, S. M., & Marshall, W. L. (1996). Attachment style in sex offenders: A preliminary study. The Journal of Sex Research, 33,17–26. Ward, T., Hudson, S. M., & McCormack, J. (1997). Attachment style, intimacy deficits, and sexual offending. In B. K. Schwartz & H. R. Cellini (Eds.), The sex offenders: New insights, treatment innovations and legal developments (Vol. 2, pp. 2:1–2:14). Kingston, NJ: Civic Research Institute.
About the Author Dean R. Cauley, PhD, MBA, is in private practice in Port Charlotte, Florida. He has been involved in assessing and treating sexual offenders for the past 15 years. For the past 3 years he has worked as an independent evaluator under the Civil Commitment law for sexually violent predators. Prior to this role, Dr. Cauley worked as a clinical team leader at the Florida Civil Commitment Center for Sexually Violent Predators, a position he was offered after being the testing and assessment coordinator at that same facility. In addition, Dr. Cauley also works contractually for the Department of Children and Families, conducting evaluations and offering expert opinion regarding perpetrators of sexual abuse. Before relocating to Florida, he was in private practice in Michigan, holding correctional contracts for the assessment and treatment of parole and probation sexual offenders. Dr. Cauley earned his PhD from Wayne State University in Detroit, publishing his dissertation on the treatment of sexual offenders. His MBA work was completed at Florida Gulf Coast University and focused on the management of health care operations. He has been a member of the American College of Forensic examiners since 2003.
Earn CE Credit To earn CE credit, complete the exam for this article on page 76 or complete the exam online at www.acfei.com (select “Online CE”).
A Behavioral Optometry/Vision Science Perspective on the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus Exam for DUI Enforcement
This article is approved by the following for continuing education credit: (ACFEI) The American College of Forensic Examiners International provides this continuing education credit for Diplomates.
By Eugene R. Bertolli, OD, FACFEI, DABCHS, CMI-V, CHS-V; Constantine J. Forkiotis, OD, FCOVD, FAAO, CHSIII; D. Robert Pannone, OD, CMI-V, CHS-III, and Hazel Dawkins 26 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
Key Words: horizontal gaze nystagmus, impairment, standardized field sobriety tests, driving under the influence
Abstract
Many myths and incomplete information relate to the horizontal gaze nystagmus (HGN) standardized field sobriety test (SFST). This article addresses many of these misconceptions and distortions from a vision science standpoint. Brief reviews of the SFSTs, optometry perspectives on vision science relating to the SFSTs, and ocular findings of drugs follow.
H
orizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN) requires no specialized equipment, is easily learned, and is a reliable, readily applied psychophysical test. It is one of three standardized field sobriety tests (SFSTs). The SFSTs essentially test the skills required to safely operate a motor vehicle. The HGN exam demonstrates the absence or presence of certain characteristics of eye movements that are consistent with the subject being under the influence of depressants, inhalants, or dissociative anesthetics. The HGN exam is designed to determine whether an officer should release a driver or use the results for a probable cause for arrest. Four clues support finding probable cause for a driving under the influence (DUI) arrest. Many devices are available that test and record the eye findings for drug impairment (Acutex, n.d.; MCJ EyeCheck, n.d.) as well as programs for training those who are not law enforcement officers for administering vision drug screenings (Safety Center, n.d.). The military, departments of transportation, and various industries implement eye testing where a drug-free work environment is essential for safety (e.g., construction, chemical labs, federal contractors, etc.) and performance (e.g., banking, casino dealers, etc.). Some parole officers, drug counselors, and even parents are finding the eyes useful in detecting drug impairment (Mockensturm, 2001). The eyes yield physiological information that is highly indicative of impairment due to centrally acting drugs. It is relatively inexpensive and convenient, and it does not present a biohazard or the embarrassment of urine or blood testing. Spring 2007 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER 27
Definition of Nystagmus Nystagmus refers to an oscillation of the eyes. Pendular nystagmus is a back-andforth movement of the eyes at essentially equal speeds. Jerk nystagmus has a slow drifting phase and then a fast corrective phase. The nystagmus in the HGN exam involves a jerk nystagmus that is evident when a target is presented under certain testing conditions. HGN does not appear without a target. A Brief Introduction to the HGN Exam HGN is one of the three standardized field sobriety tests well researched by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSTA), National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and Southern California Research Institute. Sgt. Dick Studdard of the LAPD Motorcycle division was one of the main U.S. sources in beginning observations of the effects of alcohol, and he participated in related studies. Researchers in Finland did extensive studies on many tests for determining impairment from alcohol and certain drugs before the HGN exam became commonplace in the United States. Researchers found that nystagmus testing was most beneficial in detecting a blood alcohol content (BAC) greater than .06 (Penttila, Tenhu, & Kataja, 1971, 1974). Law enforcement officers receive extensive education and training in the SFSTs. The “Walk and Turn” and the “One-Leg Stand” are the other two SFSTs. The Romberg test yields further information. Central nervous system depressants (tranquilizers, barbiturates, alcohol), inhalants, and the dissociative anesthetics such as phencyclidine (PCP) influence most brain and bodily functions, including fine and gross motor nerve systems. That includes oculomotor control such as the ability to follow a moving target and the ability to maintain eye position. The examiner observes the subject’s ability to keep his or her head steady while controlling his or her eyes to follow a moving target 12–15 inches in front of his or her eyes and slightly above eye level. If the subject is unable to maintain the head position in a steady posture and cannot complete the exam, he or she is typically impaired. The sterno cleido mastoid muscles are linked to the eye muscles, so when eye muscle function becomes difficult, the neck muscles 28 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
are often employed as a compensatory action (Forkiotis, 1987). Steps of a Field Sobriety Test Questioning The officer asks about physical defects, sickness, trauma, medications, and recent alcohol use; when the individual started drinking, when he or she was last imbibed, how much he or she drank, etc.
Preparing for the Eye Test The following instructions are given: “I am going to test your eyes. Please remove your glasses.” Uncorrected vision is more than sufficient in following a target. The eye doctor typically performs smooth pursuit testing on patients in the exam room without spectacles—even on patients with the highest prescription lenses. If glasses are not apparent, the examiner asks if contacts are worn. Contact lenses are not typically removed for the HGN testing. They will not fall out of the eye under the testing conditions unless there is an existing problem with the lens/eye relationship. Clinically, contacts do not cause nystagmus. Beginning the Test The examiner gives the driver the following instructions: “Place your feet together with your arms down and at your side. Keep your head still. Move your eyes to follow this target. Do you understand?” The examiner proceeds to demonstrate how the test is done. A penlight target or similar target is sufficient for use, as demonstrated from research and clinical experience. For officer safety considerations, a pencil, pen, or other object that may be used as a weapon is discouraged. The instrument is held 12–15 inches from the eyes, slightly higher than eye level. The lids are tied to the muscles that elevate the eye, allowing a better view of the eyes. Raising the eyes slightly enables this function. It should be noted that the 12- to 15-inch distance allows ease of viewing and provides the officer a safety zone, with space between the examiner and the subject. Being an angular measurement, the actual distance would otherwise seem arbitrary, except that the bulk of research was conducted at that range. The pen light or instrument is moved laterally to the left of the subject in a straight line outward to maximum deviation, back across the midline to the right side maximum deviation, and back to the midline.
Normal Vision Function
The eye doctor, especially the behavioral optometrist, typically assesses the vision system of every patient. Eye-muscle testing is one of the many areas assessed in the eye exam. The behavioral optometrist is particularly interested in the oculo-motor system, from normal performance to the many abnormalities and anomalies. An eye doctor should be aware that the patient might have certain substances in his or her system that may influence the outcome of the eye exam. Substances that influence pupil size, convergence, and focusing may result in a less-than-optimum lens prescription. Some drugs/substances may decrease the intraocular pressures compared to their normal levels. This is important for the glaucoma-screening portion of the exam. If the eye doctor’s exam reveals eye movements consistent with alcohol or certain drugs as well as other physiological findings, that patient should be re-examined when not under the influence and given counsel on substance dependence programs. The eye doctor is also able to determine visual impairment from age-related changes of the eye, such as cataracts, macular degeneration, and other vision difficulties interfering with the safe operation of a motor vehicle. The eye doctor is often requested to perform a medical examiner’s motor vehicle application evaluation of vision performance, or in many states, during an eye exam, to inform the patient and motor vehicle department of any vision-related reason that driving privileges should be suspended. Regarding drugs that influence pupil size, any substance—whether drugs acting on the central nervous system or a topical ocular drug—that causes changes to the individual’s normal pupil state may create visual impairment. For instance, the glaucoma drug pilocarpine will cause miosis (constricted pupil). The patient should be warned that driving under dim illumination might prove difficult. A drug-induced small pupil will create vision difficulties if combined with other ocular health problems such as cataracts. Ocular drugs and other drugs that produce mydriasis will also produce an undesirable effect such as increased glare and decreased acuity and lead to visual fatigue (Wood, 2003). From clinical experience, a person exhibiting a sustained jerk nystagmus at maximum deviation who lacks the ability to smoothly follow a moving stimulus shows a distinct sustained jerk nystagmus before 45 degrees, and his or her nystagmus is more typically resulting from certain drugs, inhalants, or alcohol. (Cerebellar and brainstem disease will often, but not always, exhibit a rebound nystagmus.) These substances influence the brain, particularly the brainstem and cerebellum. Peripheral vision becomes constricted. At near viewing, within 18 inches, the eyes tend to slip apart, but over-convergence occurs at distance viewing, causing space perception and distance judgment to become increasingly difficult (Forkiotis, 1987). Tasks that divide a driver’s attention, such as attending to traffic conditions, roadside signs, and rearview mirrors, become more difficult. If a subject is driving erratically, appears to be impaired, or has difficulty on the SFSTs, whatever the cause of impairment, the driver should be removed from the road until he or she is determined to be a safe driver. Individuals with physical, mental, or visual problems who drink and drive greatly increase their burden of vigilance and fatigue, which may drastically and adversely affect their driving ability. Spring 2007 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER 29
The examiner observes the eyes for smooth pursuit and the ability of the subject to maintain his or her head position. The rate of movement of the target is approximately 2 seconds from center to maximum, or 20 degrees per second. The typical speed of the pursuit system is 30 degrees per second, with some individuals being capable of tracking at 100 degrees per second. The test does not exceed the typical capabilities of the unimpaired individual. The target is moved with two excursions. If the subject is unable to smoothly track the target, one clue is recorded for each eye exhibiting lack of smooth pursuit. The target is then moved for two excursions for each eye to maximum deviation and held for approximately 4 seconds, assessing if there is a distinct and sustained nystagmus at maximum deviation. Notice this is for 4 seconds rather than 30 seconds. About 60% of the population will exhibit nystagmus at maximum deviation if held longer than 30 seconds (Duke-Elder, 1954).
Finding the Onset The next step requires the target to be moved out laterally at a slower pace, looking for the onset of nystagmus. Nystagmus occurring before 45 degrees is consistent with the individual having a minimum of .08 grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood—BAC (blood alcohol concentration)—if alcohol is the only drug. Typically, the closer to the midline the nystagmus appears, the higher the BAC (Southern California Research Institute, 1981). Finding Ocular Clues The SFSTs are administered to not only find the BAC, but also to determine whether ocular signs typical of impairment from alcohol, depressants, inhalants, or PCP exist. If the BAC via breath or blood is less than expected from the HGN, then a depressant, inhalant, or PCP is the likely substance causing the impairment or combination. Scoring consists of one clue for each eye exhibiting lack of smooth pursuit, one clue for each eye that sustains jerk nystagmus at maximum deviation, and one clue for each eye that displays jerk nystagmus before 45 degrees. Vertical gaze nystagmus (VGN) observed along with HGN is consistent with high amounts of depressants, inhalants, or PCP present. VGN, if present, is viewed by moving the target upward. The eyes will beat in a vertical fashion. The 30 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
results are noted, but VGN does not add extra clues (VGN without HGN is typically not from drug/substance, but rather from a pathological problem). HGN is different from most other types of nystagmus. HGN has a slow phase toward the primary position (drifting in the direction of forward), and a fast corrective phase returning into the direction of the target, thus it is a jerk nystagmus. It, unlike most other nystagmus types, requires a target to be followed. It does not require specialized equipment, is easily taught and learned, has been heavily researched, and has been found to be a valid indicator of impairment. Unlike other SFSTs, HGN cannot be diminished with practice. Scoring four or more out of a possible six clues is considered to be a failure. Ten Myths and Misconceptions Some of the misnomers, myths, or halftruths that are perpetuated in cyberspace and through urban legends follow. Research and science shows these to be outright false or not plausible.
Myth One—“My client’s vehicle spun around several times, so he was exhibiting post-rotational nystagmus. This jerk type nystagmus is what the officer saw, not HGN.” This is not plausible. Rotational and postrotational nystagmus are jerk types of nystagmus (Duke-Elder, 1954). During rotation, the vestibular apparatus will induce a jerk nystagmus. When the rotation ceases, the fluid in the semicircular canals continues in motion, stimulating the nystagmus for a short time—again, a jerk nystagmus. Before the officer administers the HGN eye test he is observing the subject. If nystagmus were present without the introduction of a stimulus or target, this would be duly noted. HGN must have a stimulus, and the fast phase of the nystagmus is in the direction of gaze, toward the right when presented in right gaze, and left in the left gaze. Post-rotational nystagmus exists with the fast phase in one direction and is short-lived. Myth Two—“My client did not exhibit HGN, but did have caloric nystagmus. This jerk nystagmus was the result of one ear being in the warm vehicle, and the other exposed to the cold air in the environment.”
This also is not plausible. A 7 degree centigrade (13.4 degrees Fahrenheit) difference from the two vestibular apparati must exist for caloric nystagmus to occur. It takes a determined effort to induce and maintain a 7 degree centigrade temperature differential between the right and left vestibular systems. This is a jerk type nystagmus, and typically is induced in the office of an ear, nose, and throat specialist, using fluid or air introduced into the ear canal. This nystagmus is not as target dependent as HGN is, and the fast phase is toward the warmer ear (Duke-Elder, 1954).
Myth Three—“My client was smoking heavily in the vehicle. Nicotine is known to induce a jerk type nystagmus. This is what my client exhibited, which the officer mistook for HGN.” This is an incomplete-knowledge problem. Nicotine-induced nystagmus (NIN) produces a jerk nystagmus that moves in the vertical meridian, with the fast phase in the upward direction, thus it is an upbeat nystagmus (Sibony, 1987). The officer would not see this without specialized laboratory equipment, because this NIN occurs in the dark, and there is no visual target. Once a target is presented, this nystagmus disappears. In HGN, the nystagmus has the fast phase in the direction of gaze and has to have a target to follow. Myth Four—“My client had a Meniere’s attack. The nystagmus was from this and not HGN.” Individuals who are experiencing a Meniere’s attack are terribly dizzy and unstable on their feet. Meniere’s is a condition involving the hearing and balance apparatus of the ear. Episodes of decreased hearing, buzzing, and fullness in the ear and vertigo are typical presentations of a Meniere’s attack. Attacks may last 1–2 hours, but the nystagmus may sometimes appear 1–2 days afterward. They do have a jerk nystagmus, which most of the time is on the lateral plane. Typically, the fast phase is toward the healthy ear during the attack and is present without the introduction of a target (Hain, 2005; Duke-Elder, 1954). Because HGN has to have a target to follow and the direction of the fast phase changes with the gaze, a Meniere’s attack is discernable from HGN.
Myth Five—“My client ingested a large amount of glycerol. This induced a nystagmus that the officer mistook for HGN.” When certain substances enter the endolymph (fluid in the semicircular canals) and change the specific gravity and when the head is positioned in a certain way, a nystagmus may be created. This jerk nystagmus may be viewed with the eyes open but occurs most easily without fixation or a target. This nystagmus must occur when the head is at an angle relative to the level, putting the semicircular canals in position to induce the effect. Alcohol and glycerol are two of the substances that may induce this (Rietz, 1987). When alcohol is the cause, it is termed positional alcohol nystagmus, type I and II (PAN I & PAN II). Type one (fast phase toward the lower ear) is when the plasma concentration of the foreign substance is higher than the endolymph. Type II (fast phase toward the upper ear) is when the concentration is higher in the endolymph than in the foreign substance. The presence of this phenomenon is not used as an indicator of impairment. The direction of the nystagmus reverses when the concentration balance changes. PAN I- and PAN II-induced positional nystagmus are not target dependent. They occur with head positions not used when administering the HGN eye test. Myth Six—“My client has physiological micro-nystagmus. The officer saw that and thought he saw HGN.” Physiological micro-nystagmus is an extremely small oscillation of the eyes visually fixating a point or target, preventing fatigue of the retinal cells. It is not visible to the naked eye. It is not a jerk nystagmus, as is HGN, and is not mistakable for HGN because HGN is visible to the visually unaided observer or a macroscopic observation, whereas physiological micro-nystagmus is a microscopic phenomenon. Myth Seven—“My client did not have HGN, but had physiological endpoint or a fatigue nystagmus.” Barany, in 1906, showed that fatigue nystagmus occurs in approximately 60% or more of the population if the stimulus is held at the position of maximum deviation (the farpoint of the eye out laterally) for 30 seconds or longer (Duke-Elder, 1954).
Eye Findings Related to Classes of Drugs The Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) program uses specially trained police officers to determine impairment and its causes. The following reviews a small portion of the information gleaned by the 12-step DRE evaluation: • Non-convergence is consistent with the possibility of depressants, alcohol, inhalants, dissociative anesthetics (PCP or analogues), and cannabis. • Horizontal gaze nystagmus is consistent with depressants and inhalants and is pronounced in PCP, but will not be apparent in cannabis alone. • Depressants alone will not exhibit pupil signs except in Soma or Quaaludes, where dilation may be apparent. Pulse rate is normal in depressants except in alcohol or Quaaludes, where it may be elevated. Blood pressure and temperature remain normal. • Vertical gaze nystagmus is found in PCP and in large dosing of depressants and inhalants. (Large dosing of alcohol and orally administered drugs is more likely with the concurrent use of cannabis, which interferes with the emetic response.) • Inhalant use will often result in residue around the nostrils, bad headaches, strange thoughts, euphoria, and distorted perception. Long-term use may lead to organ damage, bone marrow damage, and brain damage. Pulse rate tends to be up and blood pressure may be normal or abnormal. Most inhalants are either volatile hydrocarbons or anesthetic gases. • Cannabis users typically present with red conjunctiva, pupil rebound (difference of 2mm or greater of initial constriction to dilation oscillations under direct light stimulation, with the trend toward dilation), lid tremors, green tinge on back of the tongue, and elevated heart rate. If used alone, no HGN will be present. • Narcotic analgesics, stimulants, psychedelic stimulants, and hallucinogens do not exhibit a decreased near point of convergence or horizontal gaze nystagmus when used alone. They do exhibit pupillary signs. • Miosis (small pupils) is consistent with narcotic analgesic use. Pupils are normally less than 3 millimeters wide and have little reaction to changes in light intensity. Body temperature, pulse rate, and blood pressure are down. Muscle tension is loose, and lids usually droop. • Stimulants, cannabis (high concentration of THC), and psychedelic stimulants will exhibit dilated pupils that are slow to react to changes in light intensity, compared to hallucinogens that may have dilation, but react normally to light. All three categories present with elevated pulse, blood pressure, and temperature. Muscle tension is tense with stimulants, and chronic use exhibits bruxism (grinding the teeth). Evidence of chronic bruxism may be observed in flattened tooth surfaces. Pilo-erection is common with LSD. Spring 2007 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER 31
The portion of the HGN exam where the stimulus is held at maximum deviation is approximately 4 seconds, not 30 seconds, and sustaining nystagmus at maximum deviation is typical with the use of depressants, inhalants, PCP, alcohol, or any combination.
Myth Eight—“My client took an antibiotic, creating a nystagmus that was indistinguishable from HGN.” Many substances are ototoxic/vestibulotoxic (negatively influence the organs of hearing/balance) including aminoglycoside antibiotics, aspirin, quinine, and many more. Tobacco and caffeine may contribute to the condition. These substances and other problems may contribute to problems in the vestibular system, such as labyrinthitis and benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) (Black, Pesznecker, Homer, & Stallings, 2004; Li, 2004), where in certain head positions or changes in head position, dizziness and nystagmus may occur. BPPV nystagmus is easily discerned from HGN. The nystagmus in BPPV can typically be induced via the diagnostic Dix-Hallpike test position (as performed in an ear, nose, and throat specialist’s office) where the individual begins from sitting to supine, with an approximately 20 degree neck extension. The head is then rotated approximately 45 degrees toward the ground. A geotropic (toward the earth) nystagmus occurs with fast phase toward the top of the head, rotating toward earth. Unlike HGN, it is not target dependent. The episode (paroxysmal refers to a sudden episode) typically lasts 20–30 seconds. Trauma or otitis media may also be responsible. Labyrinthitis may create a nystagmus, but it is not head position dependent. These phenomena exist without the presentation of a target, where HGN exists only with a target. Myth Nine—“My client is a diabetic and the officer saw eye problems from the diabetes, not HGN.” When the officer is administering the HGN exam, he or she also establishes whether equal tracking (the eyes teaming together) exists or not. A diabetic with poorly controlled glucose may experience a paralysis of one of the muscles that control the movement of the eye. Commonly, it is the muscle that brings the eye outward that is affected (abducens paresis), resulting in lack of equal tracking. This is quite 32 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
different from nystagmus. If that were the case, the officer would make note. There is a condition called gaze paretic nystagmus that occurs in certain conditions, most typically while an eye muscle paralysis is resolving, but the range of motion is still limited. A nystagmus will appear at a particular position of gaze. Myasthenia Gravis and Grave’s disease are two examples of diseases affecting eye muscle function, and they may be associated with gaze paretic nystagmus (Serra, 2002; Baloh, 1989). Unequal tracking is typically present when gaze paretic nystagmus is from eye muscle problems. Brain stem and cerebellar disease may give an eccentric gaze nystagmus, where the eye is held at a particular gaze. This is best observable under dark conditions with infrared imaging. If asymmetric (right and left position), the lesion is typically on the side of the greater nystagmus. The most common cause of symmetric gaze-evoked nystagmus is depressant drugs, inhalants, alcohol, and PCP (Bardorf, 2005).
Myth Ten—“My client was experiencing nystagmus from a passing train.” Railroad nystagmus, or opto kinetic nystagmus (OKN), is a jerk nystagmus with the fast phase opposite of the direction of travel if something such as a train is passing (Duke-Elder, 1954). It is different from HGN. In HGN, the fast phase is in the direction of gaze. The HGN exam has the subject move his or her eyes following the target to the right and the left, with the fast phase into the corresponding directions. In the situation, if OKN were induced inadvertently in the field, the direction would be in one direction only, opposite of the direction of the moving vehicles. Officers are careful to position the subject in order to eliminate the phenomena as a factor, even though the effect does differ from HGN. Additional Myths In addition to the 10 most common myths aforementioned, other inaccurate claims of nystagmus being indistinguishable from HGN include nystagmus from hyperventilation, sound (Duke-Elder, 1954), galvanic stimulation (Duke-Elder), compression, (Duke-Elder), vibration (Hamann, 1999), head shaking (Hain, 2005), and valsalva (Hain, n.d.). These are associated with nystagmus produced in clinical testing of vestibular anomalies and other diseases, are not target dependent, and are easily dis-
tinguishable. Claims of conditions such as glaucoma, color blindness, rare achromatopsia (Duke-Elder), retinal detachment, and cataracts (infantile) causing nystagmus may be true, with the qualifier that they exist as congenital or in early development, typically associated with impaired vision. It is possible in adulthood that some of these conditions acquired later in life may cause blindness or vision impairment that may lead to nystagmus, but holding a valid driver’s license would be difficult to a sufferer (Duke-Elder). In addition, vision-loss nystagmus is not target dependant. Amblyopia is said to have a nystagmus. There is a nystagmus that may be associated with strabismus (eye turn) and/or amblyopia (lazy eye). This is referred to as latent nystagmus (fusion maldevelopment nystagmus syndrome), where the better eye is occluded and occurs without a target (Duke-Elder). However, under the conditions of the HGN exam, both eyes are open. Again, latent nystagmus is quite different from HGN. Migraines have been said to cause a nystagmus. Some migraines may be thought to have a relationship with the earlier mentioned BPPV, but the nystagmus is not typically dependant upon the presentation of a stimulus (Benson, 2006). Viral illness and/or fever have been said to elicit a nystagmus. (Otitis media may also be associated with fever, see BPPV section.) Opsoclonus is thought to be of viral origin and generates unusual, seemingly random involuntary eye movements looking nothing like HGN (Duke-Elder,1954). Tumors may be another cause of opsoclonus. Myoclonus often accompanies opsoclonus with unusual involuntary limb movement, thus coined “dancing eye, dancing feet” nystagmus. People with multiple sclerosis may have nystagmus, but typically without a stimulus (Lee 2005). Albinism presents with a pendular nystagmus in the horizontal meridian (Duke-Elder; Curtis, 2005) and exists on that horizontal plane in all directions of gaze, both with and without presenting a stimulus. Nystagmus may rarely occur during an epileptic seizure without a target, but it typically ceases with the episode (Loddenkenper & Kotagal, 2005). Naturally occurring nystagmus is found at certain positions of gaze, but not beyond or before a certain point. The individual with this will usually notify the officer. It does not affect smooth pursuit or endpoint nystagmus.
Summary Four or more HGN clues give an indicator of impairment from alcohol, depressants, inhalants, or PCP. Law enforcement officers are thoroughly educated and trained to understand the characteristics and conditions of the clues in HGN, and not merely cursorily trained. Law enforcement personnel are trained to be excellent observers. Anyone can learn HGN, and the authors recommend that school faculty, school nurses, emergency response workers, and students seek instruction on learning the HGN exam. Local civilian police academies are one such resource to learn the skill. Other ocular entities are distinguishable from HGN and usually occur without following a stimulus. Newly acquired nystagmus, unequal tracking of recent onset, or other ocular anomalies alert the officer that a medical situation may be involved. Driving behavior, the roadside interview, and the SFSTs all provide information for the determination. If these evaluations provide probable cause for arrest, the subject is transported to the precinct where the intoxilizer (breath test) is performed. If the results of the intoxilizer are less than what is consistent with the level of impairment, other drugs or substances are suspected, and consequently, the Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) protocol is applied by educated and certified officers. Blood or urine is collected and sent to toxicology to corroborate the DRE exam findings. Some drugs/substances are detected/measured more efficiently under different testing methods: blood, breath, urine, hair, etc. Many factors contribute to the decision to arrest, release, or call for medical assistance. Whether driving behavior is impaired from drugs or medical problems, the situation must be addressed.
References
AcuNetx, Inc. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.eyedynamics.com Baloh, R. (1989, January). Modern nystagmus vestibular testing. Western Journal of Medicine, 150, 59–67. Bardorf, C. (2005, April 5). Nystagmus, acquired. Retrieved August 5, 2006, from www.emedicine.com Benson, A. (2006, June 21). Migraine-associated Vertigo. Retrieved August 5, 2006, from www.emedicine.com Black, F. O., Pesznecker, S. C., Homer, L., & Stallings, V. (2004, May). Benign paroxysmal positional nystagmus. Otology and Neurology, 25(3), 353–358. Curtis, T. (2005, August 5). Nystagmus, congenital. Retrieved from www.emedicine.com Duke-Elder, S. (1954). Textbook of ophthalmology: Volume VII, summary of systemic ophthalmology—General Index. London: Henry Klimpton.
Forkiotis, C. J. (1987). Optometric expertise: The scientific basis for alcohol gaze nystagmus: National standardized behavioral sobriety test procedures (curriculum II) (unknown binding). Santa Anna, CA: Optometric Extension Program Foundation. Hain, T. C. (n.d.). Perilymph fistula. Retrieved August 5, 2006, from www.dizziness-and-balance.com/disorders/unilat/fistula.html Hain, T. C. (2005, November 5). Head shaking nystagmus. Retrieved August 5, 2006, from www.dizziness-andbalance.com/research/hsn/Head Shaking Nystagmus.htm Hamann K. F. (1999). Vibration-induced nystagmus— A sign of vestibular defect. Journal of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology and its Related Specialties, 6(2),74–79. Lee, A. (2005, June 2). Multiple Sclerosis. Retrieved August 5, 2006, from www.emedicine.com Li, J. (2004, November 25). Benign paroxysmal positional nystagmus. Retrieved from www.emedicine.com Loddenkenper, T., & Kotagal, P. (2005). Laterizing signs during seizures in focal epilepsy. Epilepsy and Behavior 7, 117. MCJ EyeCheck, TM. (n.d.). Retrieved August 4, 2006, from http://www.mcjeyecheck.com/ Mockensturm, L. (2001, February). How fatigued truckers can save correctional administrators time and money. Corrections Today, 63. Penttila, A., Tenhu, M., & Kataja, M. (1971). Clinical examination for intoxication in cases of suspected drunken driving, an evaluation of the Finnish system on the basis of 6,839 cases. Statistical Research Bureau of Talja. iso Roobertikatu 20, Helsinki 12, Finland. Penttila, A., Tenhu, M., & Kataja, M. (1974). Examination of alcohol Intoxication in cases of suspected drunken drivers II, a mathematical analysis of the relationship between the results of clinical examination and blood alcohol. Liikenneturva. Iso Roobertinkatu 70, 00120 Helsinki 12, Finland. Rietz, R. (1987, September). Glycerol-induced positional nystagmus in human beings. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surgery, 97(3), 282–287. Safety Center, Inc. (n.d.). Rapid Eye-Check Program. Retrieved August 4, 2006, from www.safetycenter.org/ rapideyecheck.html Serra, A. (2002). Diagnostic value of nystagmus: Spontaneous and induced ocular oscillations. Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry 73, 615–618. Sibony, P. A. (1987, January). Tobacco-induced primaryposition upbeat nystagmus. Ann Neurol, 21(1), 53–58 Southern California Research Institute. (1981, March). Development and field test of psychophysical tests for DWI arrest—final report. Los Angeles, CA. United States Department of Transportation, (1977, June). Psychophysical tests for DWI arrest. Washington, DC. Wood, J. (2003, November). Pupil dilation does affect some aspects of daytime driving. British Journal of Ophthalmology, 87(11), 1387–1390.
Constantine Forkiotis, OD, FCOVD, FAAO, CHS-III, who recently passed away, was presented the George Comstock Award by the Connecticut Association of Optometrists posthumously for contributions to optometry and the community. Dr. Forkiotis practiced behavioral optometry over 50 years and contributed greatly to the field. He was a Connecticut State Police Surgeon for a span of 3 decades (pro bono) providing innovative services for troopers. He was a charter member of the Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) Section, served on the DRE Technical Advisory Panel, and was given the honor of “DRE Ambassador” by the DRE Section of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. The fields of optometry, law enforcement, and forensic science have lost a great friend.
About the Authors
Hazel Dawkins is an editor for major publishers, including Harper & Row and Columbia University Press and has authored several books on vision and behavioral optometry.
Eugene Robert Bertolli, OD, FACFEI, DABCHS, CMI-V, CHS-V, practices behavioral and advanced optometry, diagnoses and treats eye disease, and offers vision therapy services for his patients. He is a Life Fellow in the American College of Forensic Examiners, a Diplomate of the American Board for Certification in Homeland Security, and a Certified Medical Investigator (CMI-V), and he is Certified in Homeland Security (CHS-V).
D. Robert Pannone, OD, CMI-V, CHSIII, is a behavioral optometrist who has been practicing in Norwich, Connecticut, since 1960. He is a member of ACFEI and is a Certified Medical Investigator (CMI-V). He is also Certified in Homeland Security (CHS-III).
Earn CE Credit To earn CE credit, complete the exam for this article on page 76 or complete the exam online at www.acfei.com (select “Online CE”).
Spring 2007 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER 33
Figure 1
REVERSE
SUSPENSIONS
This article is approved by the following for continuing education credit: (ACFEI) The American College of Forensic Examiners International provides this continuing education credit for Diplomates. (CMI) The American College of Forensic Examiners International approves this continuing education program for Certified Medical Investigators. (CFN) The American College of Forensic Examiners International approves this continuing education program for Certified Forensic Nurses.
By Carlos A. Fonseca, MD
Abstract Key Words: positional asphyxia, reverse suspension, crucifixion, hypothermia, ethanol intoxication
Reverse suspension is an unusual cause of death that is rarely reported in forensic literature. The mechanism of death is complicated, as many human studies and animal experiments have demonstrated. Two additional circumstances (ethanol intoxication and hypothermia) have also been mentioned as complicating factors in determining cause of death. This article presents an example of one such unusual death with complicating factors, reviews the literature, and discusses the mechanism, cause, and manner of death.
Introduction Deaths by reverse suspension are rare, with few reports found in the forensic literature (Innaccone, Grochova, Bobrov, Longauer, & Szabo, 2001; Lawler, 1993; Purdue, 1992; Sturner, 1994). In the past decade, several human studies illuminating the adverse physiologic changes regarding the head-down tilt have been conducted that demonstrate significant alterations of the cardiovascular, respiratory, and central nervous systems. Animal experiments suggest that death is mainly due to positional asphyxia in addition to cardiovascular abnormalities and elevated intracranial pressure. All cases of reverse suspension found in forensic literature share common elements with our case report. These commonalties were ethanol intoxication, hypothermia, victim isolation, and the compromising position of body. In all cases, the manner of death was classified as accidental. Figure 1. Victim found in basement. Figure 2. Boot protruding from window of abandoned house.
34 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
Case Report On a cold winter morning in New Jersey, a man saw something unusual on his way to work. Passing in front of an abandoned house, he noticed a man’s boot protruding through a boarded basement window (Figure 2). Looking more closely, the man saw that the subject’s right foot was pinned between a plywood board and window frame. Upon investigation by police and emergency personnel (Figure 1), it was determined that the subject, a 51-year-old homeless alcoholic, was staying inside this abandoned house because of the unusually cold weather and was last seen alive by one of his friends during the previous week. It appeared the subject had detached the sides and lower margin of a board to gain entrance to the residence, entered headfirst, and caught his foot when the board sprang back. Examination at the scene of the partially frozen body revealed the right foot/ankle externally rotated and pinned tightly between the plywood board and the window frame. The body was facing the basement wall with the left lower extremity in extreme abduction, and the decedent’s arms were hanging down just a few inches above the floor. His shirt was pulled up, exposing most of the torso, while a heavy winter jacket was found lying on the floor immediately below the body. The body and room temperatures were recorded at -3.9 and -2.2 degrees Celsius, respectively. No scuff marks were noted on the adjacent concrete wall. The autopsy was delayed 12 hours to allow the body to thaw at room temperature. The decedent was a slim black male, 64 inches tall, weighing 140 pounds. Upon examination, rigidity was absent and lividity was purplish/red, fixed, and predominantly present over the upper body. The face and neck revealed marked congestion without swelling or petechiae. The conjunctivae were congested with few minute petechiae. Sporadic Tardieu spots were present over both supraclavicular areas and around the base of the neck. Both hands showed mild puffiness without trauma. The only remarkable findings on the lower extremities were impact-type abrasions over the right kneecap and over the back of the right knee joint.
Figure 2
Early decomposition and congestion were noted internally. There was minimal swelling with marked congestion of the supraglottic mucosa and epiglottis. The heart weighed 367 grams and showed mild atherosclerotic coronary artery disease and mild left ventricular hypertrophy. The right and left lungs weighed 442 and 404 grams, respectively. Both were well expanded with few parietal and visceral pleural petechial hemorrhages. Congestion and patchy edema were the only findings on sectioning. The liver weighed 1297 grams and was nodular and fibrotic with clear fatty changes. The stomach contained 150 ml of a brownish turbid fluid. There was no evidence of hemorrhage or ulcerations. The brain weighed 1398 grams and reflected a dusky discoloration with mild widening of the gyri and narrowing of the sulci as a representation of mild cerebral edema. The toxicology report was positive for ethanol (blood 0.274%, vitreous 0.114%, brain 0.316%). The cause of death was signed as positional asphyxia having as contributory conditions, hypothermia and ethanol intoxication. The manner of death was classified as accidental because police investigators found no evidence of foul play.
Discussion The potentially harmful effects of headdown tilt (Trendelenburg position) are recognized in patients with cardiac, pulmonary, ocular, and central nervous system pathology (Martin, 1995). Studies involving healthy individuals reported that resting heart rate and left ventricular diastolic volume were significantly reduced (Konar, Latha, & Bhuvaneswaran, 2000) with increment of the sympathetic activation, a result of the orthostatic stress (Diedrich, 1995). Similar cardiovascular changes have been noticed in head-down tilts in infants, but with no significant changes in the respiratory rate (Fifer, Greene, Hurtado, & Myers, 1999). This observation of unchanged respiratory rate can be explained by the short period of time that these infants were subjected to the head-down tilt position. Recent animal experiments have shed light on the mechanism of death (Uchigasaki, Takahashi, & Suzuki, 1999). These experiments were carried out on 14 healthy rabbits anesthetized with sodium pentobarbital. For each rabbit, a catheter was inserted into a femoral artery for continuous monitoring of the blood pressure, in addition to an intra-esophageal cathSpring 2007 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER 35
eter to record the intrathoracic pressure. Electrocardiogram (ECG) and electroencephalogram (EEG) monitoring were conducted as well. The experiment began 4–6 hours after the anesthetic was administered to avoid variable effects from the sodium pentobarbital. Immediately after the rabbits were placed in the head-down position, their respiratory rates increased little with no change in the amplitude of respirations. The amplitude of respiratory movements decreased gradually, with clear changes noted after 12 hours, and then completely ceased with immediate cardiovascular collapse. Their heart rates increased little after the animals were placed in the head-down position. Their blood pressures did not change at the beginning, but showed a gradual decline that was followed by rapid reduction of the amplitude of the respiratory movements. Moreover, the EEGs and ECGs changed minimally during most of the experiment, with steady but fast changes, including ST depression, a few hours before their deaths. Pa O2 increased and CO2 decreased at the beginning, but as the respiratory movements changed, hypoxemia and hypercapnia developed. All animals died between 17 and 44 hours (average of 26 hours) after positioning. Changes in intracranial pressure due to increment of the cerebral venous pressure, and to a lesser degree cerebral edema, have been reported in other animal studies using rabbits in the headdown position (Doi & Kawai, 1998). Several factors interfere with normal respiration during the head-down position. The weight of the arms and shoulder girdles tend to fix the respiratory muscles in inspiration. A similar result is seen in crucifixion, but is more pronounced as the weight of the body, pulling down, stretches the musculature of the arms and shoulders as well as the accessory respiratory muscles (Edwards, Gabel, & Hosmer, 1986). Suspension by the feet, as in the case of this article, produces passive stretching of the abdominal muscles, fixing the chest in inspiration (Purdue, 1992). The increase in intradominal pressure, in addition to the weight of the abdominal viscera, will push the diaphragm into the chest cavity, ef36 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
fectively reducing the lung capacity. This is evident as the respiratory rate increases immediately after the head-down position is adopted (Uchigasaki et al., 1999). In reverse suspension the respiratory muscles tend to be fixed in both inspiration and expiration, which is in direct contrast to crucifixion; deterioration of respiration is directly proportional to muscle fatigue. Therefore, the survival time will
Multiple circumstances, such as isolation of the victim unable to seek help, ethanol intoxication, and environmental exposure, must coincide with the compromising position of the body for
this uncommon type of death to occur. depend on endurance and physical conditioning. Other factors such as obesity with larger intra-abdominal content and greater weight of the arms and shoulder girdles, muscle-wasting conditions, and chest deformities, among others, will hinder the respiratory mechanism, further decreasing the survival time. Other pathological conditions that interfere with normal respiration need to be taken into consideration, not only from the mechanical point of view, but also from the gas exchange, as seen in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Ethanol intoxication and hypothermia, both found in this case, are two conditions commonly reported in these rare cases (Lawler, 1993; Purdue, 1992). Ethanol intoxication impairs judgment and coordination, rendering individuals more susceptible to entrapment in a compromising position and hindering their ability to extricate themselves. Ethanol levels equal or greater than 0.1–0.2 grams/100 ML produce impairment of sensory-motor activity, coordination, and drowsiness. The central nervous system (CNS) is most
affected by ethanol depression. In this case report, the decedent’s blood/brain ratio was 1.1, which is not significantly different than the ratios reported in previous studies (Budd, 1983). It appears that the ethanol brain level does not change significantly with the increased cerebral venous pressure. However, death due to mild/moderate head trauma in which the only anatomical findings were brain swelling in combination with ethanol intoxication has been reported in the forensic literature (Alekasandar, 1999). This forces emphasis on the significant and possible synergistic effects of brain swelling in the head-down position (as seen in this case) and ethanol levels. Hypothermia played a role of uncertain degree in this case report and in the one previously described by Lawler (1993). In both, the cold weather was documented as slightly harsher than average for the month. The trunk was exposed in a similar fashion due to the effects of gravity on the heavy winter clothes and perhaps, as a result of efforts of extrication. The physiological effects of hypothermia are well known to the forensic pathologist. To combat hypothermia, the body will try to decrease heat loss and increase heat production. A first-defense method of heat loss reduction is vasoconstriction of the skin and muscles. Conversely, shivering is a primary mechanism used to increase heat production; an intense reaction having an uncertain degree of interference with normal respiration. All cases of reverse suspension found in the forensic literature, in addition to the one presented in this report, are categorized as accidental deaths. Multiple circumstances, such as isolation of the victim unable to seek help, ethanol intoxication, and environmental exposure, must coincide with the compromising position of the body for this uncommon type of death to occur. No reported cases of homicide or suicide by reverse suspension were described in the forensic publications reviewed by the author. This is most likely due to the lack of knowledge by the general public of these unusual deaths and the complicated conditions required for their culmination.
Conclusion Reverse suspension is multifactorial, with several physiologic derangements acting in a synergistic manner. The principal factor appears to be mechanical asphyxia due to fixation of the respiratory muscles in inspiration/expiration coupled with muscle fatigue and diaphragmatic displacement. Survival time is unclear, with animal models demonstrating death at between 17 and 44 hours. These same animal models, moreover, do not take into account complicating factors such as hypothermia or ethanol intoxication. Hypothermia and ethanol intoxication are contributing factors found alone (Lawler, 1993; Purdue, 1992) or, as in this report, in combination. The degree to which they affect the outcome is an exercise for the pathologist’s discretion. Cardiovascular abnormalities are reported, such as gravitational pooling of blood with impairment of venous return and hypertension. These anomalies are well documented but appear to play a lesser role in the mechanism of death. Increasing intracranial pressure due to decreased venous return, and in a lesser degree cerebral edema, plays an unknown role in this type of death. These changes in combination with ethanol intoxication require further research. Similarly, other medical conditions (COPD, atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, congestive heart failure (CHF), etc.) have to be taken into consideration to evaluate their contributory role in this rare type of death. An increased understanding of reverse suspension deaths requires a commitment by medical examiners and physicians to contribute information based on their respective experience, possibly including cases where the individuals survive. Further research and investigation by other healthcare professionals will help develop an archive and reference database necessary to document this complex and unusual type of death. It is my hope that this article will prompt other health care professionals to document further cases of reverse suspension death.
References Alekasandar, V. (1999). Death due to concussion and alcohol. American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology, 20(1), 6–9. Budd, R. D. (1983). Postmortem brain alcohol levels. Journal of Chromatography, 259, 353–355. Diedrich, A. (1995). Heart rate variability during head down tilt and lower body negative pressure. Journal of Gravitational Physiology, 2(1), 13–14. Doi, M., & Kawai, Y. (1998). Mechanisms of increased intracranial pressure in rabbits exposed to head-down tilt. Japanese Journal of Physiology, 48(1), 63–9. Edwards, W., Gabel, W., & Hosmer, F. (1998). On the physical death of Jesus Christ. Journal of The American Medical Association, 255, 455–1463. Fifer, W. P., Greene, M., Hurtado, A., & Myers, M. (1999). Cardiorespiratory responses to bidirectional tilts in infants. Early Development, 55(3), 265–79. Iannaccone, S., Grochova, Z., Bobrov, N., Longauer, F., Szabo, M. (2001). Ústav súdného lekárstva LF UPJŠ a FN LP Košice [Death in an unusual body position]. Soud Lek, 46(4), 58–61. Konar, D., Latha, R., & Bhuvaneswaran, J. S. (2000). Cardiovascular responses to head-down-body-up postural exercise. Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology, 44(4), 392–400. Lawler, W. (1993). Death by reverse suspension. American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology, 14(1), 87–88. Martin, J. T. (1995). The Trendelenburg position: A review of current slants about head down tilt. American Association of Nurse Anesthetist Journal, 63(1), 29–36. Molnar, G. W. (1946). Survival of hypothermia by men immersed in the ocean. Journal of The American Medical Association, 131, 1045–1050. Purdue, B. (1992). An unusual accidental death from reverse suspension. American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology, 13(2), 108–111. Simpson, K. ( 1953). Exposure to cold-starvation and neglect. Modern Trends in Forensic Medicine. St. Louis, MO: Mosby Co. Sturner, W. (1994). Inverted suspension: The original article. American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology, 5(2), 182. Uchigasaki, S., Takahashi, H., & Suzuki, T. (1999). An experimental study of death in a reverse suspension. American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology, 20(2), 116–119.
About the Author Carlos A. Fonseca, MD, is a forensic pathologist with more than 10 years experience in medicolegal death investigation and forensic autopsies. He is deputy medical examiner at the Morris County Medical Examiner’s Office and assistant medical examiner at the Union County Medical Examiner’s office, both in New Jersey. He was board certified with the American Board of Pathology and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Forensic Examiners. In his professional practice, he performs private autopsies and consultations in criminal and civil cases and provides testimony as an expert witness. Acknowledgements I would like to thank Anne Caccamo and Kevin DeBiasse for their assistance with this paper, and especially Suzanne Levenbach and Melissa Tortorello for their excellent manuscript preparation.
Earn CE Credit To earn CE credit, complete the exam for this article on page 77 or complete the exam online at www.acfei.com (select “Online CE”).
Spring 2007 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER 37
Explicit Alternative Testing:
Applications of the Binomial Probability Distribution to Clinical-Forensic Evaluations
Key Words: Explicit Alternative Testing, binomial probability, faked memory deficits
38 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
This article is approved by the following for continuing education credit: (ACFEI) The American College of Forensic Examiners International provides this continuing education credit for Diplomates. (APA) The American College of Forensic Examiners International is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. ACFEI maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
By Harold V. Hall, PhD, DABPS, and Jane S. Thompson, PhD
Abstract
Experts in the mental health-law interface need to understand that a deception analysis is an essential part of every forensic psychological and neurological evaluation. This article presents the application of forcedchoice testing, also known as Explicit Alternative Testing (EAT), using the binomial probability distribution to detect faked memory deficits. Several methods of calculating the binomial probability in individual cases are presented. Knowledge of these methods will serve to educate and empower the forensic professional in a deception-detecting method of established accuracy.
Introduction Consider the fragments of the following two case studies. In case one, plaintiff JF presented as a right-handed, 35-year-old white married electrician with multiple injuries including a traumatic brain injury (TBI) sustained in a motor vehicle accident a year before evaluation. Despite persisting attention, recall, and executive skill deficiencies, psychometric testing and clinical interviewing suggested the exaggeration of visual recall deficiencies. Forced-choice testing of visual recall skills in a binary format revealed 3 correct responses out of 24. For case two, suspect MT was interrogated for the attempted murder of a woman who was sexually assaulted and stabbed in the abdomen but managed to survive. The victim later identified MT in a lineup after he was seen in the area earlier in the evening. Forced-choice testing consisting of 24 binary questions regarding context/ victim characteristics that only the perpetrator would know yielded 13 correct.
Spring 2007 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER 39
The two aforementioned cases illustrate the use of forced-choice testing as an important adjunctive part of a forensic evaluation. As a first principle, a deception analysis is essential in determining response set and truthfulness of those who are evaluated in any civil, criminal, or clinical context. In particular, faking memory problems is a fundamental concern for mental health professionals in civil-forensic and criminalforensic settings and situations. This article reviews the literature in this area; demonstrates the application of Explicit Alternative Testing (EAT), which has been established as an effective and accurate method for identifying faked memory deficits; and outlines a variety of ways in which binomial probabilities used in the EAT procedure can be calculated.
Empirical Literature on Detecting Malingered Memory Problems Reviews of deception literature suggest a variety of methods used to detect faked memory impairment (Adelman & Howard, 1984; Craine, 1981, 1990; Hall, 1986, 1987; Hall & Poirier, 2001; Hall & Shooter, 1989; Shooter & Hall, 1990). These methods include examining performance across dimensions of individual multidimensional tests (e.g., the WAIS III and WMS-R), comparing profiles of known fakers (e.g., the Smell Identification Test; Doty, 1990), comparing profiles of typical deficiencies in common activities such as recalling over-learned features of one’s history (e.g., Brandt, Rubinksy, & Lassen, 1985), examining excessive Failed-ShouldHave-Passed (FSHP) by comparing easy versus difficult portions of paired-associates testing, evaluating failures on illusory difficult items (e.g., California Memory Test), repeatedly administrating identical or alternative forms of the same test (e.g., Wonderlic Personnel Test, Form A and Form B; the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Form A and Form B); looking for prediction errors on criterion tests (e.g., comparing scores on the Shipley Institute of Living Scale to WAIS-III scores); and applying tests such as the Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM) (Tombaugh, 1996). Explicit Alternative Testing (EAT) has been used to detect faked sensory and recall deficiencies for several decades (Chouinard 40 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
& Rouleau, 1997; Christiansen, Burns, & Montgomery, 2005; Frederick & Crosby, 2000; Grosz & Zimmermann, 1965; Hall & Shooter, 1989; Hall, Shooter, Craine, & Paulsen, 1991; Jackson, Wroblewski, & Ashton, 2000; Pankratz, 1979, 1983, 1988; Pankratz, Fausti, & Peed, 1975; Shooter & Hall, 1990; Theodor & Mandelcorn, 1973). However, no deception-detecting method should be used as a stand-alone decision-maker regarding deception. In the above cases, the persons were administered other tests relevant to deception and distortion of memory. Experience from several thousand civil and criminal cases over 35 years leads the first author to recommend using at least six relevant findings to establish a particular response style. This number is chosen because the probability of finding agreement among six binary tests of deception (i.e., deceiving vs. not deceiving) by chance is .56 = .016, which falls within the generally accepted p < .05 (two-tailed) probability level. Also known as forced-choice, two-alternative, or symptom validity testing, the EAT procedure involves the presentation of sensory stimuli, which the testee denies or affirms he or she can perceive or remember. The studies are designed so that no one should miss the presented objects unless a genuine impairment exists, in which case oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s performance should approximate chance responding (usually half of the items in a binary format). Otherwise, the person is faking. Deviation from chance is typically defined as falling outside the middle 95% of the binomial probability distribution (plus or minus 1.96 standard errors of 50% correct). (A standard error is defined as the standard deviation of the sampling distribution of the mean. Any introductory statistics textbook, such as Understanding Statistics in the Behavioral Sciences (Pagano, 2004), will explain this concept in further detail.) Fakers typically underreport chance responding (Haughton, Lewsley, Wilson, & Williams, 1979; Pankratz, 1988), but the opposite pattern of answering most of the items correctly has also been shown (Hall et al., 1991). In each study previously conducted by the senior author, hit rates from using this one decision rule (outside the range of plus or minus 1.96 standard errors of 50% correct) were significantly above chance:
85% in Hall and Shooter (1989), 95% in Shooter and Hall (1991), and 77% in Hall et al. (1991). The combined overall correct detection rate for 106 subjects instructed to fake across three studies was 83%. These studies also suggested that the 100-item EAT could be reduced to 50 items with no loss in accuracy. A 20-item version of the EAT was reported by Hall (1999, p. 39), providing binomial cutoff values for p < .05 and p < .001. Recently, the authors of this article obtained empirical support for the 20-item version (Hall & Thompson, under review). Seventy subjects were administered a 20-item forced-choice test with differing experimental and control group task procedures. Three decision rules were hypothesized to identify the liars in the experimental group and the innocent members of the control group. Decision rule number one, which used an interval slightly smaller than the 95% confidence interval mentioned above, identified subjects as guilty if their percentage of overall correct answers fell outside of the range of 36%â&#x20AC;&#x201C;64% correct. With this method, 76% of the guilty subjects and 74% of the innocent subjects were correctly identified. Thus, in the two aforementioned cases, using EAT along with other measures, we can come to reasonably accurate conclusions regarding the truthfulness of how subjects represented their claimed visual deficiencies. In case one, it was determined that Plaintiff JF embellished his visual recall problems (i.e., incorrectly answering 21 out of 24 items) and received no compensation as a result, despite his real deficiencies in other neuropsychological dimensions. In case two, suspect MT was released from custody after the EAT, sd he correctly answered about half of the items, which is indicative of guessing. Other information from the interrogation suggested that he was innocent, and another person eventually confessed to the crime. In short, EAT testing proved to be a useful and accurate adjunct to the usual evaluation procedures in both cases.
Methods for Calculating Binomial Probabilities and Using EAT The remainder of this article is devoted to methods of calculating binomial probabilities, which the forensic practitioner may be tempted to ignore in lieu of the simple
expedient of purchasing and following the scoring directions of commercially available tests that are based on the method and are reviewed in books on deception (see Bass, Halligan, & Oakley, 2003; Hall & Poirier, 2001). Aside from the cost, they are limited in reliability and validity, with findings that cannot be generalized beyond the norm group upon which the measures were standardized. More importantly, a basic understanding of the mathematics and logic in determining binomial probabilities cannot be obtained from ready-made testing kits. Thus, an understanding of different ways to calculate the binomial values for a given case may increase the flexibility and comprehensiveness by which the truthtelling of the assessee may be determined. The definition of a binomial population is defined as follows: Divide a population, L, into two mutually exclusive and exhaustive subclasses, A and B, so that the probability that a randomly chosen element from A is P and the probability that it will be from B is 1-P. L is a binomial population. To use a concrete example, say that population L is litigants divided into the two subclasses of A (criminal litigants) and B (civil litigants). If there are 60 criminal and 40 civil litigants, then the probability of randomly choosing a criminal litigant from the population is 60/100 or .60, and the probability of randomly choosing a civil litigant is 1 - .60 = .40. Thus, population L is a binomial population. Many such populations can be found with forensic evaluation methods, which have binary formats with range (0,1). Any two-choice questions such as true/false items are examples of this type of format and will have probability (P) equal to .50, the long-run probability of answering an item correctly by chance. Method 1 Deviation from chance is defined as falling outside the common range of the binomial probability distribution with a certain probability, P. A commonly accepted formula for the probability of outcome x for X equals
P ( x) =
N! π x (1 − π ) N − x x!( N − x)!
x = 0, 1, 2, . . . N,
where N = the number of trials, which, for our purposes is the number of questions asked of the respondent; x = the number of questions answered correctly; and π = the probability of answering an item correctly when guessing. The exclamation point means “factorial,” which indicates that the number before the factorial sign is to be multiplied by every positive integer smaller than itself. For example, 4! = 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 24. For our example with subject JF, N = 24 because he was asked 24 questions, x = 3 because he correctly answered 3 of the questions, and π = .5 because the probability of answering a binary question correctly when guessing will occur half of the time in the long run. Thus, JF’s performance of 3 correct answers out of 24 items would be calculated as follows:
there were 24 trials. The X value, termed the “number of events” (Pagano) stands for the number correct, in this case 3. The chance of getting exactly 3 correct responses out of 24 is reported in the table as .0+, which, for all practical purposes, is indistinguishable from zero. This suggests that JF visually recalled the requested items, but denied his ability to recall most of them. This value is virtually the same as that calculated by the first method. As mentioned under the first method, to obtain the one-tailed probability, the probabilities for all combinations equal to and less than the obtained value (i.e., 3, 2, 1, and 0) are added together. The cumulative value of 3/24 correct would still be exceedingly small.
Method 3 A third way to calculate binomial probabilities is to use the Internet. An Internet search for “binomial probability calculator” will provide a number of choices. One 24! P ( x) = .5 3 (1 − .5) 24−3 = .00012 such site is http://faculty.vassar.edu/lowry/ 3!(24 − 3)! binomialX.html. Near the bottom of the page is the calculator requesting entries for Thus, the chances that JF would correctly n, k, p, and q, where n = the number of identify exactly 3 out of 24 items consist- questions that will be asked of the responing of visual recall if he guessed randomly dent, k = the number correct, p = 0.5 in a is very small, a mere fraction of 1%. binary (e.g., true/false) format, and q = 1 The probability of answering 3 or fewer p, so it is also equal to 0.5 and is calculated items correctly out of 24 by chance needs automatically. For the above example, we to be determined, so the formula should be would enter n = 24, k = 3, and p = 0.5. Hitrepeated for 2 correct answers, 1 correct an- ting “calculate” and scrolling down to the swer, and 0 correct answers. Then all four bottom will provide one- and two-tailed pprobabilities should be added together. In values for “exactly 3” or “3 or fewer” items this example, the combined probabilities correct out of 24. The one-tailed p-value are equal to 0.00014, which is still a frac- for “exactly 3 out of 24” is 0.00012 and is tion of 1%. equal to the first computation performed with method 1. The one-tailed p-value for Method 2 “3 or fewer out of 24” is given as 0.00014, A second way to identify the binomial which is equal to the combined probabiliprobability of a certain number of correct ties of 3, 2, 1, and 0 correct. Again, results answers is to look it up in a binomial dis- agree with the first two methods above and tribution table, which can be found in in- show that the probability of answering troductory statistics books such as Under- 3/24 or fewer correctly when guessing is a standing Statistics in the Behavioral Sciences fraction of 1%. (Pagano, 2004). The appendix of Probability No matter which method is chosen, and Statistics (Mosteller, Rourke, & Thom- it is important to make a decision about as, 1961) contains a binomial distribution whether the subject or client is malingertable relevant to JF’s case (see Table 1). On ing. If the computed probability is very the horizontal row (at the top), the value for small, usually less than .05 when examinthe probability (P) is .50, standing for the ing only 1-tailed p-values, then the probchance of randomly obtaining the correct ability is considered to be outside the range answer in a binary format. On the far left, of random responding (guessing), and the the column value for n is 24, meaning that subject should be identified as “faking Spring 2007 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER 41
n 24
X 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
.01 786 100 022 002 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+
.05 292 369 223 086 024 005 001 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+
.10 080 213 272 221 129 057 020 006 001 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+
.20 005 028 081 140 196 196 155 100 053 024 009 003 001 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+
.30 0+ 002 010 031 069 118 160 176 160 122 079 043 020 008 003 001 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+
.40 0+ 0+ 001 003 010 027 056 096 136 161 161 137 020 061 032 014 005 002 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+
.50 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 001 003 008 021 044 078 117 149 099 149 117 078 044 021 008 003 001 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+
.60 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 002 005 014 032 061 161 137 161 161 136 096 056 027 010 003 001 0+ 0+
.70 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 001 003 008 099 043 079 122 160 176 160 118 069 031 010 002 0+
.80 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 020 003 009 024 053 100 155 196 196 149 081 028 005
.90 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 001 006 020 057 129 221 272 213 080
.95 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 001 005 024 086 223 369 292
.99 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 002 022 190 786
X 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Table 1: The Binomial Distribution for n=24 Trials bad.” Plaintiff JF answered only 3 out of 24 questions correctly. The probability of answering 3 or fewer questions correctly out of 24 is 0.00014, which is clearly less than .05. JF was identified as malingering. MT, on the other hand, answered 13 out of 24 questions correctly. The probability of answering 13 or more questions correctly out of 24 by guessing is 0.4194, clearly greatly than .05. MT was well within the limits of chance responding, which corroborated his innocence.
Additional Case Studies Two additional case studies illustrate the applied usefulness of the EAT procedure. Case Study Number One: Quadrant Analysis To Find a Body A suspected serial-rape murderer, an ex-con with a history of sex crimes, was interrogat42 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
ed by police after he was overheard bragging to others that he raped, killed, and buried a young woman victim in an isolated valley outside of the city in which he resided. He told police that he had never met the victim and that he had never been to the valley. A series of binary questions embedded within the interrogation were designed to test his knowledge of victim characteristics that only the perpetrator would know and topographic features of the valley. In the first series of 20 questions regarding victim characteristics, clothing, and information obtained from family and friends who last saw her, he answered two questions correctly. Thus he affirmed knowledge of the victim by denial. A map of the valley was divided into quadrants with questions designed to test familiarity (by denial) of the topographical features of each section of the valley. The
quadrant he affirmed (by denial) was then broken into four sections, and the same procedure employed, again with 20 questions within each series. After five series of questions, which progressively narrowed the area in which the victim was likely buried, the suspect refused to continue, perhaps because he recognized the intent of the method. The victim was found, however, in the relatively circumscribed area predicted by the perpetrator’s denial of knowledge. He later confessed when confronted with the evidence. In a plea bargain to avoid execution, he was sentenced to four life terms without the possibility of parole. Case Study Number Two: An Innocent Person’s Random Responding During the early portion of the Iraq War, a young trilingual (English, Farsi, and Russian) intelligence officer was suspected of
reading and then stealing the division’s war plans with which he was entrusted to transport between headquarters. A list of 20 binary questions consisting of information only a reader of the plans would yield was formulated with the help of the division intelligence officer. The lieutenant answered 11 of the questions correctly, suggesting random responding. Later, it was determined that the plans were accidentally shredded in the records room, the location where the lieutenant last recalled having the plans.
Summary and Recommendations Emerging literature suggests that a deception analysis should be an essential part of every forensic evaluation. This brief article illustrates how a particular forced-choice testing method termed Explicit Alternative Testing (EAT) can be employed for detecting faked memory deficits. Methods to calculate the binomial probability in particular cases are shown. The readership is encouraged to use EAT as an adjunct in both civil and criminal cases where malingering is suspected. As a final note, the requirement for general agreement within the profession in regard to Frye has been met with the suggested procedures using the binomial distribution in forced-choice paradigms. Daubert standards require the specification of error rates, among other information, and precise error rates can be easily calculated from the guidelines provided. Research in this fascinating area of deception analysis is strongly encouraged. References Adelman, R., & Howard, J. (1984). Expert testimony on malingering: The admissibility of clinical procedures for the detection of deception. Behavioral Science and the Law, 2, 5–19. Bass, C., Halligan, P., & Oakley, D. (2003). Malingering and illness deception. London: Oxford University Press. Brandt, J., Rubinsky, E., & Lassen, G. (1985). Uncovering malingered amnesia. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 44, 502–503. Chouinard, M., & Rouleau, I. (1997). The 48-pictures test: A two-alternative forced-choice recognition test for the detection of malingering. Journal of the International Neuropsychology Society, 3, 545–552. Christiansen, N. D., Burns, G. N., & Montgomery, G. E. (2005). Reconsidering forcedchoice item formats for applicant personality assessment. Human Performance, 18, 267–307.
Craine, J. (1981). Faking on neuropsychological tests. Paper presented at the Hawaii Psychological Association, Honolulu, HI. Craine, J. (1990). Minimizing and denying: A testing approach to feigned amnesia. In Truth or lies: Guidelines for detecting malingering and deception. Workshop conducted by Psychological Consultants and Forest Institute of Professional Psychology, Honolulu, HI. Doty, R. L. (1990). Olfaction. In F. Boller & J. Grafman (Eds.), Handbook of neuropsychology (Vol. 4). Amsterdam: Elsevier. Frederick, R. I., & Crosby, R. D. (2000). Development and validation of the validity indicator profile. Law and Human Behavior, 24, 59–82. Grosz, H., & Zimmerman, J. (1965). Experimental analysis of hysterical blindness: A followup report and new experiment data. Archives of General Psychiatry, 13, 255–260. Hall, H. V. (1986). The forensic distortion analysis: Proposed decision tree and report form. American Journal of Forensic Psychology, 4, 31–59. Hall, H. V. (1987). Violence prediction. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas. Hall, H. V. (Ed.). (1999). Lethal violence: A sourcebook on fatal domestic, acquaintance and stranger violence. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. Hall, H. V., & Poirier, J. G. (2001). Detecting malingering and deception: Forensic distortion analysis. (2nd ed.). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. Hall, H. V., & Shooter, E. (1989). Explicit alternative testing for feigned memory deficits. Forensic Reports, 2, 277–286. Hall, H. V., Shooter, E. A., Craine, J., & Paulsen, S. (1991). Explicit alternative testing: A trilogy of studies on faked memory deficits. Forensic Reports, 4, 259–279. Hall, H. V., & Thompson, J. (under review). Explicit Alternative Testing (EAT): Towards clinical-forensic applications. Haughton, P. M., Lewsley, A., Wilson, M., & Williams, R. G. (1979). A forced-choice procedure to detect feigned or exaggerated hearing loss. British Journal of Audiology, 13, 135–138. Jackson, D. N., Wroblewski, V. R., & Ashton, M. C. (2000). The impact of faking on employment tests: Does forced-choice offer a solution. Human Performance, 13, 371–388. Mosteller, F., Rourke, R. E. K., & Thomas, G. B., Jr. (1961). Probability and statistics. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Pagano, R. R. (2004). Understanding statistics in the behavioral sciences. (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning. Pankratz, L. (1979). Symptom validity testing and symptom retraining: Procedures for the assessment and treatment of functional sensory deficits. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 47, 409–410. Pankratz, L. (1983). A new technique for the assessment and modification of feigned memory deficit. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 57, 367–372. Pankratz, L. (1988). Malingering on intellectual and neuropsychological measures. In R. Rogers (Ed.), Clinical assessment of malingering and decep-
tion (pp.169–182). New York: Guilford Press. Pankratz, L., Fausti, S., & Peed, S. (1975). A forced-choice technique to evaluate deafness in the hysterical or malingering patient. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 43, 421–422. Shooter, E. A., & Hall, H. V. (1990). Explicit alternative testing for deliberate distortion; Toward an abbreviated format. Forensic Reports, 3, 115–119. Theodor, L. H., & Mandelcorn, M. S. (1973). Hysterical blindness: A case report and study using a modern psychophysical technique. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 82, 552–553. Tombaugh, T. N. (1996). TOMM: Test of Memory Malingering. New York: Multi-Health Systems, Inc.
About the Authors Harold V. Hall, PhD, DABPS, is a neuropsychologist and professor of psychology at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. He has written 10 books, including Detecting Malingering and Deception, Second Edition, which was nominated for the Manfried Guttmacher Award of the American Psychiatric Association. Jane Thompson, PhD, received her doctoral degree in quantitative psychology from the University of California at Davis in 2004. She is now on the faculty at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, specializing in teaching courses in statistics and methodology.
Earn CE Credit To earn CE credit, complete the exam for this article on page 77 or complete the exam online at www.acfei.com (select “Online CE”).
Spring 2007 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER 43
This article is approved by the following for continuing education credit: (ACFEI) The American College of Forensic Examiners International provides this continuing education credit for Diplomates. (Cr.FA) The American College of Forensic Examiners International provides this continuing education credit for Certified Forensic Accountants.
By Zabihollah Rezaee, PhD, CPA, CMA, CIA, CGFM, and Larry Crumbley, CPA, Cr.FA, CFD, FCPA
Abstract
The expectation gap continues to exist even after the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Five suggestions can help the accounting profession narrow this expectation gap. The public trust in auditors’ judgments plays an important role in accepting audit functions as value-added services that lend credibility to published financial statements. This trust can be enhanced by CPAs to focus their core values of integrity, objectivity, independence, and competence. The increasing interest in and the demand for improved corporate governance and accountability have created a unique and timely opportunity for accountants and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) to align their strategic vision with the emerging demands for effective oversight and forensic functions of corporate governance.
44 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
The Role of Forensic Auditing Techniques in Restoring Public Trust and Investor Confidence in Financial Information
T
he wave of financial scandals at the turn of the century, primarily caused by corporate malfeasance and fraudulent financial activities, eroded public trust and investor confidence in financial reports and audit services. Congress responded by passing the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) in July 2002. Several other corporate governance reforms, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules to implement provisions of SOX, listing standards of national stock exchanges (NYSE, NASDAQ), and best practices by investor activists and professional organizations, were developed with the intent to restore public trust and investor confidence in public financial information. Although these reforms have improved the quality, reliability, and transparency of financial reports, much more needs to be done to restore public trust and investor confidence in corporate America and its financial reports, even in the post-SOX era.
The year 2005 is regarded as the year of financial restatements, as more than 1,100 public companies restated their previously erroneous financial statements (Glass Lewis & Co., 2006). More than 120 high-profile public companies in the first part of 2006 are under investigation by the Justice Department and SEC for the illegal backdating of their executive stock option grants (Turner, 2006). This article explores the importance of forensic accounting, consisting of fraud investigation and litigation services in improving the quality of financial reports and audit efficacy.
Investor Confidence and Public Trust In the accounting profession, the expectation gap is referred to as the difference between the public’s view of what auditors’ responsibilities ought to be and what auditors are willing to assume as responsibilities in accordance with their professional standards. In the late 1980s, this expectation gap was widened and, thus,
in 1988, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) sought to reduce the expectation gap with a series of Statements on Auditing Standards (SAS), Nos. 53–61, collectively known as expectation gap standards. However, as time passed, it became apparent that these standards did not adequately address the expectation gap that existed in fraud prevention and discovery, which eventually turned into a trust gap resulting from increasing financial statement fraud and audit failures. The modifications to the standards, which were promulgated to reduce the expectation gap, still allowed audit failures in discovering the accounting scandals of the late 1990s and the early 2000s. The AICPA, by issuing two SASs, No. 82 and, subsequently, No. 99, entitled Auditors’ Consideration of Fraud in a Financial Statement Audit, has attempted to reduce the perceived expectation gap (AICPA, 2002). Investor confidence and public trust are not easy to measure. Investors have confidence in the capital markets when stock prices are rising and news about the economy and corporations are favorable. Conversely, during an economic downturn (the early 2000s) and reported corporate and accounting scandals, investor confidence decreases. Recently, there has been
an unprecedented decrease in trust and an erosion of confidence in published audited financial reports. There is a perceived expectation gap between investors’ desires for quality financial information and what public companies disseminate to them. Lynn Turner, former SEC chief accountant, refers to this expectation gap as an “expectation chasm,” stating that “there is a chasm as wide and as deep as the Grand Canyon between what the public expects from us and what we deliver in the way of an audit.” (Turner, 2002). Many factors, including high-profile financial scandals, well-publicized restatements of financial reports, and substantial audit failures, have contributed to a crisis of confidence in corporate America and its financial reports. This perceived distrust in the quality of financial information may adversely affect the functioning and integrity of the capital markets (Rezaee & Jain, 2002). The capital market reactions to public financial information largely depend on the perceived reliability and quality of the information. Financial scandals of high-profile companies such as Enron, WorldCom, Adelphia, and Qwest, collectively known as the Big Four Scandals, cost investors and pensioners more than $460 billion (Rezaee, 2002). These scandals have the one common factor of “cooking the books” to manage
earnings, hide liabilities, and meet analysts’ earnings forecasts. For example, the SEC said that HealthSouth started cooking its books in 1986, which went undetected by Ernst & Young for more than 17 years. HealthSouth used PeopleSoft, with at least 2,000 different ledgers.
Audit Efficacy More than 100 million Americans invest in the capital markets through direct investment or retirement funds. The integrity and efficiency of the capital market depends on the reliability of financial information disseminated to the capital markets by public companies. To protect investor interests, the SEC requires public companies to file annual audited and quarterly reviewed financial statements. The SEC requires that financial statements be audited by independent public accounting firms. Thus, the independent auditors play an important role in protecting investors from receiving false, inaccurate, incomplete, and misleading financial information. Through their audits, independent auditors lend credibility to financial statements, and the investing public values auditors’ judgments regarding the reliability and quality of financial statements. Auditors are expected to discover and report all material misstatements in the
Key Words: public trust, investor confidence, forensic accounting, cooking the books, skepticism, expectation gap.
Spring 2007 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER 45
financial statements whether caused by errors or fraud. Conceptually, it is irrational for auditors to be negligent by either not discovering material misstatements or choosing not to report the discovered misstatements. Auditors pledge their reputation, built over many years, to be the gatekeepers of providing reasonable assurance regarding fair presentation of financial statements in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles. However, audit failures of not discovering misstatements or deciding not to report discovered misstatements can occur where there is a conflict of interest or auditors compromise their professional responsibility. When an auditor does not discover and report material misstatements, the audit is a failure. Whether the misstatements were caused by errors or fraud, auditors must assess the evidence gathered when deciding to waive or report the detected misstatements. This is not to suggest that auditors, under pressure, give in to management by waiving the discovered misstatements. Instead, the significance of misstatements may only become apparent later, when the client business fails and eventually goes bankrupt (e.g., Enron’s collapse). More skepticism and alertness could have spared auditors from some of the recent audit failures. Auditors should learn to exercise greater care in deciding whether to waive or report discovered misstatements. Many audit failures are not because of a failure to apply necessary audit procedures or because of misapplication of audit procedures. The failures are not caused by deficiencies in the performance of audits — they are caused by errors in interpreting the significance of the underlying issues. Auditors must be skeptical, alert, professional, and inquisitive. They must understand the public trust in their profession and why they are licensed to serve as auditors. Their role is to lend credibility to published financial statements and provide reasonable assurance that financial statements fairly reflect underlying business realities, substance, financial conditions, and results of operations. SAS No. 99 defines skepticism as “an attitude that includes a questioning mind and a critical assessment of audit evidence. The auditor should conduct the engagement with a questioning mind that recognizes the possibility that a 46 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
material misstatement due to fraud could be present, regardless of any past experience with the entity and regardless of the auditor’s belief about management’s honesty and integrity” (AICPA, 2002). Every publicly traded company has the right to be audited under the law. However, an audit is not an entitlement for receiving a clean or unqualified audit opinion. Some companies should not receive standard unqualified opinions until they clean up their acts by providing objective, high-quality, reliable, and transparent financial statements. Auditors must be alert to management overriding controls, which result in fraudulent financial reporting and misappropriation of assets.
Narrowing the Expectation Gap Even before Enron and WorldCom, the “Panel of Audit Effectiveness” on August 31, 2000, stated that “auditors should perform some ‘forensic-type’ procedures on every audit to enhance the prospects in the detection of financial statement fraud” (AICPA, 2000). A highly publicized statement on financial fraud was published in early February 1997 (SAS No. 82) and entitled “Consideration of Fraud in a Financial Statement Audit.” This lengthy statement contained an interesting discussion of risk factors. SAS No. 99 supersedes SAS No. 82, providing risk factors broken into the fraud pyramid of incentives/pressures, opportunities, and attitudes/rationalizations. But SAS No. 99 states that “absolute assurance is not attainable and thus, even a properly planned and performed audit may not detect a material misstatement resulting from fraud” (AICPA, 2002). However, some believe that only lip service is paid to misappropriation of assets. These suggestions can help the accounting profession narrow the expectation gap: 1. Existing auditing standards require auditors to provide reasonable assurance that financial statements are free from material misstatements, whether caused by errors or fraud. This level of reasonable assurance is not well defined and means different things to different people. Investors view reasonable assurance as a highlevel assurance and wish to hold auditors responsible for all errors, irregularities, and fraud threatening the integrity of financial
statements. Auditors, on the other hand, in recognizing the limitation of financial audits (e.g., management override, test basis, use of estimates), can only provide reasonable assurance, which is less than absolute assurance. The accounting profession should clearly define and publicize what constitutes “reasonable assurance” in order to narrow the perceived expectation gap. 2. It is important that investors have confidence in regulators (SEC) and standard-setters (the PCAOB and AICPA) in protecting investors from receiving misleading financial statements. The AICPA, the leading advocate for the view of CPAs and the PCAOB, the watchdog of the accounting profession, should be more active in addressing the perceived trust gap and ways to narrow this gap. More training of auditors in forensic techniques can significantly help bridge this credibility gap. 3. The accounting profession should promote the perspective of an integrated audit for all entities, public and private companies, for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. An integrated audit approach means auditing both internal controls over financial reporting as well as the financial statements. Under an integrated audit, auditors test the adequacy and effectiveness of the design and operation of internal control, along with performing the audit of financial statements. An effective and efficient integrated audit can improve the integrity, reliability, quality, and transparency of financial statements. 4. Participation in local community activities should be promoted, especially activities of colleges and universities. Public accounting firms of all sizes (Big Four and non-Big-Four) should become more engaged in the development of accounting curriculum with a keen focus on antifraud and forensic accounting. 5. Auditing and accounting services for clients should be expanded to help them ensure the integrity and reliability of their financial reports. An example of these services are antifraud training for management, boards of directors, and audit committees.
AICPA Initiatives On September 4, 2002, right after the passage of SOX, President and CEO of the American Institute of Certified Public
Accountants (AICPA), Barry C. Melancon, called on members of the accounting profession to rejuvenate the profession’s culture and participate in restoring its reputation by focusing on stronger fraud detection measures and improved financial reporting. The AICPA is committed to six leadership roles to help restore confidence in the financial reporting process and its reputation (Melancon, 2002). The six leadership roles are: 1.) A standard-setting role to help users of financial statements become more involved in setting auditing standards and establishing new guidance on issues affecting the profession, such as auditor rotation requirements and compensation policies for audit partners. 2.) A fraud prevention and detection liaison role to help marketing institutions and corporations design and communicate antifraud controls and programs to the public and to help corporations implement them. 3.) A role to promote academic research in areas such as how to prevent corporate fraud, how investors can help protect themselves from fraud, and how to strengthen undergraduate antifraud education. This can be best achieved by cooperating with universities and related professional associations to create an Institute of Fraud Studies. 4.) An educational role to develop training programs that combat fraud. This role would be responsible for changing the continuing education rules for CPAs to include more credits on fraud detection and integrating antifraud education into college courses and textbooks for accounting students as well as antifraud training in courses for company managers and directors. 5.) A financial reporting role to work with other standard-setters to improve quality, reliability, and transparency of business and financial reporting and to inspire debates on such topics as big generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) versus little GAAP. 6.) A role to promote and improve corporate governance and internal control systems through auditing standards that inform the public when the auditor reports internal control weaknesses to the audit committee.
The AICPA six leadership roles address the AICPA commitment to stronger fraud detection measures by doing the following: • Establishing antifraud criteria and controls for publicly traded companies. • Requesting leading stock exchanges to mandate effective antifraud training for corporate governance participants including the board of directors, the audit committee, and management executive officers. • Improving antifraud attestation standards to test and report on client antifraud controls and criteria. • Incorporating antifraud education into the accounting curriculum and textbooks. The leadership roles are intended to improve the quality, transparency, and reliability of financial reports by doing the following: • Revising internal control and reporting standards to give the public notice when the auditor communicates reportable conditions and material internal control weaknesses to the audit committee and management. • Differentiating between the financial reporting needs of large and small companies (big GAAP vs. little GAAP). • Developing value measurement and reporting standards. • Developing a financial reporting model that provides investors with high-quality financial information. Regrettably, in November 2005, an AICPA committee took the position that external auditors should not be required to carry out specific forensic audit procedures, but instead provide guidance on how to include forensic auditing techniques within processes outlined in SAS No. 99 (AICPA, 2002). Public accounting firms could use forensic accountants to help revise their approach to planning and fieldwork on all audits while requiring forensic accountants only for high-risk audit clients to aid in interpreting forensic testing results and preventive control enhancements. Although including audit procedures aimed at detecting misappropriation of corporate assets could lead to the identification of weaknesses within corporate governance, or in control weaknesses, forensic accountants can best be used by ensuring such procedures are properly developed and executed in line with internal audit
and audit committee concerns. Forensic accountants could then be engaged in high-risk situations or when fraud is suspected. The committee stated that companies should not use the forensic services of their outside audit firm unless it pertains to the annual audit.
The AICPA National Conference The AICPA held its 2005 National Conference on Current Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) developments in Washington from December 5–7, 2005. Eleven SEC representatives, including Chairman Christopher Cox and acting chief accountant Scott A. Taub, spoke at the first day of the conference. Charles D. Niemeier, PCAOB board member; Douglas R. Carmichael of the PCAOB; Robert H. Herz, chairman of the FASB; G. Michael Crooch, a board member of the FASB; and James J. Leisenring of the IASB board were speakers at the conference (AICPA, 2005). The common theses of this conference reiterated in almost all speeches included the following: • Ways to improve transparency and reduce complexity in financial statements. • Progress made in the accounting profession to regain investor confidence since the turn-of-the-century scandals. • Developments made in the adoption of the extensible business reporting language (XBRL) format for financial reporting. • The extent and complexity of disclosure requirements that investors are having difficulties understanding. • The discussion and desirability of principles-based versus rules-based accounting. In February 2006, the Auditing Standard Board (ASB) of the AICPA approved eight new standards collectively referred to as the “Risk Assessment Standards.” The new Statements on Auditing Standards (SAS) Nos. 104 through 111 provide guidance regarding the auditor’s assessment of risks of material misstatement whether caused by fraud or error; the design and performance of tailored audit procedures to address assessed risks; audit risk and materiality; planning and supervision; and audit evidence (AICPA, 2006).
Spring 2007 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER 47
These standards were established to provide the following: • A more in-depth understanding of the audited entity and its environment, including internal control. • A more rigorous assessment of the risk of where and how the financial statements could be materially misstated. • Improved linkage between the auditor’s assessed risks of material misstatements and the nature, timing, and extent of audit procedures performed in addressing those issues. The AICPA and its counterparts in other countries, including the professional accounting societies and institutions of England and Wales, Ireland, Canada, Scotland, Australia, South Africa, Hong Kong, and New Zealand, have established a Global Accounting Alliance (GAA). The GAA will promote global professional standards for accounting practitioners and a global approach to leadership in the accounting profession (ICAEW, 2006). The GAA enables global members to provide leadership to the accounting profession and support members’ global agendas in one voice. The GAA is expected to promote the important role that accountants play in improving the quality of global financial reports and in narrowing the expectation gap regarding the valuerelevance of financial audits.
Fraud Prevention and Detection Reported financial scandals caused by massive financial statement fraud have spawned new legislation (SOX), a series of regulations (SEC rules), new auditing standards (SAS Nos. 99–111, PCAOB Auditing Standards Nos. 1–4), and the new oversight organization of the auditing profession (the PCAOB). Few non-CPAs would believe that auditors should not have found the $59 million multifaceted fraud scheme in Livent, Inc. How did external and internal auditing miss the approximately $11 billion of false profits of WorldCom? Apparently the 24-person WorldCom internal auditing department did only a small amount of financial auditing, focusing instead on measuring the performance of the company’s various units. Arthur Andersen was in charge of the financial auditing, and had essentially no involvement with the in48 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
ternal auditing function in planning (or approving) its activities. We are all familiar with the cozy relationship of Arthur Andersen’s lead auditor for Enron, David Duncan, and the following troublesome transactions: • Off-balance sheet transactions • Special purpose entities to obscure related party transactions • Debt-collateralized loans using Enron stock • Incomplete, inaccurate, or misleading footnotes A 2002 complaint filed by the SEC shows the pattern of a fraudster, the result of management override of controls, and how auditors can catch the “bad guys” (SEC, 2002). But could better forensic techniques have caught the fraud scheme and false financial statements earlier? According to the SEC’s complaint, an officer was charged with financial fraud and other securities law violations related to his embezzlement of nearly $2.2 million from the company during a 4-year period. This person held positions at U.S. Lime between January 1998 and December 2001, including corporate controller, secretary, treasurer, and vice-president of finance. During that period, he forged the signatures of other company officers on dozens of checks and falsified the company’s check register to create the appearance that the amounts that he personally received or gave to his creditors went to vendors for U.S. Lime’s legitimate business expenses. Initially, he embezzled relatively small amounts, but over time, his thefts grew. By January 2002, his thefts were too large to conceal, and he abruptly resigned. The SEC further alleges that this person acted alone and without the knowledge of other U.S. Lime employees. Throughout the relevant period, he supervised U.S. Lime’s internal accounting controls and financial reporting, and he used his position to escape detection by falsifying the company’s books and records, lying to its outside auditors, and preparing false financial statements that he caused the company to file with the SEC. The company’s management, with the help of its outside auditors, discovered the fraud shortly after he resigned. The company immediately reported his misconduct to the SEC, the criminal authorities, and the NASDAQ. U.S. Lime
also hired expert securities counsel to conduct an internal investigation and cooperated fully with the SEC’s investigation of the matter. A more current 2006 example involves a money laundering and ponzi scheme. Afinsa, a Spanish stamp company, controlled 72% of Escala, a U.S. company (formerly Greg Manning Auctions). Escala said that all sales to Afinsa took place at independent established prices, but Escala’s reported gross margin on stamp sales to Afinsa exceeded 44% (somewhat like land flipping). However, the gross margin on those sales to other clients was less than 14%. Thus, Escala was manipulating the value of stamps sold to Afinsa to artificially boost its own bottom line. Escala’s stock fell from $32 to $5 in 5 trading days after the May 8, 2006, arrests of seven executives. Police found $12.6 million behind one dealer’s freshly plastered walls in his house (e.g., unreported profits). Escala owns A-Mark Precious Metals, which buys and distributes more than half of the gold coins handled each year by the U.S. mint. These and other financial frauds could have been prevented if these companies had responsible corporate governance, effective internal controls, and credible audit functions.
Conclusion The AICPA has been representing the accounting profession in the United States for more than a century, with more than 330,000 members who are Certified Public Accountants (CPAs). CPAs have worked in business and industry as CFOs, controllers, and accountants as well as practicing auditors in auditing public and private companies. CPA services have been regarded as value-added services in providing reasonable assurance that published financial statements are credible and reliable. This reasonable assurance has contributed to investor confidence in financial information disseminated to the capital markets, which promotes economic growth. Narrowing the perceived trust gap and restoring public confidence in financial reports and audit functions will take time and considerable effort by legislators, regulators, standard-setting bodies, and the accounting profession.
SOX was enacted to do the following: • Improve corporate governance, quality of financial reports, and effectiveness of audit functions. • Provide new disclosure requirements for public companies. • Establish stronger criminal penalties for securities fraud. SOX, related SEC rules, and the establishment of the PCAOB provide unprecedented opportunities for the accounting profession, especially CPAs, to reform their profession in an attempt to restore public trust and investor confidence in the financial reporting process and audit functions. The AICPA should cooperate with the PCAOB by continuing to send the message to its members that substandard audits will not be tolerated and reminding them of their need to develop and use forensic auditing techniques. Using cost-benefit analysis to put a price on substantive tests and forensic auditing techniques by a company can cut costs, but the “inherent risk is that short-cuts geared toward reducing audit costs may eventually cause investors to question the company’s true financial position” (AICPA, 2004). The public’s trust in auditors’ judgments plays an important role in accepting audit functions as value-added services that lend credibility to published financial statements. This trust can be enhanced by CPAs to focus their core values of integrity, objectivity, independence, and competence. The increasing interest in and the demand for improved corporate governance and accountability have created a unique and timely opportunity for accountants and the AICPA to align their strategic vision with the emerging demands for effective oversight and forensic functions of corporate governance.
References American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). (2000). Panel finds audits are sound, but need improvement. Retrieved from http:// www.aicpa.org/PUBS/jofa/sep2000/news1.htm American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). (2002). Statement on auditing standards no. 99: Consideration of fraud in a financial statement audit. Retrieved from http:// w w w. a i c p a . o r g / d o w n l o a d / a u d i t s t d / summarysas99.doc American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). (2004). Discussion memo question responses. Retrieved from www.theiia.org/iia/ download.cfm?file=3975
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). (2005). National conference on current SEC and PCOAB developments. Retrieved from http://media.cpa2biz.com/Publication/ Conference%20Materials/05_SEC_ PCAOBAgenda.pdf American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). (2006). Risk assessment standards. Auditing standard board (ASB). Statements on auditing standards (SAS) nos. 104–110. Retrieved from http:www.aicpa.org Glass Lewis & Co. (2006). Restatement trend alert: Get it wrong the first time. Retrieved from www.glasslewis.com/downloads/ Restatements2005Summary.pdf The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW). (2006). ICAS and ICAI join forces in global accounting alliance (GAA). Retrieved from http://www.icaew.co.uk/index. cfm?route=135410 Melancon, B. C. (2002). A new accounting culture: A speech made by president and CEO of the American Institute of CPAs to the Yale Club in New York. Retrieved from http://www.aicpa.org/pubs/ jofaloct221melancan.htm Turner, L. E. (2006). Hearing on: Stock options backdating. Before U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Retrieved from http://banking.senate.gov/ index.cfm?Fuseaction=Hearings.Testimony& TestimonyID=1319&HearingID=233 Rezaee, Z. (2002). Financial statement fraud: Prevention and detection. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Rezaee, Z., & Jain, P. (2006). The SarbanesOxley Act of 2002 and security market behavior: Early evidence. Contemporary Accounting Research, 23(3). The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). (2002). Retrieved from http://www.sec.gov/ about/laws/soa2002.pdf Securities Exchange Commission. (2002). SEC litigation release no. 17816. Retrieved from http:// www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/lr17816.htm Turner, L. (2002). Speech at the AICPA’s advanced litigation/national conference on fraud. Retrieved from http://www.aicpa.org/index.html
About the Authors Zabihollah Rezaee, PhD, CPA, CMA, CIA, CGFM, is the Thompson-Hill chair of excellence and professor of accountancy at the University of Memphis and served a 2-year term on the 30-member Standing Advisory Group (SAG) to assist the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) in its standard-setting responsibilities. He
received his BS degree from the Iranian Institute of Advanced Accounting, his MBA from Taleton State University in Texas, and his PhD from the University of Mississippi. Professor Rezaee has published over 165 articles in a variety of accounting and business journals. He has also published four books and three additional books, Corporate Governance Effectiveness post-Sarbanes-Oxley Act: Regulations, Requirements, and Integrated Processes; A Primer of Modern Corporate Governance and Business Ethics; and Integrated Audit are expected to be published in 2007. Larry Crumbley, CPA, Cr.FA, CFD,
FCPA, is the KPMG endowed professor at Louisiana State University. Having written more than 50 books and 350 articles, his Forensic and Investigative Accounting textbook is published by Commerce Clearing House. He is the author of 12 novels, many of which feature a forensic accountant as the main character. He is the editor of the Journal of Forensic Accounting and Oil, Gas and Energy Quarterly. A former chair of the Executive Board of Accounting Advisors of the American Board of Forensic Accountants, his goal is to create a television series based upon the exciting life of a forensic accountant and litigation consultant. He is a frequent contributor to The Forensic Examiner.
Earn CE Credit To earn CE credit, complete the exam for this article on page 78 or complete the exam online at www.acfei.com (select “Online CE”).
Spring 2007 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER 49
IN THE PURSUIT OF JUSTICE: Audio and Video Recordings— Weapons of Terrorism By Barry G. Dickey, DABRE
This article is approved by the following for continuing education credit: (ACFEI) The American College of Forensic Examiners International provides this continuing education credit for Diplomates. (NBCC) The American College of Forensic Examiners International is an NBCC Approved Continuing Education Provider (ACEP) and may offer NBCC approved clock hours for events that meet NBCC requirements. The ACEP solely is responsible for all aspects of the program. Provider #5812. (CBBS) The American College of Forensic Examiners International is an approved provider of the California Board of Behavioral Sciences, approval PCE 1896. Course meets the qualifications for 1 hour of continuing education credit for MFTs and/or LCSWs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. (ASWB) This organization, American College of Forensic Examiners International Approval Number 1052, is approved as a provider for continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards 400 South Ridge Parkway, Suite B, Culpeper, VA 22701. www.aswb.org. ASWB Approval Period: 9/13/2004 to 9/13/2007. Social workers should contact their regulatory board to determine course approval. Social workers will receive 1 continuing education clock hours in participating in this course.
Abstract
The recent proliferation of audio and video recordings coming from various terrorist organizations around the world presents two distinct areas of concern to the forensic examiner. This article presents information on the authenticity methodology of videotapes, including a perspective on “implied evidence” and the continuing necessity for voice identification.
50 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
T
he powerful weapon cultivated in the realm of terrorismâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the videotapeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;continues to burgeon. In recent years, the American public has witnessed the increased broadcast of audio and video recordings provided by terrorist organizations through foreign news agencies and anonymous sources. These tapes call for a much wider view of the circumstances and methods that are employed in the mind of the messenger. From a forensic point of view, the purpose of the examination of audio and video evidentiary recordings is to evaluate their overall credibility. The authenticity of evidentiary tapes can usually be established through scientifically based testing. In U.S. courts, rules for the admission of evidence are clearly stated and must be adhered to in order for recordings to remain credible in the process of litigation. Civil and criminal evidence is, in most cases, evaluated for authenticity prior to their influence on the perspective judge, jury, and public opinion. However, this emerging trend of influential video, which directly affects homeland security and influences world opinion, has exploded to epic proportions. Some of these videos are provided by respectable news agencies in an effort to report events to the best of their abilities. Other tapes and photographs are provided anonymously to spread propaganda and recruit terrorist members. Whatever the purpose, these recordings must be examined to evaluate the credibility of the images as well as their implied representations. In the world of public opinion, videotape recordings can forever influence the perspective of immediate and future events.
In the world of public opinion, videotape recordings can forever influence the perspecKey Words: video analysis, voice identification, audio enhancement, audio analysis, video authentication, audio authentication
tive of immediate and future events. Spring 2007 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER 51
One recent example involved controversial reports associated with two videotapes obtained by a national news network in connection with a village near the Syrian border. One of these recordings depicted a typical wedding celebration with music, dancing, and festivities; however, the accompanying videotape, which was reportedly recorded the following day, displayed considerable destruction of a similar area. In combination, the recordings served as testimonial to an implied event not present on the videotapes. The news network questioned whether the tapes were authentic and whether enough factual evidence existed to verify that the visual images on tape one were consistent with the visual images on tape two, suggesting the possibility of a single location rather than the possibility of two different locations with similar characteristics. Evidentiary tapes that do not capture an event in its entirety require additional verification in order to assess the overall validity of any implied representation. In the world of forensic science, uncertainty of this type must be investigated and resolved to an acceptable standard before credibility is substantiated. Scenarios suggested by this type of dynamic presentation are influential, if not convincing, to most viewers. The lack of a complete and thorough investigation before their disclosure is irreversible in many cases. It should be noted that every analysis is unique because of the individual circumstances associated with each specific assignment. Using the aforementioned videotapes as a reference, the following outlines basic procedures and issues that should be considered before disclosing influential images. The first issue the examiner must determine is the scientific validity or authenticity of the videotape in question. Authenticity analysis provides scientifically based results in reference to the credibility of evidentiary recordings. The purpose of authenticity examinations is to verify if a recording is an original or a copy and whether it has been tampered with in any manner. Each recording should be independently evaluated before any comparative analysis is performed. The forensic analyst should request that all relative information be provided and initiate the applicable analyses specific to the type of media provided. For example, 52 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
examining VHS recordings includes analyzing head switches, defective pixels, HBI/ VBI anomalies, dihedral error, tension error, video hum, discontinuities, scene/color changes, time code issues, and relative audio/sync issues. Using non-destructive chemicals, the tape can also be examined microscopically to identify anomalies. These scientifically based tests can identify editing, alteration, and duplication, as well as determine what specific camera or recorder was used. Digitally based video recordings require alternate tests relative to their specific format. Digital recordings can often be analyzed to identify anomalies in the sequence of encoded data. Additionally, digital formats are evaluated for blocking, mosquito noise, static issues, and various other anomalies. These procedures provide the forensic analyst with scientifically based results to support conclusions of authenticity. If the videotape recordings contain relative audio tracks, they may be examined for synchronization of events and consistency with ambient surroundings. When applicable, the audio portion of the recording is scientifically examined through spectrum analysis, magnetic development, waveform analysis, spectrographic analysis, critical listening, phase continuity, and speed fluctuation. The 12 Step Methodology for Audiotape Authenticity (Owen, 2003) and Methodology Procedures for Audio Authenticity, available through AES 43 of the Audio Engineering Society, are tests providing results that identify edits, alterations, and duplication in the audio portion of recordings. Every element associated with the recording can provide insight into the credibility of the videotape images. Any inconsistencies between the audio and video segments would indicate an anomaly and decrease the credibility of the recording, assuming that no plausible explanation exists.
Consider the previous example and assume that both tapes are considered to be authentic. Does the fact that the recordings are scientifically authentic constitute their accuracy? The answer is yes; however, in this case, the most important issue that must be addressed is the sequence of events that are implied but not visually or acoustically documented by the recordings provided. Without an actual recording of the events in question, the scientific verification by the audio/video analyst is limited. The implied representations, or shock factor, is generally created and distributed in the hope that the message is delivered in the most graphic and emotional manner. These tapes are intended to outrage, intimidate, and possibly subject the viewer to an unsubstantiated issue promulgated by the messenger. The validity of any implied event should be analyzed from several different perspectives and should incorporate the professional opinions of other experts who specialize in these areas. What other issues may be considered by the audio/video analyst in order for the videotapes to provide collaborative proof of an alleged event? Is there a plausible explanation for the fact that none of the transitional event was captured on videotape? Is there supportive evidence that suggests the recordings are accurate representations of the same location? Once again, additional investigation, examination, and comparison of evidence collected by other experts may be required in order to substantiate an opinion. GPS, satellite imagery, and qualified experts in their respective fields may be employed to verify the existence of the location, take photographs of the location, and document its condition. The audio/video expert could use this documentation for comparison on a frame-by-frame basis for elemental consistency to assess the validity of the recorded representations. The comparative analysis could include elements associated with the type of event, eyewitness statements, clothing, terrain, verifiable landmarks, weather conditions, time of day, equipment, and structural dwellings. Identification of individual elements appearing in both videotapes would provide a reference for verification. Human-comparative elements such as bone structure, clothing, scars, moles, hair color, height, and weight could be identified through in-
dividual frame analysis of the authenticated recordings. To aid in the investigation, experts in cultural and religious customs may identify elements or provide unique information associated with behavioral characteristics. Higher quality recordings may require using biometrics. Additionally, identification of individuals may be evaluated through voice analysis or speech patterns from the audio portion of the recording. Investigation into the equipment used to create the recordings may be considered. Not all manufacturers have products available in every region and the appearance of uncommon devices or media processing may be suspicious. Financial records and equipment registrations may be researched to provide verification of any questionable representations. Most recording media is encoded with a lot number or manufacturer code that enables an examiner to verify its date of creation and availability. These results would produce additional evidence to consider before rendering an opinion. Finally, enhancement procedures are often required to aid the examiner in the evaluation of both audio and video recordings. Video enhancement is often required to improve the quality of an image. Individual frames are isolated for analysis. Techniques, including frame averaging, stabilization, and magnification, are used to allow the examiner to identify critical elements. Enhancement techniques provide an essential role in identifying individual characteristics such as bone structure, scars, tattoos, moles, hair, eye color, and other elements for comparative analysis. Additionally, the audio portion of the recording frequently contains an unacceptable amount of environmental noise, static, or a low frequency hum. Identification of the problematic element allows the analyst to remove these hindrances and increase the intelligibility of speech or isolate a particular event. Although these procedures are not traditionally considered a part of the authenticity analysis, there is no doubt they play an important role in the examination process. In many cases, segments that focus on a particular location in each frame often use spotlight effects during broadcasts to the public. Another common form of audio recordings familiar to homeland security include the statements of Osama bin Laden and other terrorist leaders urging their followers to attack the United States and its allies.
Video Authenticity: Basic Methodology 1. Receive, mark, and scan/photograph evidence tapes, recorders, and containers. 2. Physically inspect tapes. Record lot/batch numbers, color, and condition. Compare with manufacturer information. Remove and preserve safety tabs. Physically inspect recorders. Record serial numbers and condition. 3. Verify format, track configurations, control track, and audio signal. 4. Perform critical viewing/listening. Note all inconsistencies associated with alteration. Anomalies include discontinuities, scene/color changes, pixel irregularities, vertical smear type, relative audio/sync issues, and other anomalies. 5. Perform waveform analysis. Verify head switches, HBI width, video-hum phase continuity, RF envelope, front porch width, and time code issues. 6. Use pulse cross monitor for analysis of dihedral and tension error. H/V delay provides different view of HBI/VBI information. 7. Create test recordings for comparative analyses. Perform steps 5 and 6 for comparative analyses and verification. 8. Compare test tape signatures to evidentiary tape signatures/anomalies. 9. Note all anomalies. Document testing procedures as applicableâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;written notes, prints, photographs, etc. 10. Analyze the results and form conclusion/opinion. 11. Write report of your conclusions/opinion. Include all information pursuant to Federal Rule 26 for expert witness opinion. 12. Archive all case files. Send report to client. Return all original evidence (FedEx or Certified Mail) as directed by court order or client. Acknowledgements: Mark Schubin, DABRE and Tom Owen, BA, FACFEI, DABRE, DABFE
Video Authenticity: Digital (Additional Issues) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
Analysis of encoded data (improper headers, interruption of GOP, etc.) Verification of frame-by-frame consistency Time Code/Date Stamp Issues Scene and color changes Blocking Mosquito noise Static changes Conversion and compression issues (encoding analog to digital copies)
Acknowledgements: Mark Schubin, DABRE, and Tom Owen, BA, FACFEI, DABRE, DABFE
Spring 2007 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER 53
Koenig, B. E. (1986) Spectrographic voice identification: A forensic survey. Journal of Acoustical Society of America, 79(6), 2088–2090. Koenig, B. E. (1988). Enhancement of forensic audio recordings. Journal of The Audio Engineering Society, 36(11), 884–894. Owen, T. (1988). Forensic audio and video theory and applications. Journal of The Audio Engineering Society 36(1–2), 39. Owen, T. (2003) Voice identification and forensic audio and video analysis. The Forensic Examiner, 12(9–10), 15–21. Cain, S. (1999). The forensic examination of videotape. The Forensic Examiner, 8(11–12), 24–27.
One of the most shocking videos to date delivered a terrorist statement and execution of an American hostage. Consulting experts have authenticated many of those recorded. These tapes contain individual speech patterns that may be evaluated through voice identification. Voice identification focuses on the audio portion of the recordings. The aural/spectrographic methodology provides a scientifically based opinion as to the identification or elimination of the voice in question (Owen, 2003). The aural portion of voice identification is the scientific evaluation of the fundamental quality of speech, rate, mannerisms, amplitude, pathology, breath, accent/dialect, and coupling of the speech patterns of a particular individual. The spectrographic portion of voice identification is the scientific evaluation of the bandwidth, mean frequency, formats information, fricatives, plosives, word transition, rate, distribution, intensity, and other visual cues. The spectrographic portion transforms the speech into three-dimensional spectrograms for visual comparison of unknown recordings to previously identified recordings. These spectrograms represent time, energy, and frequency and may be displayed in normal or contoured options. In many regions around the world, very slight inflections can aid in the identification of an individual whose environmental influences are known. Although verbatim exemplars are usually not available for the majority of terrorist cases, nonverbatim speech is often used to provide a basis for the examiner’s opinion.
Conclusion The fact that a recording is authentic, as relative to the scientifically based criteria of being original and containing no signs of 54 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
tampering, does not in itself mean that any unsubstantiated or implied representations not present or verifiable by additional investigative procedures should be construed as authentic by default. If the audio/video recording is not a complete account of the entire event in question, only those elements, which are verifiable, should be used in forming an opinion. This is not to imply that every event must be completely documented in order for it to be considered as factual or persuasive evidence. Each case is unique, and every applicable method should be considered. In general, the representations implied by recordings that do not contain the actual event in question are limited to the verifiable elements that exist within. Opinions subject to further investigation by additional experts may require caveats in order to clarify limitations and protect against misinterpretation. As terrorist organizations around the world continue to deliver their messages through audio and video recordings, the need to authenticate this evidence and identify the participants will undeniably increase. Many countries have increased their efforts to monitor and record the activities around critical infrastructures. Surveillance technologies will continue to play a vital role in detecting suspicious activity, identifying the individuals involved and possibly preventing a terrorist act.
Works Consulted Audio Engineering Society. (1996). Audio Engineering Society recommended practice for forensic purposes—Managing recorded audio and video materials intended for examination (AES27). New York: Author. Audio Engineering Society. (2000). Audio engineering standard for forensic purposes—Criteria for the authentication of analog audio and video tape recordings (AES43). New York: Author.
About the Author Barry G. Dickey, DABRE, is a Diplomate of the American Board of Recorded Evidence, a member of the American College of Forensic Examiners, a member of the Audio Engineering Society, and a certified forensic analyst in the fields of forensic audio/video, and voice identification. He has over 13 years of forensic experience examining audio and video recordings for the U.S. Government, state and district attorneys, corporate law firms, state and federal law enforcement, civil and criminal attorneys, private investigators, insurance companies, and news broadcast agencies. Forensic cases involving Mr. Dickey have been featured on The Learning Channel’s “Science Frontiers,” “Forensic Files,” and on the CBS and Fox News Networks. He has consulted with news networks in reference to the Osama bin Laden tapes and tapes released by the Al-Jazeer network. With more than 20 years of experience in the engineering and production of audio and video recordings, he has examined evidence relative to civil and criminal matters in over 1000 cases in the United States and Europe, testifying on issues involving both audio and video evidence. For more information visit www.audioevidencelab.com or email BDforensic@aol.com.
Earn CE Credit To earn CE credit, complete the exam for this article on page 78 or complete the exam online at www.acfei.com (select “Online CE”).
The American College of Forensic Examiners
The American College of Forensic Examiners Institute (ACFEI) is the world’s largest professional scientific forensic membership society. Multi-disciplinary in its scope, the society actively promotes the dissemination of forensic information. Our purpose is to continually advance the profession of forensic examination and consultation across the many professional fields of our membership by elevating standards through education, basic and advanced training, and Diplomate status. ACFEI serves as the national center for this purpose and circulates information and knowledge through our official peer-reviewed journal – The Forensic Examiner® – lectures, seminars, conferences, workshops, continuing education courses, and certification programs. We believe forensic examiners do not win or lose cases. Forensic examiners seek only the truth; conduct evaluations, examinations, and inquiries; and report the true results of their findings in an unbiased and objective manner. BECOME AN ACFEI MEMBER TODAY!
phone: (800) 423-9737 | fax: (417) 881-4702 | web: www.acfei.com
Implications for Corrections Personnel
By Bruce Gross, PhD, JD, MBA, FACFEI, DABFE, DABPS, DABFM, DAPA Elderly offenders are a neglected but significant segment of the offender population. This segment can be classified as neglected because, historically, relatively few older people enter the criminal justice system. They are significant because the needs of elderly offenders differ from those of younger arrestees and inmates. With the aging of the baby-boom generation, the number of elderly offenders may rise dramatically over the coming years. This, in turn, may lead to increasing numbers of elderly inmates inhabiting a system never intended, designed, nor sufficiently modified to accommodate them.
56 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
here is no universally accepted age at which an individual is considered an elderly or older person. In the general population, age 65 has been considered the usual threshold for old age. In corrections it is acknowledged that inmates age prematurely, such that a 55-year-old inmate is the physical peer of a 65-year-old community-dwelling person. Given this phenomenon, corrections literature typically shows 55 as the lower end of old age. Aggregating the 55–59 and 60–64 age groups, thereby creating two categories (55–64 and 65 and older), brings corrections and gerontolological literature into alignment and simplifies comparative analysis.
Elderly Arrestees There are two sources of older prison inmates: elderly arrestees and long-term prisoners who entered prison in early or middle age and aged in place. It was predicted that, with the growing number and proportion of older people in the U.S. population at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, an increasing number and proportion of arrestees would be over age 55 and even over age 65. An examination of arrest statistics for the years 1971 (the first year national arrest data was centrally collected) to 2004 (the most recent data available) shows two clear trends: in terms of total indexed crime, the number and proportion of arrestees over 55 declined steadily from 1971 to 2000 and increased steadily from 2000 to 2004
(see Table 1) (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1973–2005). In 1971, arrests of persons ages 55–64 accounted for 4.7% of total arrests, or 324,355 arrestees; in 2000, those numbers dropped to 1.8% of all arrests or 164,916 arrestees. People over age 65 accounted for 1.5% of arrests, or 105,279 arrestees in 1971, but only 0.6% and 58,470 arrests in 2000. When aggregated, the 55–64 and 65 and older age groups represent 6.2% of arrests in 1971, but only 2.4% in 2000. In contrast, from 2000 to 2004, the number and proportion of arrestees ages 55–64 rose from 164,916, or 1.8% of all arrests, to 235,765, or 2.2%. During the same period, while the number of arrests among those age 65 and older increased slightly from 58,470 to 60,310, the percentage remained at 0.6%. Although total arrests decreased for both the 55–64 and 65 and older age groups from 1971 to 2000, an analysis of charged offense statistics shows a slightly different trend. For persons ages 55–65, the number of arrests for violent crimes increased from 1971 to 1995, while the proportion decreased. Violent crime arrests also increased in number between 1971 and 1995 for persons 65 and older. However, the proportion remained virtually the same. Between 1995 and 2000 both groups had decreased numbers of arrests, but the drop was more significant in the 65 and older age group, falling from 10,380 to 5,699. The proportion of arrests increased in the 55–64 age group and remained constant for the 65 and older age group. For both groups,
arrests for property crimes peaked in both number and proportion in 1985, after which they decreased such that by 2000 the levels were essentially equal to those in 1971. The number and percentage of arrests for drug abuse crimes rose steadily from 1971 to 2000 for both groups. The category of alcohol-related arrests (which includes driving under the influence, violation of liquor laws, and drunkenness) was the only category to steadily decrease over the included years. From 2000 to 2004, violent crime arrests increased in both number (from 7,251 to 8,893) and proportion (1.8% to 2.1%). The 55–64 age group showed an increase (albeit, erratic) in the number of violent crime arrests that represented a notable increase in proportion of arrests (although this was actually an increase in proportion of arrestees). Property crime arrests remained nearly constant in number and proportion for persons 65 and older, while they increased in number from 12,899 or 1.2% in 2000 to 19,349 or 1.6% in 2004 for those ages 55–64. Arrests for drug crimes for persons ages 55–65 increased from 9,224 in 2000 to 16,168 in 2004, while they remained stable for persons aged 65 and older.
Spring 2007 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER 57
Historically, when older people are arrested, the offense tends to be alcohol-related. In 1971, 71.3% of arrestees ages 55–64 and 65.6% of those age 65 or older were arrested for alcoholrelated crimes. The percentages decreased for those ages 55–60 to 56% in 1980, 40.1% in 1990, and 34% in 2000, while the percentages for those ages 65 or older decreased to 31.5% in 1980, increased to 36.2% in 1990, and decreased to 30.2% in 2000. There was an increase in percentage of arrests for both groups in 2001 (36% for those aged 55–64 and 46% for those age 65 and older), with the percentages subsequently stabilizing at approximately 30% for both groups thereafter. While the vast majority of arrests of elderly persons are alcohol-related, this is not to say that older people do not commit more serious offenses. In fact, as arrests for alcohol-related offenses have decreased since 1971, they simultaneously increased for violent crimes. By 2004, 3.8% of arrests of persons ages 55–64 and 4.5% of arrests for those age 65 and older were for violent crimes. Despite the appearance of percentages, the numbers are quite small, particularly in the over-65 cohort. In 2004, for instance, only 104 people over the age of 65 were arrested for murder nationwide. There was a similar increase in percentage of arrests for property crimes for both groups that peaked in 1990 (at 12.4% for persons ages 55–64 and 18.6% for those age 65 and older) and has subsequently fluctuated. In 2004, 8.6% of arrestees ages 55–64 were arrested for property crimes, as were 9.3% of those age 65 and older. It should be noted that the percentage of arrests for property crimes among the 65 and older group has been consistently higher than that of the 55–64 age group.
58 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
As law enforcement has some degree of latitude in deciding whether to arrest a suspected offender, arrest statistics do not necessarily reflect the number of crimes committed. The slight increase in number and proportion of arrests of persons over age 55 may reflect a subtle change in public and police perceptions of older people. The traditional reluctance of officers to arrest older people may have shifted, resulting in proportionally more arrests.
Elderly Inmates: Recent Status and Anticipated Growth Once arrested, many arrestees are held in a local jail. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the United States jail population was older in 2002 than it was in 1996 (James, 2004). In 2002, approximately 38% of jail inmates were 35 or older, compared to 32% in 1996. Jail inmates over age 55 accounted for 1.5% of the total jail population in 1996; in 2002 that figure rose to 2.2% (Harlow, 1998; James). While the proportion of elderly jail inmates reported here is small, their impact on already overcrowded jails, not designed either socially or architecturally for a population with special needs, is far from insignificant. Elderly prisoners (those 55 and older) continue to be a relatively small—but growing—group within the state and federal prison population, accounting for 0.8% of all inmates in 1992, 1.5% in 1997, and 3.4% in 2000 (Beck & Harrison, 2001). In 2004, 5% (or 69,900) of the 1,337,700 inmates held in state or federal prisons were 55 or older (Harrison & Beck, 2005). Of those, only 2,700 were female. Between 2000 and 2004, the number of state and federal prisoners over age 55 rose 58%, from 44,200 to 69,900. This proportion increase of older state and federal prison inmates is especially notable in light of the declining number and proportion of arrestees. Between 1995 and 2003, there was a 25% decrease in arrests of persons ages 65 and older. During the same period, there was a 126% increase in federal prisoners ages 65 and older. Of note, the rise in the proportion of elderly
prisoners is occurring in the context of, yet far exceeding, the rise in the overall 73% rise in the general prison population. The increasing number of elderly prisoners can be attributed to several trends: the general aging of the population as a whole as the baby boom generation moves into maturity; changes in sentencing policy and practice that results in offenders serving longer terms; increased numbers of repeat offenders; changes in parole philosophy and practices; and, the increased number of prisons being built throughout the United States. Available arrest and jail inmate statistics indicate that the growth in the elderly inmate population is not due to an increase of offenders whose first incarcerations occur during their late 40s or early 50s. Rather, the surge seems to have its origin in that group of older prisoners already in the system, serving long-term sentences and aging in place. By mid-2003, 35.9 million people in the United States were 65 or older, representing 12% of the total population (He, Sengupta, Velkoff, & DeBarros, 2005). According to projections by the U.S. Census Bureau, between 2011 (when the front-end of the 77 million baby boomers turn 65) and 2030 (when the tail-end reach retirement), the number of persons 65 and older will grow from 35 to 72 million and represent approximately 20% of the 2030 total population. With this growth of the general population, it is anticipated that by 2030, one-third of the U.S. prison population will be labled geriatric. As of 2005, approximately 1 of every 23 prison inmates was 55 or older, representing an increase of 85% since 1995. A major source of increased growth of the elderly inmate population is due to legislative changes (such as three strikes laws, truth in sentencing, and mandatory minimums legislation) that have resulted in persons sentenced to prison actually serving more time than previously. Between 1992 and 2003, there was an 83% increase in the number of inmates serving a life sentence, for a total of 127,000 inmates, or 1 in 11 prisoners (Mauer, King, & Young, 2004). Of those, one fourth is serving a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.
Characteristic of the aging process, elderly prisoners are apt to suffer from sensory deficits as well as declines in stamina, balance, and agility that make adaptation to environmental extremes difficult.
Characteristics and Needs of Older and Aging-in-Place Prisoners As with the elderly in general, older inmates present at varying states of normative aging. Characteristic of the aging process, elderly prisoners are apt to suffer from sensory deficits as well as declines in stamina, balance, and agility that make adaptation to environmental extremes difficult. Changes in taste, smell, salivation, and dentition can lead to weight loss and increased risk of choking. Changes in touch, balance, and sight can increase the risk of falls, which, given changes in elderly bones, can result in fractures, disability, and even immobility. Decreased perceptions of heat and cold and slower body response to changing temperatures can easily lead to hypothermia or dehydration. The immune system naturally declines with age, leaving older people more vulnerable to communicable diseases, which
is surely an issue in the confined space of a prison. As in other aging populations, it can safely be assumed that disability in the prison population rises with age. A 1992 study by Colsher, Wallace, Loeffelholz, and Sales found that elderly prisoners have increased rates of incontinence or frequent urination, sensory impairment, and loss of flexibility. A study of inmates aged 60 and over in England and Wales found that 85% of subjects had one or more major illness during incarceration, and 83% had at least one chronic illness (Fazel, Hope, Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Donell, Piper, & Jacoby, 2001). The most frequently cited categories of illness include psychiatric, cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, and respiratory, with diabetes and hepatitis C being commonly cited specific disease processes. Overall, elderly inmates are far less healthy than both their younger counterparts and their peers in the outside community.
Mental illness, especially depression, is a characteristic feature of the older prison population; this appears to be so whether the elder inmate enters prison with, or partially because of, mental illness. Research indicates that at the middle of 2005, over half of all jail and prison inmates suffered from a mental health problem or disorder, with female inmates showing a higher incidence than males (James & Glaze, 2006). Among those with mental illness, approximately three fourths of both jail inmates and state prisoners met the diagnostic criteria for a substance abuse/dependence disorder. Based on early research regarding the effects of three strikes legislation, three strikers were particularly susceptible to depression and anxiety (Koening, Johnson, Bellard, Denker, & Fenlon, 1995). Certainly the high-stress environment of prison combined with low personal autonomy, isolation, and hopelessness are Spring 2007 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER 59
sufficient reasons to cause high levels of anxiety among older inmates. Aside from its negative impact on the emotional status of elderly inmates, long-term incarceration has negative effects on the physical health of inmates (Fazel et al., 2001). An inadequate or unbalanced diet, a sedentary life style, and insufficient preventative health care are features of long-term incarceration that may have negative effects on the physical health of older and longterm inmates. Inmates who enter prison later in life are apt to have lived in conditions characteristic of low socioeconomic status, including limited access to health care, poor nutrition, and substance abuse. In brief, long-term incarceration may exacerbate the existing disabilities of old age and negative effects of pre-incarceration lifestyles. In general, elderly persons are apt to be victims of certain crimes as they are less physically and/or mentally able to defend themselves and their property (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2005). As elderly inmates are housed with younger age groups, they are more susceptible to intimidation and thievery and may suffer from chronic fear of such. As compared to younger persons, the elderly are apt to be more confused in crowded conditions and have a higher need for order as well as for time alone and silence. These environmental needs are essentially unavailable in jails and prisons.
Management of Elderly Prisoners Due to their unique psychosocial and physical needs and vulnerabilities, elderly inmates pose certain placement and management difficulties. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) mandates that facilities such as prisons and jails be both integrated and accessible (U.S. Department of Jus-
60 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
tice, 1990). The Act covers older inmates with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activity. While, in theory, the Act protects the rights of elderly inmates, in practice it may not. By definition, specialized care is easier to provide and more cost efficient if individuals with the same class of needs are placed together. If segregated housing was created for older inmates, service provision might be consolidated and renovation might only be required in one part of a facility rather then the whole. In addition, there would be the benefit of protecting the elderly from physical assault from younger inmates. The need for jail and prison renovation to accommodate the physical requirements of older inmates is not a new concern. Much has been written about the physical requirements of accommodating older inmates (Cavan, 1987; Morton & Anderson, 1996; Neely, Addison, & Carig-Moreland, 1997; Vito & Wilson, 1985). Many facilities are undergoing retrofitting and installing new lighting systems, accessible door handles, ramps, low thresholds, and other features familiar to staff in long-term care settings. Such accommodation is expensive and not universal. Of note, a degree of environmental challenge can be beneficial to older people. Where possible, elderly inmates should be encouraged to walk, climb stairs, and otherwise exert themselves. Only when these tasks become difficult or pose too much of a risk should alternatives be sought. Older prisons were often designed with long corridors, long distances between amenities (e.g., cafeteria, library, chapel, yard), and large distances between buildings. In the case of individuals with mobility impairments, simply adding handrails, allowing extra time to complete tasks, and centralizing the individualâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s daytime routine to avoid repeated journeys down long corridors or across the prison grounds may prove helpful. Common sensory impairments due to age include visual and hearing deficits. Older eyes have difficulty making the
transition from light to dark and back again, so extra time should be allowed if inmates have to leave or enter buildings or poorly-lit spaces. Glare is also a problem; light bouncing off walls and floors can be very uncomfortable and even blind older people. Depth perception may be affected, making dark areas on the ground appear to be holes. The use of dark strips and tiles in front of doorways is now becoming a popular means of restraining Alzheimerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s victims, who will not cross them. In mentally functioning inmates, however, it may be useful to place high-contrast (bright on dark background or dark on bright background) strips at the edges of stairs to indicate the end of each step. Presbycusia is a common hearing deficit in older people, is characterized by difficulty hearing high pitches, and may result in the affected inmate mishearing orders and instructions. Hearing aids offer only a partial solution as they amplify all sounds, including background noise, which is plentiful in prisons. Corrections personnel should be sure to face the individual and use body language to amplify verbal instructions. Older inmates are at a higher risk of dehydration and hypothermia than are younger prisoners. Because body heat regulation is less efficient in older persons, they may be particularly vulnerable to hot and cold conditions. Sluggishness, babbling or delirium, and, in the case of dehydration, failure to urinate for long periods are all danger signs. While depression is common in inmates of all ages, it is a special concern for the elderly. Aside from the characteristic reluctance to engage in social or recreational activities and withdrawal from social contact, in older people, depression often produces symptoms similar to dementia, particularly forgetfulness and inability to carry out sequences of actions. It is estimated that 10% of people over the age of 65 in the non-incarcerated population suffer from dementia. No figures are available for incarcerated populations, but it is reasonable to expect the number
of individuals showing symptoms of dementia is likely to rise commensurate with an increase in older inmates (especially those suffering from long term malnutrition, drug and alcohol addiction, diabetes, and depression, all of which produce dementia-like symptoms). Features common to prisons and jails such as long, doubleloading corridors, high-glare lighting, and uniform décor can exacerbate a dementia victim’s confusion. Such people are likely to wander to the wrong places and may panic or become hostile when confronted. Glare and high levels of background noise may increase their agitation to the point of physical violence. Simple interventions include providing a quiet time-out place, putting up simple signs and visual cues (especially pictures and arrows, for people who can no longer read), and identifying the triggers for the inappropriate behavior (e.g., time of day, proximity to others, noise and activity level, unusual events). Traditional inmate services may require specific programmatic changes to benefit older prisoners. As purposeful activities help maintain social, mental, and physical functioning, rehabilitation programs focused on using existing skills may be preferred over the more traditional emphasis on training for future employment. As older prisoners’ interests may differ somewhat from those of their younger counterparts, recreational programs might be tailored to the interests of the individuals. Labeling an activity as being specifically intended for older people may stigmatize it, but this does not stop prison personnel from polling individuals and initiating activities (e.g., discussion groups, chair exercises, tai chi, etc.) that attract older people without labeling. Adjusting recreational programs for elderly inmates may require only minor changes in such things as the background music, the specific board games available, or the topics presented for discussion.
In the End The growing population of aging inmates is being housed in a system designed and intended for youthful offenders. While the national average cost of housing a prisoner is between $20–26,000 per year, it costs approximately $69,000 per year to house
an elderly inmate (Mauer et al., 2004). Clearly, if the elderly prisoner population grows as projected, it will place a tremendous financial burden on the correction system unless viable alternatives are found and implemented.
References Beck, A. J., & Harrison, P. M. (2001). Prisoners in 2000 (Rep. No. NCJ 188207). Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. Bureau of Justice Statistics. (2005). Victim characteristics, 2005. Available online: http:// www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/cvict_v.htm#age Cavan, R. S. (1987). Is special treatment needed for elderly offenders? Criminal Justice Policy Review, 2(3), 213–224. Colsher, P. L., Wallace, R. B., Loeffelholz, P. L., & Sales, M. (1992). Health status of older male prisoners: A comprehensive survey. American Journal of Public Health, 82(6), 881–884. Fazel, S., Hope, T., O’Donell, I., Piper, M., & Jacoby, R. (2001). Health of elderly male prisoners: Worse than the general population, worse than younger prisoners. Age and Ageing, 30(5), 403–407. Harlow, C. W. (1998). Profile of jail inmates, 1996. (NCJ 164620). Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics. Harrison, P. M., & Beck, A. J. (2005). Prisoners in 2004. (NCJ 210677). Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics. He, W., Sengupta, M., Velkoff, V. A., & DeBarros, K. A. (2005). 65+ in the United States: 2005. (P23–209). Current Population Reports, Special Studies. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging and the U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, U.S. Census Bureau. James, D. J. (2004). Profile of jail inmates, 2004. (NCJ 201932). Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics. James, D. J., & Glaze, L. E. (2006). Mental health problems of prison and jail inmates. (NCJ 213600). Bureau of Justice Sta-
tistics Special Report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics. Koening, H. G., Johnson, S., Bellard, J., Denker, M., & Fenlon, B. (1995). Depression and anxiety disorder among older male inmates at a federal correctional facility. Psychiatric Services, 46(4), 399–401. Mauer, M., King, R. S., & Young, M. C. (2004). The meaning of “life”: Long prison sentences in context. Washington, DC: The Sentencing Project. Morton, J. B., & Anderson, J. C. (1996). Implementing the Americans with Disabilities Act for inmates. Corrections Today, 58(6), 86, 88–90,140. Neely, C., Addison, L., & Craig-Moreland, D. (1997). Addressing the needs of elderly offenders: Medical care, physical environment are of special concern. Corrections Today, 59(5), 120–123. U.S. Department of Justice. (1990). Americans with disabilities act. Retrieved from http:// www.ada.gov/ Vito, G. F., & Wilson, D. G. (1985). Forgotten people: Elderly inmates. Federal Probation, 49(1), 18–24.
About the Author Bruce Gross, PhD, JD, MBA, is a Fellow of the American College of Forensic Examiners and is an executive advisory board member of the American Board of Forensic Examiners. Dr. Gross is also a Diplomate of the American Board of Forensic Examiners and the American Board Psychological Specialties. He has been an ACFEI member since 1996 and is also a Diplomate of the American Psychotherapy Association.
Spring 2007 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER 61
Conducting an Observed Document Examination By Larry C. Liebscher, BA, CDE, FACFEI
Introduction In today’s increasing environments of judicial, scientific, and professional accountability, a forensic document examiner (DE) may be required to conduct his or her examination under the scrutiny of an observer. This could be opposing counsel, the opposing expert, or both. With standards widening in the document examination field, definable and observable examination methodologies, inclusive of the examiner’s competence, are no longer marginal considerations but specific requirements. An examiner may be extensively qualified, but only thorough pre-examination preparations and a well-reasoned plan will he or she exhibit professionalism, experience, training, and confidence during an observed document examination. The following points are offered as helpful suggestions during an observed document examination.
Do Your Homework Setting forth an action plan for use on the day of the examination will give you a professional appearance and help you achieve desired results. Well in advance of the observed examination, insist on seeing the original documents or the best quality copies. A verbal-only description of the questioned documents by your client attorney often fails to include important details. Adequate preparation requires you to have some idea of where you are headed before the examination begins. Dress Rehearsals The motto that works well for the Boy Scouts of America also works well for document examiners—Be Prepared! Enact a to-do list or plan of action based on questions surrounding the documents to be examined. Then, practice the plan. One or more rehearsals of the upcoming document examination could prove invaluable. For a recent observed examination, I performed two complete dress rehearsals, discovering with each unanticipated problems that would have arisen the day of the actual exam. During the first rehearsal, my video graphic printer stopped feeding paper properly. The repairs required 20 minutes, which I made immediately. During the second rehearsal, my camera’s light meter battery died. I discovered I had no backup batteries in my office. I had to drive to the local camera store on the other side of town and purchase more batteries. I learned that examination rehearsals can 62 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
prevent these types of problems from surfacing when an opposing DE or attorney is watching. Expect the unexpected and plan ahead.
Receiving the Documents Standard operating procedures for accepting questioned documents for examination include the following: • Handle the documents with gloves or tongs. Do not assume, just because the opposing examiner or attorney handles the documents with ungloved hands, that fingerprints on the documents will not be an issue later. Avoid being accused of mishandling the evidence. • Place documents in the kind of transparent, plastic sleeves that will not lift writing off the paper. • Do not fold the documents or reverse already existing folds. • Do not make cuts or tears or apply staples, paper clips, or chemicals that could alter or damage the documents. If a document must be changed or altered, secure written permission to do so from the opposing attorney. • Avoid subjecting the documents to dampness and extreme temperature variances. • Photograph or scan the documents. • Copy the documents using the manual feed only, one document at a time. Autofeed could introduce new marks or indentations on the documents. Also, make sure the glass copy bed is clean.
• Do not mark questioned and known documents, front or back, with identification numbers or initials. These marks may be placed on photographs, scans, or copies of the documents.
Look Good, Sound Good It goes without saying that a document examination practitioner must possess the skills, training, experience, education, and uncompromising integrity to perform document examinations. For the purposes of this article, however, your DE qualifications are assumed intact and will not be the focus of discussions here. During an observed document examination, the examiner is under the microscope more than the documents being examined. How you look, dress, speak, and move; the environment in which you live and work; and your office and lab will be closely scrutinized. Opposing counsel observing your examination is not primarily interested in what you know, but rather how you present yourself during your exam and how you hold-up under pressure. Make sure your communication skills are impressive. Do you come across as a convincing, poised, confident professional who is also believable and trustworthy? On attack during your testimony, opposing counsel will, by whatever means permissible, attempt to convince the judge and jury you are incompetent and lacking in training and qualifications. During the observed examination, it is of paramount importance that you provide the opposition with no words
or actions that could be used against you. The items in your office that you do not want others to see should be hidden (e.g., confidential notes, reports, file folders, visible data on your computer screen, photos, other in-progress examination papers, books, and journals). Your office should reflect the professionalism, integrity, and authority of its resident, giving no grounds for a potential attack later. Remember, it is not only vital that you know what you are doing, but also that you look like you know what you are doing. This image is enhanced by your rock-solid calmness in any circumstance. Let nothing rattle you.
Notes, Notes, Notes From start to finish, keep a running log of notes about the examination (e.g., date and time of everyone’s arrival, who was present during the examination and for how long, and exactly what documents you took custody of and their condition at the time you received them). Write down the times of relevant comments, quoting what was said from others and your response. Note the beginning and ending times of examination components, making meticulous notes as to microscope, camera, video spectral comparator, and other equipment settings. Note the location of both opposing attorney and expert during your exam. If their locations change, write down when and where they went. Detailed notes are the bread and butter of your written report. Sometimes your notes become your only record of what you did. Document examinations, from a simple signature comparison to an IR irradiation of two inks, involve hundreds of physical and mental interactions. No matter how good your memory, you cannot remember ALL details of the exam. Seemingly unimportant bits of information at the time of your exam may become critical later. Accurate, comprehensive notes will help you remember things that could be forgotten. Making notes is an integral part of any scientific examination. They not only help you remember things, but also facilitate a better understanding of what you are doing and contribute to a professional image. To those observing, taking notes communicates a non-verbal message that you are focused and serious about your work.
Uninvited Guests Opposing attorneys and experts coming to your office are not invited, but assigned, to watch you. Nevertheless, though uninvited, they are guests and should be treated with the same courtesy and respect afforded anyone else visiting your office. Comfortable seating, pleasant heating or air conditioning, the provision of bottled water and/or coffee, and directions to restroom facilities are gestures of hospitality and professionalism. Like guests in your home, however, it is inappropriate to allow viewing of personal or confidential information—particularly in the midst of a legal dispute. Guests will see your plaques, certificates, and book titles in your library. They should not be permitted to see, at any time, the notes you are writing during your exam. They should not be permitted to ask questions as to the examination’s progress or its conclusions. Keep these matters confidential and privy only to your client attorney. During the document examination, your back may be to the observing individual. Occasionally turn and check as to his or her whereabouts. Guests sometimes wander. If they move from sight, locate where they have gone. Depending on the circumstances, it may become necessary to admonish visitors that their movement is a disturbance to your examination. They are there to observe, not to interfere. If disturbances cannot be quieted, discontinue the examination, calmly return the documents, and politely dismiss both attorney and expert from your office. Note the exact time and reason for doing so, then immediately advise your client attorney. Conclusion Through it all, do not over-do things, nor, more importantly, appear as if you are overdoing things. Look concise, not excessive. Double-check your examination’s facts and figures, as you may not have access to the original documents again. Return the documents given to you in exactly the same order and condition they were originally given. With a smile and a firm handshake, bid everyone a good day. When they are gone (check to confirm they are out of the building) briefly review your notes for clarity and accuracy, adding possible over-
looked details, while things are still fresh in your mind. As soon as possible, contact your client attorney with a verbal report of your examination findings.
Works Consulted Babitsky, S. (2002). Bulletproofing the expert witness. Paper presented at the SEAK Testifying Skills Workshop, Newport Beach, CA. Babitsky, S., Mangraviti, J., & Todd, C. (2000). The comprehensive forensic services manual: What attorneys and clients look for in an expert (pp. 183–188). Famouth, MA: SEAK Publishers. Bloom, J. (2004). The art of effective deposition and trial testimony. Courtroom Sciences workshop at NADE 25th Annual Training Conference, Anaheim, CA. Hilton, O. (1993). Scientific Examination of Questioned Documents (pp. 349–360). Ann Harbor, MI: CRC Press. Leviton, R. (1995). Brain Builders (pp. 40–48). New York: Rewards Books. Robertson, E. W., (1991). Fundamentals of Document Examination. Chicago: Nelson-Hall Publishers. Small, G. (2004). The Memory Prescription (pp. 270–273). New York: Hyperion Publishers. Standing Bear, Z. G., & Rabinoff, M. (2000). Expert testimony and forensic examination ethics. Paper presented at the American College of Forensic Examiners Training Symposium, Denver, CO.
About the Author Larry C. Liebscher, BA, CDE, FACFEI, retired recently from a 30-year law enforcement career at Redding Police Department in California. For the last 17 years of his career, he was the investigator in charge of the department’s financial crimes unit, inclusive of forensic handwriting and document examinations. Liebscher is a graduate of the U.S. Secret Service Questioned Document Academy, holds the designation of Certified Document Examiner with the National Association of Document Examiners, and is a member of the American Society for Testing and Materials. Liebscher continues examining questioned documents through his business, Forensic Handwriting Services. He is a Fellow of the American College of Forensic Examiners International and was one of the associations very first members.
Spring 2007 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER 63
By Katherine Ramsland, PhD, CMI-V Traditional ideas about female serial killers include that such offenders are motivated primarily by gain, are less violent than males, tend to commit murders out of reaction rather than their own initiations, and are not sexually compulsive in their bid to kill. But there are exceptions to every rule, particularly when it comes to stereotypes about serial killers. Some women who repeatedly kill have certainly been predatory and brutal. A few have even been sexually compulsive. There’s no reason to believe that females are immune to an erotic rush from the act of murder, and this article examines several cases to illustrate this. Not surprisingly, many turn up in the health care industry.
64 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
J
ane Toppan, a nurse at the end of the nineteenth century, experimented on patients with a mixture of drugs that killed slowly. As they gradually lost consciousness, she would climb into bed to cradle them while they slipped into oblivion (Schechter 2003). After she went to work for a family, its members began to die, one by one, with gentle Jane by their side. Finally, someone grew suspicious and examined these deaths more closely, leading to Toppan’s arrest. During her examination and trial, Toppan admitted to being aroused by death, which places her squarely in the category of a lust killer. In fact, she said that her sole regret was that she had been stopped so soon, and had she married and had a family, she was certain she would have killed them all as well. There has been little to no research on female lust killers, in part because it’s an unexpected phenomenon and in part because the cases are rare. However, similar to male lust murder, the female counterpart is often driven by a paraphilia, such as arousal upon viewing a corpse or when rubbing inappropriately against someone. Often, there’s something deviant in their sexual development that consistently triggers arousal and thus feeds a compulsion. Erotic motivation is even more prevalent among women who kill in partnerships with other women, although this behavior does not show up in all cases. There aren’t many documented examples, but those
this article identifies involved at least one person with a scheming mind, a degree of psychopathy, and the capacity for getting a thrill from deciding that others should die. In the first case involving two women, it’s not altogether clear who was actually the dominant partner, but violence apparently gave them both a sexual rush. Catherine May Wood was described by her former husband, Ken Wood, as flighty, overly sensitive, moody, and unpredictable (Cauffiel 1992). She would start something and even pursue it for months, but would then drop it to do something else. He said that he could never count on her to commit and believed that she had never known unconditional love. As a result, he thought, she was both needy and insecure. She surprised him once by admitting that she wondered what it would be like to stab someone. She also felt no maternal affection for their daughter. Bothered by her excessive weight, she nevertheless continued to eat junk food. The Woods separated in 1986, but not before Ken caught a glimpse of the kinds of friends Cathy was keeping at the Alpine Manor nursing home in Walker, Michigan, where she worked as a supervisor. Apparently, a clique of lesbians employed there had become party friends, Cathy among them. Her sense of morality, already tenuous, seemed to Ken to have taken a back seat completely.
Cathy told Ken that she was in love with an aide, Gwendolyn Gail Graham, but that some of the things they did together frightened her. Graham had arrived from Texas, and this 22-year-old motorcycle rider had a tough side. Cauffiel (1992) states that people viewed her as masculine. She had been seriously injured several times and she often displayed the scars on her arms, sometimes lying about how she got them. She apparently had severe reactions to what she perceived as abandonment, which included the type of self-mutilation common to people with borderline personality disorder. Several of Graham’s coworkers liked her, but she took up with Cathy and they became lovers. Then they became killing partners. Alpine Manor, with more than 200 beds, averaged about 40 deaths a year, so six unnatural deaths—especially of total care patients who required the most attention—did not stand out. One victim had gangrene, another had Alzheimer’s, and all of them had been expected to die there at some point. It was an easy situation to exploit, especially with 70 staff members covering all the shifts. According to Wood, whose tale became the primary legal record, it was Graham who first broached the subject of murder. At first Wood claimed she was just a witness, but later admitted to participating. Under interrogation and later at trial, Wood described how they had practiced sexual asphyxia to achieve greater orgasms, so she thought Graham was kidding when she suggested killing a patient. Yet the linked pain and pleasure of their sexual games had become threaded with images of cruelty against others. Just talking about murder, she said, got them both sexually excited. Finally, they decided to do it. They started killing patients in January 1987 and continued for 3 months, initially attempting to select victims whose names would be part of a spelling game. The idea occurred while working on a crossword puzzle. They knew that the Alpine Manor recorded the names of patients who had died or were discharged in a book. Just for fun, they wanted to make the first initial of six names in a row, when read down, spell MURDER.
However, it proved too complicated to select the right patients in a way that minimized risk and also spelled the word, so they just selected patients that seemed easy to kill without discovery. Their new motive, said Wood, was to share this secret so they would be bonded forever. With each killing, they added one more day to that time period, so that after the third murder they might sign a love letter, “forever and 3 days.” Wood said she agreed to be an accomplice because she feared losing Graham, who apparently killed to relieve personal tension. Acting as sentry, Wood watched as Graham attempted to smother elderly women, but some struggled so hard she had to back off. Oddly enough, none registered a complaint, and, in fact, most of the patients liked these two women. In many respects, they appeared to be good at this job, patient, and compassionate. The first victim to actually die was a woman suffering from Alzheimer’s disease who both knew would be unable to fight. Her last name began with an M. Placing a washcloth over the woman’s nose and mouth, Graham smothered her to death. In the weeks that followed, Graham moved on to another, and then another, leaving a washcloth in each room as her calling card. After a failed attempt to kill one of the male patients, they stuck to females, especially those who proved difficult to care for. In one version of the story, they had targeted at least 20 different people, including other aides. To relive the crimes, Graham took items off the victims, such as jewelry, personal keepsakes, and socks. She and Wood placed these souvenirs at home on a special shelf. In a morbid postscript, they sometimes washed the bodies as part of the postmortem routine, and handling their deceased victims further excited them. Then they grew bolder. They told colleagues what they were doing to add to their heightened sexual drives, but their accounts were dismissed as sick jokes. No one could believe that a person who entered the health care profession would actively kill a patient, let alone become an outright predator. Wood, in particular, was known to lie and play mind games, so
few associates took her seriously. Even her shelf of souvenirs impressed no one. Graham then pressured Wood to take a more active role: she would have to kill one of the patients herself. Wood wasn’t ready for this, or so she later claimed. This angered Graham, who took up with another woman and returned to Texas. From there, she wrote disturbing letters about wanting to smash the faces of babies in her care at another facility. Wood swore her ex-husband to secrecy and confessed everything, admitting they had killed patients because it was fun. Despite his promise to her, Ken felt endangered just by knowing about their activities. He notified a therapist and, a year later, the police. Wood attempted to deflect their investigation but quickly caved and blamed Graham. There is some speculation that she set Graham up with this confession to punish her for leaving. After an investigation that involved two exhumations (which offered no physical evidence), both women were arrested. Wood turned state’s witness against her former lover for a sentence of 20 to 40 years, with the possibility of parole. Graham, too, testified, but the most telling witness was Graham’s current lover, who admitted that Graham had confessed six murders to her. Others testified in a similar vein. On September 20, 1989, the jury deliberated for only 6 hours before they rendered a verdict: Graham was convicted of five counts of first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder. She drew six life sentences, with no possibility of parole. In media accounts, Wood’s role was downplayed to “occasional lookout,” and the case remains controversial today over whether there were more murders, as well as whether there were any murders at all. There is some speculation, especially after a psychological evaluation of Graham, that even if Graham did the killing, Wood was the mastermind. In studies of team killers, researchers have found that many couples, no matter what gender, follow a common pattern. Two people meet, feel a strong attraction, and establish an intimate familiarity that allows them to share fantasies—even violent ones. When eroticized, this apSpring 2007 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER 65
proval encourages acting out, and if the partners succeed in committing a violent crime without getting caught, they grow bolder. The dominant person is generally charismatic and maintains psychological control—his or her erotic preferences set the tone. In the case of Graham and Wood, regardless of who actually performed the murders, their fantasies and activities enhanced their sadomasochistic sex. Thus, until they broke up, the game became an essential aspect of their pleasure and a way for each to manipulate the other. They egged each other on, but they also exploited the fear of discovery to threaten each other. The fact that killing elderly women also gave them an outlet for issues they both had with their mothers added yet another level of motivation. All in all, murder was both fun and satisfying. When lust is not the propellant, but females nevertheless kill for camaraderie, there still appears to be an element of thrill with erotic manifestations. They don’t kill specifically for a sexual thrill, but their pact and the actions that sustain it provide the stimulation. We see this phenomenon in a series of murders that took place in Vienna, Austria. It was again a nurse’s aide who initiated the 6-year spree at Lainz General Hospital. Most of the victims were elderly, many terminally ill. The killing began in 1983, and by the time officials began to investigate, the death toll stood at 49 (Protzman, 1989). Reports of the trial turned up in the New York Times. Waltraud Wagner, 23, had a 77-year-old patient who one day asked for help to end her suffering. Many nurses in elder care units or facilities face such requests. Wagner hesitatingly obliged, overdosing the ailing woman with morphine. Once she accomplished this without being caught, she apparently felt a surge of energy. She soon recruited accomplices from the night shift to engage in this “mercy-killing.” Maria Gruber, a 19-year-old nursing school dropout, was happy to join. So was Ilene Leidolf, 21. The third recruit was a grandmother, 43-year-old Stephanija Mayer. While the initial idea was to do something beneficial, they soon found pleasure in killing patients who got on their nerves. 66 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
Many were not even deathly ill; they were just annoying. Wagner showed the others how to give lethal injections with insulin and tranquilizers, and added a mechanism of her own creation: the water cure. This brutal method involved holding a patient’s nose while forcing him or her to drink water, which then filled the lungs and caused an agonizing death. Yet it was virtually undiscoverable as murder, because many elderly patients already had a certain amount of fluid in their lungs. At first, the nurses killed sporadically, but by 1987 they had escalated and rumors spread that there was a killer on Pavilion 5. Allegedly, Wagner may have killed as many as 75—her own estimate before she withdrew parts of her confession. She then said she had only killed nine, although one of her accomplices placed her victim toll closer to 200. As they grew bolder, the nurses also grew careless. Over drinks one day, they relived one of their latest cases. A doctor overheard them, and he went to the police, who launched an investigation. It took 6 weeks, but all four women were arrested on April 7, 1989. The doctor in charge of their ward, who had been alerted to the killings a year earlier, was suspended. While Wagner and the others insisted on selfless motives, the jury did not agree. Ultimately, Wagner was convicted of 15 murders, 17 attempted murders, and two counts of assault. She received life in prison. Leidolf, too, got life for five murders, while the other two drew 15 years for manslaughter and several attempted murder charges. This set of relatively light sentences may indicate how difficult it is for society to accept the idea of a predatory female killer—let alone four working together. Researcher Carol Anne Davis (2001), who wrote about Graham and Wood, states that many female killers do plan their crimes, feeling empowered when they get away with them. Alone, they might be bad news in other ways, but engaging a partner willing to go the distance can provide a catalyst for repeat murder. Dominant women intent on violence, she says, tend to be sexually-driven, narcissistic, secretive, and manipulative. Often
victimized in some manner during their lives, they turn this around by victimizing others. Having an approving or submissive partner energizes them, perhaps even making them feel invincible. Once caught, they attempt to manipulate the system, still believing in their own power. Sometimes they even succeed, thanks in part to the misperception of violent females fostered by erroneous stereotypes. As more cases emerge, more about this type of crime is discovered, and formal studies of female killing teams are clearly in order.
References Associated Press. (1989, November 3). Ex-nursing home aide gets life term in five patient killings [Electronic Version]. The New York Times. Cauffiel, L. (1992). Forever and five days. New York: Zebra Books. Davis, C. (2001) Women who kill. London: Allison & Busby. Yeomen, B. (1999). Bad girls. Psychology Today, 32(6). Protzman, F. (1989, April 18). Killing of 49 patients by 4 nurse’s aids stuns the Austrians [Electronic version]. The New York Times. Schechter, H. (2003). Fatal: The poisonous life of a female serial killer. New York: Pocket Books. Women killed to assure love, one testifies. (1989, September 14). Detroit Free Press.
About the Author Katherine Ramsland, PhD, CMI-V, has published 27 books including The Human Predator: A historical Chronicle of Serial Murder and Forensic Investigation. Dr. Ramsland is an assistant professor of forensic psychology at DeSales University in Pennsylvania. She is a Certified Medical Investigator (CMI-V) and has been a member of the American College of Forensic Examiners since 1999.
Exploring the Mind of a Spy By Janet Mielke Schwartz, PhD, DABFE, DACFM, DABPS, FACE, CHS-III
S
pies who betray their own country have long been perceived as a more unusual type of criminal than those typically involved in other kinds of crime. However, a new perspective may be considered. Treasonous spies do not merit special regard or a special classification. On the contrary, these individuals may be regarded as merely being another variety of white-collar criminals who became involved in matters of national security with possible international ramifications (Stone, 1989). Some theorize that, however serious the consequences of their acts, the behavior of spies who perform espionage against their own country may best be understood as having similar motivations to other greedy white-collar criminals. The public’s perception has been that nearly all American spies who have been caught have been motivated by money. But, is this an accurate assumption? In an article published in The Boston Globe, Adam Pertman explores “why they spy” and concludes that the common denominator today among “people who export their nation’s secrets” is best described by a Hollywood screenwriter’s line: “Show me the money” (Pertman, 2001). Others, such as FBI analysts, psychiatrists, and researchers, agree that rationales including disenchantment with specific government policies, feeling disgruntled with their own jobs, problems with self-esteem, living out fantasies of a more flamboyant lifestyle, and experiencing a loyalty conflict (cognitive dissonance) because of one’s ancestry or religion may be among the array of reasons that prompt men and women to act out the betrayal. “People usually spy for some combination of emotional gratification and remuneration,” stated John Pike, the director of GlobalSecurity.org, a Washington, D.C.based policy organization. “But, whatever their reason, in almost all cases today, money is how people keep score” (as cited in Pertman, 2001). Scientific effort has been made to develop a two-factor theory or model for motivations that lead to traitorous spy behaviors. One researcher identified a bipolar effect with money (or greed) at one end and
ideology at the other (Stone, 2001). Discussions with past or present governmentemployed counterintelligence officials led him to conceptualize an additional orientation, that of being disaffected or dissatisfied with how one’s self has been treated by others, including organizations or political entities. A continuum was created wherein disaffected was at one end, and the opposite end was labeled as other, representing some kind of other orientation, meaning concern for the welfare of others. Stone (2001) suggests that either two-factor motivational theory, i.e., greed vs. ideology or disaffection vs. other may be a means to understand the motivation of treasonous spies. To test his theory, Stone assembled the research facts of 175 U.S. spies identified since the end of World War II [Additional reports claim the number to be ranging from 98 (Gelles, 2006) to 150 (Edwards for Bradley on National Public Radio, 2001)] and was able to place 153 U.S. spies on either of the bipolar dimensions (Stone, 2001). Project Slammer In 1985 U.S. intelligence agencies embarked on a 10-year benchmark study named Project Slammer (Security Educator’s News, 2006), which was focused on interviewing 30 incarcerated spies (Pertman, 2001). The purpose of the study was to determine the motivation of the convicted spies and to learn the methods by which they committed their crimes. Although dated, the previously classified study’s findings remain significant, and the conclusions included the following: • No offender entered a position of trust with the intent to betray. • There were two prevalent sets of personality traits: a. highly manipulative, dominant, and self-serving b. passive, easily influenced, and lacking self-esteem • A large number were substance abusers. • Their decisions to betray were based in part on their beliefs that their co-workers would not turn them in. • They were male. (Several women have committed espionage on the U.S., but these statistics reflect only those spies inter-
viewed as part of Project Slammer.) • Marital status was irrelevant. • Those interviewed were immature with an inability to cope. • Interviewees had an anti-social personality. • There were significant personality changes that started suddenly with behavior change throughout (Security Educator’s News, 2006). Pertman’s (2001) analysis of the principle findings of the Slammer Study concluded that a particularly detailed traumatic event provided the impetus for an individual’s eventual decision to cross the line. Additionally, although the 30 subjects of the study were initially terrified about being caught, their fear gave way to euphoria (Pertman). They felt no guilt about their betrayal while they were conducting the espionage or sometimes even after being arrested because they participated in selfdeceptive rationalizations (Gelles, 2006, p. 4). The U.S. government has extensively studied the behaviors associated with the risk of espionage. Project Slammer was an inter-agency project in which a team of federal agents, along with government psychologists and psychiatrists, interviewed the convicted spies, focusing on their motivations and the methods they used in their search to understand the behaviors, motivations, complete mindsets, and personalities of spies. Security and counterintelligence professionals hoped to learn enough information to improve the early identification and treatment of employees at risk for committing serious offenses. Personality Disorders According to Gelles (2006), betraying one’s country does not result from an isolated moment of uncontrollable insight. It results from a long process or emotional crisis. And, typically, the at risk behavior has not been observed or reported by a colleague or superior. Although spies who betray may not fit the current perception of crazy, they usually are emotionally disturbed and suffer from one or more personality disorders. The two most commonly experienced disorders are anti-social personality disorder and narcissistic personality disorder. Spring 2007 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER 67
Anti-Social Personality Disorder Anti-social personality disorder is manifested in behaviors reflecting a tendency to reject the normal rules and standards of society. Individuals of this orientation experience a focus only on what they can get now with little interest in the future and no focus on learning from the past. They are not capable of forming deep friendships or deep attachments or of developing a commitment to anyone or anything. Their capability to remain loyal is severely compromised. Most individuals with an anti-social personality disorder have criminal records that make them ineligible for security clearances, but many milder versions are eligible and do receive clearances. While on the job, they “press the limits of rules and regulations to see how much they can get away with and bend the law when it conveniently accommodates their self-interest” (First & Tasman, 2004, p. 1246–49). Professionally smooth and glib, the similarities to white-collar criminals are startling. They have the capability to be convincing and to talk their way out of trouble. Narcissistic Personality Disorder Narcissistic personality disorder traits include unmerited feelings of self-importance or self-esteem (grandiosity), feeling entitled, and a general lack of empathy for others. Many successful individuals or over-achievers appear to be narcissistic. However, from the security perspective, a concern arises only when an individual’s view of his or her own abilities is so distorted from reality that he or she becomes aligned with a destiny of disappointment rather than success (Gelles, 2006; First & Tasman, 2004). When confronted by criticism or a failure, such individuals feel devalued by the individual or the organization and may react with a temper tantrum or, perhaps, extensive written appeals. A narcissistic’s relationship with others may turn very quickly from love to hate or vice versa, depending upon whether the relationship supports or minimizes the individuals compelling need to validate one’s grandiose self-image. Narcissists who feel rejected and underappreciated by their organizations or supervisors need to defend themselves 68 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
against strong feelings of inadequacy. Their responses may be passive aggressive, vindictive, or generally rebellious. To balance the devaluations, they might turn to a foreign intelligence service to satisfy their emotional needs, finding enormous satisfaction in working as spies and outsmarting the organizations that rejected them (Gelles, 2006). Three Critical Factors and Traits That Lead to Treasonous Betrayal Anti-social behaviors and strong narcissistic tendencies are frequently associated with increased security risks, but these tendencies need not lead to a more serious offense. Gelles (2006) cites three critical factors that must be in position in order for a trustworthy and loyal government employee to cross the line and participate in the activities of a spy. First, a personality or character weakness, such as anti-social tendencies or narcissism, causes a predisposition to maladjusted counterproductive behavior. Second, a personal, financial, or career crisis puts an individual with these weaknesses under great stress, triggering more obvious counterproductive behavior often observed by friends, co-workers, or a supervisor. Third, the friends, co-workers, and supervisor fail to recognize the signs of a serious problem, and they decide they do not want to get involved or assume that someone else will take care of it. As a result, no one intervenes to help resolve the problem, and the individual’s behavior spirals out of control. Finally, most spies have an inability to accept responsibility for their own actions. Mistakes are minimized or ignored, and they blame others for their problems (Gelles, 2006). It is essential to screen recruits and potential employees for their ability to accept criticism without defensiveness, to express anger and frustration appropriately, to feel compassion and consideration toward others, to respect the rights of others, to work collaboratively and cooperatively with others to achieve a common goal, to sustain a strong social support system, to exhibit selfdiscipline in delaying gratification in order to achieve a long-term goal, and to honor
commitments and recognize that they are not entitled or owed anything from life (Gelles, 2006).
References First, M. B., & Tasman, A. (2004). DSM-IVTR mental disorders: Diagnosis, etiology and treatment. West Sussex, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Gelles, M. (2006). Exploring the mind of a spy. Employee’s Guide to Security Responsibilities. Retrieved on October 3, 2006, from http://rf-web. tamu.edu/security/secguide/Treason/Mind.htm Pertman, A. (2001, February 25). Why they spy: Be it ideology, ego or disaffection, almost always a thread connects motive and money. The Boston Globe. Retrieved October 3, 2006, from http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/2001/02/bg)22501. html. Schwartz, J. M. (2006). Security educator’s news: Personnel security. Air Force Special Programs Security Education Council. Retrieved October 28, 2006, from www.dss.mil/training/sec_news.pdf. Stone, L. A. (1989). On the psychological makeup of a spy. Forensic Reports, 2, 215–221. Stone, L. A. (2001). A Two-Factor Motivational Theory for Spying Behaviors. Psychology of Espionage Reports (Vol. 2). Retrieved October 3, 2006, from http://www.home.earthlink.net/~lastone2/ espionagearticle3.htm
About the Author Janet Schwartz, PhD, is the president of Forensic Fraud Research, Inc., a nonprofit investigative firm that became affiliated with the National White Collar Crime Center in 2003. Dr. Schwartz has served as Chair and Chair Emeritus of The American Board of Forensic Examiners. She is a Fellow of The American College of Forensic Examiners International, a Diplomate of The American Board of Forensic Medicine, a Diplomate of The American Board of Psychological Specialties, and a Diplomate of The American Academy of Pain Management and is Certified in Homeland Security at Level III. She has been an adjunct assistant professor of behavioral sciences at Northeast Ohio Universities College of Medicine.
A Sharp Eye in the Autopsy: Profile of Keith Simpson
By Katherine Ramsland, PhD, CMI-V When British Pathologist Dr. Cedric Keith Simpson went to the scene of a burned house in Bedford one Saturday night to help search for a body, he came across the charred remains of what he thought might be a forearm. With great care, he laid it into a cardboard box, and at the end of the night he took it to his laboratory for analysis. Investigators from Scotland Yard, along with the local fire chief, gathered around as he prepared to cut through the charred crust to get to the tissue and bone. As everyone watched, he shoved in the scalpel. They all leaned closer. The crust cracked open and gave way. But something was wrong. Everyone laughed as Simpson found himself cutting open an overbaked loaf of French bread.
“The laugh was certainly on me,” he mused in his most famous book, Forty Years of Murder, “and to this day, when I visit Bedford on a crime, I am likely to be asked if I would care for a slice of French bread with my tea!” (Simpson, 13). Involved in forensic work from 1934 into the 1980s, Simpson believed that death investigators must keep a sense of humor. While there was nothing funny about such grim scenes, rare moments of merriment were cherished and shared, because they got everyone involved through difficult times. Simpson was one of a handful of British pathologists during the mid-twentieth century to become renowned for his careful work, and several cases became particularly newsworthy. If not for his persistence and skill in the 1949 incident involving Mrs. Olive Durand-Deacon for example, the con artist and serial killer John George Haigh may have gotten away with several murders. Digging into the 3-inch-deep human sludge in the yard where Haigh admitted to having dissolved the missing woman in acid, Simpson kept a sharp eye for a specific item. He knew from medical records that Durand-Deacon suffered from gallstones; he also knew that gallstones, covered in fat and quite hard, were resistant to acid, so he’d set out specifically to look for them. Reaching into the sludge with a hand gloved against the corrosive acid, he found what he was seeking. He also removed a partial foot, bone fragments and a set of dentures. Other evidence that was traceable to Durand-Deacon turned up as well, and her appointment to meet with Haigh the day she disappeared strengthened the case. Further investigation revealed that Haigh had swindled, killed, and similarly dissolved four other people. Despite an insanity defense based on his claim that he needed to drink his victims’ blood, he was convicted, and executed. Simpson’s work ensured that justice was done. Born on July 20, 1907, Simpson grew up watching his father, a doctor, attend to his practice in Brighton, Sussex. Simpson then entered medicine himself and became a top student, and then a lecturer. Eventually he lectured around the world. Spring 2007 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER 69
Oddly, he found himself unable to bear illness and injury, so he went into pathology because the dead feel no pain. Soon he became fascinated with forensic applications, finding the rush of an ongoing case to be quite stimulating, even under grueling cross-examination in court. At one point, he gained the reputation of having done more autopsies than anyone in the world. Among Simpson’s other books are Forensic Medicine, Modern Trends in Forensic Science, several textbooks on courtroom principles and etiquette, and even a collection of true crime vignettes, The Fatal Chance: 12 Cases From The Notebook Of A Crime Pathologist, written under the pen name, Guy Bailey. Forty Years of Murder is his retrospective autobiography. In this book, he describes how he got his start in 1934 when Scotland Yard called him to the scene of a murder in a hotel near a railroad station. The request made him nervous, but he wanted to prove himself with the Yard, and he was aware that most such cases went to a famous pathologist, Bernard Spilsbury. Simpson arrived at once and was fortunate to work with an experienced detective who spotted his potential and led him through the protocol. When Simpson placed his bag on the floor rather than a table or bed, he impressed the detective with his awareness of the potential for corrupting a crime scene. Then he took out a notebook, which also impressed the detective, who then offered subtle hints about what to do next. Simpson was grateful. “Years later,” he wrote, “he said I had impressed him by my calm and unhurried step-by-step examination” (Simpson, 24). In 1937, Simpson was appointed the medico-legal advisor to the Surrey Constabulary, and by the early 1940s he was involved in the examination of wartime crimes. One day, a reclusive elderly woman was found dead in her locked, barricaded bedroom. The key lay on the floor inside. She held a glass of brandy tightly in her hand, as if she’d simply fallen, yet from bruises on her face and head, she had clearly been assaulted; more suspicious, her jewelry cases were open and empty. Two suspects, drunken seaman found on the property, had her jewelry 70 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
in their pockets. It seemed possible that they had entered to batter and rob her, and she had then barricaded herself inside her room. Yet, Simpson decided, the extent of her injuries would have hindered her from setting up the barricade. So how had it happened? The incident proved a challenge to reconstruct, but eventually the investigators surmised that one of the men had knocked the victim down in her room and tried unsuccessfully to strangle her. He had second thoughts and possibly used the brandy to try to revive her. Failing that, he had staged the scene with the barricade to make it appear less lethal. To see if this was possible, Simpson helped with an experiment that proved that the barricade could have been rigged from the other side of the locked door, and the key slid under it. With this evidence and the victim’s condition, it was not difficult to get the pair of killers to confess that they had indeed killed the woman. However, one died before trial, so the other threw all the blame on his deceased partner. With no evidence to the contrary, there was reasonable doubt and he was acquitted. Besides his work in general pathology, Simpson made forensic history with some bite mark cases. In fact, he made his public debut in court in 1942 with the case of a beheaded female murder victim discovered in skeletal condition under a concrete slab, her legs severed at the knees. On a list of missing persons, Rachel Dobkin seemed the most likely candidate, and her medical records were located. Simpson utilized the dental plate of the intact upper mouth to track down the dentist who had done the work. His records matched Dobkin’s, so she was definitively identified. Simpson went on to determine that she had been strangled, so her estranged husband, Harry Dobkin, became the suspect. He was soon arrested and eventually convicted as her killer. Four years later, Simpson also matched the distinctive teeth and weapon impressions found on battered victims to a sadistic serial killer. On June 20, 1946, Margery Gardner was found suffocated to death in a London hotel, and she’d been brutally whipped with a metal-tipped implement.
She had also been sexually violated and bitten on the breasts. Simpson examined the body, noting, “If ever I saw a murderer’s signature on his handiwork, it was the imprint on Margery Gardner’s body of the riding whip with the diamond weave pattern” (Simpson, 104). There were 17 distinct lash marks on her stomach, back, and breasts. He then told detectives, “Find that whip and you’ve found your man.” Because the hotel room had been signed out to Neville Heath, and his fingerprints were found there, the police had a good idea who to look for. In the meantime, the con artist and killer had moved on, going to a seaside town to seek another victim. He seduced Doreen Marshall with a false persona, luring her to a lonely spot where he bit and stabbed her. But the police caught up with him and searched his effects. They found a braided whip with a pattern that specifically matched the bruises on Gardner’s body. Found guilty, Heath, only 29, was sentenced to be executed. During his day, Simpson became one of three prominent pathologists, along with Dr. Donald Teare and Dr. Francis Camps. For a brief period, until Camps became too competitive to collaborate, they were called the “Three Musketeers.” Seeing the need to share their findings with others in their field, they founded the Association of Forensic Medicine. Camps eventually went his own way, but the organization flourished. All three pathologists were called into a sensational case in 1953, which involved a serial murderer named John Reginald Halliday Christie. He had gassed and killed six women, raping five, and he stashed the corpses in walls or under the floorboards of his small flat. After he sublet the flat, the renter discovered the decomposing remains. Christie was arrested, and concerns arose that in 1949 he may have also murdered the wife and child of his upstairs neighbor, Timothy Evans. Christie had actually testified against Evans, who had been convicted and executed. Now Christie was stating that he was indeed the killer and had kept the pubic hair of his victims in a tobacco tin; among them was the hair from Beryl Evans. Yet Christie was a proven liar and seemed to enjoy his sudden notoriety.
In the interest of justice, an exhumation was ordered, and the three experts had to compare the hair on the corpse with the different tufts of hair found in Christie’s tin. Camps was present for the prosecution, Simpson was present for the defense, and Teare was present because he had done Beryl’s original autopsy. After examination, three of the four tufts were clearly ruled out, but one was of the right consistency and color to have been from Beryl. Yet her pubic hair appeared to be intact, aside from the few plucked at her original autopsy. It was a tense situation. Then, as all of England debated the merits of the death penalty, anticipating the finding that an innocent man had been wrongly hanged, Simpson and Teare determined that the pubic hair from the tin had been trimmed on the other end some six months before Christie had clipped it, and Beryl had not trimmed hers. “The conclusion was inescapable,” Simpson wrote. “The hairs in the tobacco tin could not have been taken from Beryl’s body at the time of her death” (Simpson, 2000). He also found no evidence of carbon monoxide gassing—Christie’s typical M.O. Thus, Simpson affirmed Teare’s original report, along with Evans’s status as a fairly convicted killer. Upon hearing the results, Christie backpedaled and his lies caught up with him, yet the veracity of his confession remains controversial to this day. Evans was given a posthumous pardon for the murder of his child (the court decided that Christie had done it) but remained accused of the murder of Beryl. It was an odd sense of closure, to be sure, but Simpson was confident of his findings: Christie had not collected Beryl’s pubic hair as he’d claimed. Not described in Simpson’s memoir, but nevertheless involving his expertise, was the enigmatic hanging of Italian financier Roberto Calvi, 62, from Blackfriars Bridge in London on June 18, 1982. In his pockets were five pieces of brick, totaling about 14 pounds, along with approximately $15,000 in various forms of cash. Just days before, the Vatican-based bank, Banco Ambrosiano, of which Calvi had been president, had collapsed into debt. Because Calvi was linked with both the Cosa Nostra and the Vatican and because
he was a member of the illegal Masonic Lodge, whose clandestine rules demanded death for betrayers, it seemed likely that he had committed suicide. His family protested. Coroner David Paul invited a jury of six men and three women to consider whether Calvi’s death was suicide or homicide. The jury learned about Calvi’s alleged financial indiscretions and frauds, and then they listened to Simpson dispute the possibility that Calvi had been strangled, poisoned, or drowned before being suspended from the bridge. “My conclusions,” he testified, “were that the death was due, without any question in my view, to asphyxia by hanging: that evidence of drowning was entirely lacking and that there was no evidence to suggest that the hanging was other than a self-suspension in the absence of marks of violence.” He found nothing to show that Calvi had been bound in any manner, adding that if he had been strangled, there should have been another ligature mark, or the marks of fingers or fingernails. In addition, he found no injection mark or evidence of poison. Thus, murder seemed unlikely. “I am quite satisfied,” Simpson concluded. “That possibility can be altogether excluded.” Sir David Napley, the attorney for Calvi’s widow, asked Simpson whether it was possible that Calvi had been subdued by pinning his arms to his sides and placing a rag with chloroform to his mouth. “I would expect the pinning to leave at least fingerprints,” Simpson responded, because the victim would have struggled to some extent. He would not have passed out immediately. Calvi’s brother admitted that Calvi had already attempted suicide in another manner the year before, by cutting his wrist and swallowing tranquillizers. After listening to 12 hours of evidence, the majority verdict of the inquest jury was that Calvi had killed himself. Simpson had passed away by the time the case was revived and re-examined, this time with a different outcome. Years after the incident, an informant indicated that the Mafia had killed Calvi to silence him about their money-laundering as well as to punish him for losing their money. They had staged it with the bricks in the pockets
to implicate the Masons. In 1998 Calvi’s remains were exhumed to apply state-ofthe-art methods of forensic science. The panel of forensic experts failed to find the injuries to Calvi’s neck normally associated with death by hanging. Their conclusion was that Calvi had likely been strung up from underneath the bridge, which he could not do himself. Thus, he had been murdered. No one on this panel seemed to consider, as Simpson had, the absence of marks of a struggle or strangulation. However, they did examine other factors besides those that Simpson had noted, running experiments and concluding that it was impossible for Calvi to have hanged himself. Interpretations among even the most experienced experts may differ, and the weight of one who may be mistaken can make all the difference to the outcome of a case. Simpson knew and accepted this, stating that pathology was nevertheless an exciting and fascinating career. He ended his memoir by quoting his father to the effect that nothing that is worth having is easy to get, and he believed this was especially applicable to the field of medicine. While there had been some trying times, he admitted, at least his patients had never complained. Even after 4 decades, he retained his sense of humor and hoped never to retire. He died in 1985 from a brain tumor, still otherwise vibrant at the age of 78.
References Lane, B. (2004). The encyclopedia of forensic science. London: Magpie Books. Simpson, K. (1978). Forty years of murder: An autobiography. New York: Dorset Press. Simpson, K., As Guy Bailey. (1969). The fatal chance: 12 cases from the notebook of a crime pathologist. London: Peter Davies. Thorwald, J. ( 1964). The century of the detective. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World. Wilson, C., & Wilson, D. (2003). Written in blood: A History of forensic detection. New York: Carroll and Graf Publishers.
About the Author To read about Dr. Katherine Ramsland, see page 66.
Spring 2007 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER 71
The Importance of Certification: A Panel of Experts
An Introduction to Our Expert Panelists
Col (Ret.) LZ Johnson, ABCHS, CHS-V: I enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1963 and served for 32 years. During this time, I had numerous opportunities to be involved in activities serving not only homeland defense, but also what we presently refer to as homeland security. My various assignments included command and staff assignments, training soldiers and units, installation command and management, and command of deployed U.S. Army operational elements. My military assignments also provided an opportunity to be involved in development of antiterrorism plans, task force planning for regional response to civil disorders and natural disasters, and chemical stockpile emergency planning programs. I served on numerous national boards and committees providing strategic direction for training and readiness of military forces and supporting installations. Upon retirement, I became the first director of the Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP) located at McClellan, Alabama. At the CDP, I was responsible for directing and supporting a national training center meeting the needs of public safety stakeholders throughout our nation. Upon retirement from the CDP, I was employed in private industry supporting homeland security efforts. DeeAnna Merz Nagel, CFC: I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mental health and human services from Georgia State University in 1992 and went on to pursue a master’s degree in education in rehabilitation counseling from the University of Georgia in 1994. Since then I have worked in a variety of settings with diverse populations, ranging from homeless men and battered women to adults with developmental disabilities and families involved with child protective services and foster care. I am licensed to practice in Georgia, New York, and New Jersey and have been actively involved as ethics chair on the boards of the Georgia and New York state chapters of the American Mental Health Counselors Association. It was my work with foster children and children at risk for placement in the foster care system that brought me to the forensic mental health field. For the past 6 years my primary efforts have focused on assessing and evaluating families. These families are involved in the family court system and my recommendations are reviewed by judges and lawyers to determine the best course of action and the best interest of each child. From this experience I became interested in child custody evaluations and other forensic mental health evaluations including substance abuse, parental fitness, and domestic violence. Other interests include the provision of distance counseling, which can be conducted online via email and chat, video counseling, and telephone. I am a current member and past president of the International Society for Mental Health Online. Along with my certification as a Certified Forensic Consultant (CFC) I am also a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC) and a Distance Credentialed Counselor (DCC). I currently serve on AFCEI’s American Board of Forensic Counselors. Scott Miegel, Cr.FA: My professional background began as a business school graduate and accounting major from the University of Wisconsin. My first job experience was with Arthur Young and Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. After 4 years in the audit department I moved to South Florida and began my own practice shortly thereafter. I have been in practice since 1983. I have obtained several additional professional licenses including the Certified Business Appraiser (CBA) license and the Certified Forensic Accountant (Cr.FA) license. 72 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
What duties does your job require you to regularly perform? Johnson: In my current job I’m responsible for directing private industry assets supporting our federal government at NASA laboratories, army ammunition plant operations, commercial aviation support, and homeland security programs. Merz Negal: In my current position as CEO of Merz Consulting, Inc. I oversee counselors working toward licensure and provide clinical oversight of all services. I assist with the development and implementation of programs such as forensic evaluations, counseling services, online counseling, and employment services including drug screens, background checks, and EAP implementation. Miegel: My duties have included records reconstruction, searches for hidden assets all over the globe (including gold and Swiss bank account documents hidden underground), verification of testimony by litigants, and determination of the validity of claims made by litigants from all over the country. I have had such varied duties as determination of value for recycled tire inventories that burned for months, actual income of persons injured in an acetylene explosion, lost profits from hurricane destroyed businesses and airplane damage, determination of existence and value of estate assets for warring heirs, determination of if and how much partners embezzled, and much more that help make this world more entertaining than anything television has to offer. Which ACFEI certification do you hold, and why did you decide to pursue that certification? Johnson: I am Certified in Homeland Security at Level V (CHS-V). When I first entered private industry, a co-worker received an ACFEI flyer describing homeland security certification programs. I submitted my application, and almost immediately ACFEI Founder Dr. Robert O’Block and CHS Chief Association Officer Marianne Schmid called me. This led me to believe I was entering a valid program that had national significance and importance.
Merz Negal: I am a Certified Forensic Consultant (CFC). I decided to become a CFC because my staff and I are issued subpoenas regarding evaluations we have conducted. Although we do not testify on a regular basis, we do encounter the occasional case (such as termination of parental rights) that requires us to appear in court regardless of how thorough our report may be. The CFC allows the extra edge needed to feel confident in the courtroom. Miegel: I am a Certified Forensic Accountant (Cr.FA). My first experience in forensic accounting came in 1989 when I was called on to assist in the dissolution of a marriage involving significant monies. While my involvement was somewhat accidental in that the person I worked for was a long time client, it gave me my first taste of the litigation support world. With that experience I began to actively seek other work in the forensic field. Several years ago I found out about the Cr.FA program and went through the certification process. How has your certification enhanced your career? Johnson: The CHS program provides an accreditation not found in many fields. Certainly state and local governments certify professionals in their field, and other national organizations certify in their discipline; however homeland security certification is multi-discipline and touches every portion of our society, economy, and security. It is important that customers, the public, public safety officials, and others know they are dealing with a certified professional. Our Certification in Homeland Security accomplishes this requirement and provides recognized bona fides. Merz Negal: The credential has enhanced my career by adding another level of competency that I did not previously possess. Many mental health professionals conduct similar services, but the CFC credential adds another dimension to the overall skill set. Miegel: As my practice grew I noticed more and more the importance of training and experience in the field of forensic account-
ing. There is always something new to learn, and the more resources available the better. Also, as an expert witness the more credentials the better. I am also certified in business appraisal, giving me three distinct certifications. While I initially believed my business appraisal certification would open more doors, I was surprised at how many attorneys and other people placed even more weight on the Cr.FA designation. The Cr.FA designation combined with my other designations has provided me with some significant separation from the professional pack and been a tremendous boost to business. Even more important has been the professional education I have received as a result of going through the certification process. Perhaps the most important thing I have taken from the certification is the new focus this designation has provided me. There are many professional opportunities in the expert witness world, and the designation of forensic accountant is a superb place to be. What would you say to other professionals in your field who are considering pursuing the same certification? Johnson: When becoming a member of ACFEI and receiving Certification in Homeland Security, you are joining a field of professionals that have the security of our nation in their hearts and minds. They are willing to use their knowledge, skills, and abilities in meeting homeland security needs of every citizen, community, and state in our nation. The membership is small enough to get to know you, yet a national resource with a robust capability.
ACFEI Members: Would you like to be interviewed as an expert for The Forensic Examiner? The Forensic Examiner plans to feature interviews like this one on â&#x20AC;&#x153;hot topicsâ&#x20AC;? in upcoming issues, and we need expert panelists to share their thoughts. Our next "Ask the Experts" column will be on criminal profiling and behavior analysis. If you have experience in this area and would like to participate as a panelist, please email the editor at editor@acfei.com. You may be selected to be interviewed in an upcoming issue!
Miegel: In conclusion, while the ever popular CSI television shows are keeping millions entertained by the examination of bodies, we in forensic accounting are busy examining an equally entertaining body of paper! And the stories they tell! Merz Negal: I would recommend the certification to anyone who regularly communicates with lawyers or judges through the court system. Whether you frequently testify as an expert witness or not, the understanding gained from the training is well worth the endeavor. Spring 2007 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER 73
Dallas Ad
The American College of Forensic Examiners (ACFEI)
2007 Regional Certification Conference Dallas, TX • Westin, DFW Hotel • June 1–2, 2007
E. Robert Bertolli
3 EASY WAYS TO REGISTER
1. Call: (800) 423-9737 2. Email: conference@ mgmtexec.com 3. Visit: www.acfei.com
The Certified Forensic Nurse, CFN , Course “There has been an overwhelming need in the forensic nursing community for a credential that covers all of the common characteristics of forensic nurses who work with very diversified patient and non-patient populations. . . . Nurses skilled in the forensic sciences have endless possibilities where their nursing experience can be used.” —Rusty Rooms, MSN, RN, CFN, CMI-III, DABFN SM
Rusty Rooms
Don’t miss your only chance to earn a new certification at a live course through ACFEI in 2007! Expand your knowledge, set yourself apart from your peers, and earn a prestigious credential from the world’s largest forensic membership association. Qualified professionals may choose from any of the certification review courses described here.
The Certified Medical Investigator®, CMI, Course “I would suggest that anyone prosecuting or investigating crimes should consider this course. It makes for a better investigation and expands your knowledge base to understand what can or cannot be determined from the information found. Any forensic scientists, clinician with any connection to law enforcement, or provider of expert testimony should consider this course. Overall, the knowledge is indispensable.” —E. Robert Bertolli, OD, CMI-V, CHS-V
Jonathan J. Lipman
The Certified Forensic Consultant, CFC®, Course “Applying one’s professional expertise to issues of the law does not come naturally . . . the CFC designation assures the client that the professional has undergone additional forensic training and experience and understands how to apply their knowledge honestly and fairly to the forensic arena.” —Jonathan J. Lipman, PhD, Neuropharmacologist, Diplomate of the American Board of Forensic Examiners The Certified Forensic Accountant, Cr. FA®, Course “The forensic accounting field has grown significantly over the past couple of years and ACFEI provided a much-needed certification for professionals who specialize in this particular field.” —Laurie Ann French, CPA, Cr.FA
Laurie Ann French
CE TEST PAGE: SIX TOTAL CREDITS AVAILABLE (WITH THE COMPLETION OF ALL 6 CE TESTS) Learning Objectives for “Risk Assessment in Civilly Committed Sexually Violent Predators: Static Versus Dynamic Orientations”
Learning Objectives for “A Behavioral Optometry/Vision Science Perspective on Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus Exam for DUI enforcement.”
After studying this article, participants should be better able to do the following: 1.) Identify the strengths and limitations of a static risk assessment of sexually violent predators in a civil commitment proceeding. 2.) Identify the strengths and limitations of a dynamic risk assessment of sexually violent predators in a civil commitment setting. 3.) Distinguish a structured dynamic assessment from an empirically guided dynamic assessment. 4.) Relate empirically supported dynamic risk factors to the relapse sequence.
After studying this article, participants should be better able to do the following: 1.) Recognize horizontal gaze nystagmus (HGN) as an indicator of impairment from depressants, alcohol, inhalants, and dissociative anesthetics. 2.) Understand the features of HGN that make it easily discernable from other ocular phenomena.
Article 2: CE Test for “A Behavioral Optometry/Vision Science Perspective on Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus . . .” (See page 26 for article.)
Article 1: CE test for “Risk Assessment of Civilly Committed Sexually Violent Predators . . .” (See page 18 for article.) 1.) Past associations with negative peer groups is an example of: A. A static variable. B. A dynamic variable. C. A demographic variable. D. A situational factor.
1.) True or false: A jerking of the eyes is always an indicator of impairment from alcohol consumption. A. True B. False
2.) If a 45-year-old offender scored a 6 on the Static-99 in 2000 and the evaluator returns in 2007 to re-evaluate the offender, the evaluator should anticipate: A. The score to change as a reflection of treatment. B. The score to lower due to the passage of time. C. The score to be the same. D. The score to change only if the offender has developed health problems. 3.) The issue of current attitudes and beliefs is found in the dynamic assessment research of Hanson in the SONAR as well as in Thornton’s 2002 research. Under the relapse prevention model, this same factor would be referred to as: A. An unchangeable consideration. B. An internal risk factor. C. An internal trigger or activator. D. An external trigger. 4.) When comparing static versus dynamic assessments with the civilly detained population, one could conclude that: A. Dynamic assessments are more valid than static assessments. B. Static assessments are more useful if the offender is a pedophile. C. Dynamic assessments are more useful in a commitment setting after treatment has occurred. D. Static assessments better support the issues of attention in an annual review of progress report.
Evaluation for Article 1: (1-3 rating section)
2.) When administering the HGN exam to determine the presence of nystagmus at maximum deviation, the stimulus must be held for: A. 1 minute. B. A minimum of 30 seconds. C. 2 minutes. D. Approximately 4 seconds. 3.) How many clues must be present to indicate a blood alcohol concentration of a minimum of .08 milligrams/milliliter of blood if alcohol is the only depressant used? A. At least six B. At least four C. Two D. Three 4.) True or false: A subject is facing the officer. The subject’s eyes are jerking back and forth. The officer does not have to administer the HGN exam because the eye jerking is already present and therefore, a clear indicator of impairment from a depressant. A. True B. False 5.) An unimpaired individual’s capacity to follow a moving target is typically: A At least 30 degrees per second. B. At least 120 degrees per second. C. 10 degrees per second. D. 100 degrees per second.
Evaluation for Article 2: (1-3 rating section)
Please circle one (1=Poor 2=Satisfactory 3= Excellent)
Please circle one (1=Poor 2=Satisfactory 3= Excellent)
1. The author presented material clearly. 1 2 3
5. Learning Objective 4 was met. 1 2 3
1. The author presented material clearly. 1 2 3
4. New knowledge or technique was gained.
2. Learning Objective 1 was met. 1 2 3
6. New knowledge or technique was gained.
2. Learning Objective 1 was met. 1 2 3
5. Additional comments:
3. Learning Objective 2 was met. 1 2 3
7. Additional comments:
3. Learning Objective 2 was met. 1 2 3
4. Learning Objective 3 was met. 1 2 3
Payment Information: $15 per test
(Identifying information: Please print legibly or type the following:)
Name:
Fax Number:
Address:
City:
Credit Card # Circle one:
check enclosed
Phone Number: State: Signature
MasterCard
Visa
Name on card:
76 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
American Express
Exp. Date:
Zip:
E-mail: Date
Statement of completion: I attest to having completed the CE activity. Please send the completed form, along with your payment of $15 for each test taken. Fax: (417) 881-4702, or mail the forms to ACFEI Continuing Education, 2750 E. Sunshine, Springfield, MO 65804. If you have questions, please call (417) 881-3818 or toll free at (800) 423-9737.
CE TEST PAGE: SIX TOTAL CREDITS AVAILABLE (WITH THE COMPLETION OF ALL 6 CE TESTS) Learning Objectives for “Explicit Alternative Testing (EAT): Application of the Binomial Probability Distribution to Clinical-Forensic Evaluations”
Learning Objectives for “Reverse Suspensions” After studying this article, participants should be better able to do the following: 1.) Understand the mechanism of death in reverse suspension. 2.) Identify contributory conditions of death in reverse suspension. 3.) Determine death certification in cases of reverse suspension.
After studying this article, participants should better understand the following: 1.) The literature regarding faked memory deficits. 2.) The forced-choice method entitled Explicit Alternative Testing (EAT) and its ability to detect malingered memory problems. 3.) The available methods to calculate the binomial probability.
Article 3: CE test for “Reverse Suspensions” (See page 34 for article.)
Article 4: CE test for Explicit Alternative Testing (EAT): Application of the Binomial Probability Distribution . . .” (See page 38 for article.)
1.) The principal factor in reverse suspension death is: A. Ethanol intoxication. B. Hypothermia. C. Mechanical asphyxia. D. Increased intracranial pressure. E. Cardiac arrhythmia. 2.) The manner of death in all reported cases of reverse suspension is classified as: A. Undetermined. B. Accidental. C. Asphyxia. D. Suspicious. E. Homicide. 3.) Which is not a contributory condition in reverse suspension death? A. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) B. Congestive heart failure (CHF) C. Isolation of the victim D. Hypothermia E. Ethanol intoxication 4.) Which statement is false regarding the animal experimentation on rabbits in a head-down position? A. Pa O2 increased and CO2 decreased immediately after the rabbits were placed in the head-down position. B. The electrocardiogram showed slight ST elevation shortly after reverse suspension of the rabbits. C. All animals died after 17 to 44 hours. D. The amplitude of respiratory movement decreased gradually with clear changes after 12 hours. E. Intracranial pressure increased due to an increment of cerebral venous pressure in addition to cerebral edema. 5.) Which is true regarding reverse suspension death? A. Respiratory muscles tend to be fixed in both inspiration and expiration. B. Muscles become fatigued. C. Lung capacity is reduced by intra-abdominal pressure. D. Ethanol intoxication and hypothermia act synergistically. E. All of the above are correct.
Evaluation for Article 3: (1-3 rating section)
1.) Deception analysis is useful in which of the following contexts? A. Criminal B. Civil C. Civil and clinical D. All of the above 2.) The deceptive response style most associated with malingering is termed: A. Faking good. B. Faking bad. C. Invalidation. D. Honesty. 3.) Deviation from chance responding for the binomial probability distribution is typically defined as: A. Plus or minus 1 standard error of 50% correct. B. Plus or minus 4 standard errors of 50% correct. C. Plus or minus 1.96 standard errors of 50% correct. D. Any defined range from the mode. 4.) Which of the following is not a method of calculating binomial probabilities? A. Looking it up in the binomial table B. Using a commonly accepted formula C. Using a binomial probability calculator on the Internet D. Taking the square root of the value obtained from the hypergeometric distribution and multiplying it by a constant 5.) A “rule of thumb” for the evaluator to assert a particular deceptive response style is in evidence. How many indicators should be present? A. Only 1 B. At least 6 C. 2–3 D. About 4
Evaluation for Article 4: (1-3 rating section)
Please circle one (1=Poor 2=Satisfactory 3= Excellent)
Please circle one (1=Poor 2=Satisfactory 3= Excellent)
1. The author presented material clearly. 1 2 3
5. New knowledge or technique was gained.
1. The author presented material clearly. 1 2 3
5. New knowledge or technique was gained.
2. Learning Objective 1 was met. 1 2 3
6. Additional comments:
2. Learning Objective 1 was met. 1 2 3
6. Additional comments:
3. Learning Objective 2 was met. 1 2 3
3. Learning Objective 2 was met. 1 2 3
4. Learning Objective 3 was met. 1 2 3
4. Learning Objective 3 was met. 1 2 3
Payment Information: $15 per test
(Identifying information: Please print legibly or type the following:)
Name:
Fax Number:
Address:
City:
Credit Card # Circle one:
check enclosed
Name on card:
Phone Number: State: Signature
MasterCard
Visa
American Express
Exp. Date:
Zip:
E-mail: Date
Statement of completion: I attest to having completed the CE activity. Please send the completed form, along with your payment of $15 for each test taken. Fax: (417) 881-4702, or mail the forms to ACFEI Continuing Education, 2750 E. Sunshine, Springfield, MO 65804. If you have questions, please call (417) 881-3818 or toll free at (800) 423-9737.
Spring 2007 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER 77
CE TEST PAGE: SIX TOTAL CREDITS AVAILABLE (WITH THE COMPLETION OF ALL 6 CE TESTS)
Learning Objectives for “The Role of Forensic Auditing Techniques in Restoring Public Trust and Investor Confidence in Financial Information” After studying this article, participants should better understand the following: 1.) The quality of financial reporting and audit efficacy. 2.) The expectation gap and how to narrow it. 3.) The AICPA’s six detection measures. 4.) The eight new standards of the Auditing Standards Board. 5.) Recent financial statement frauds.
Learning Objectives for “In the Pursuit of Justice: Audio and Video Recordings—Weapons of Terrorism” After studying this article, participants should better understand the following: 1.) How terrorists are utilizing audio and videotapes as weapons. 2.) The basic methodology of video analysis. 3.) How videotapes from terrorists are analyzed. 4.) How voice analysis can aid in the identification of terrorists.
Article 5: CE test for “The Role of Forensic Auditing Techniques in Restoring Public Trust . . .” (See page 44 for article).
Article 6: CE test for “In the Pursuit of Justice: Audio and Video Recordings—Weapons of Terrorism” (See page 50 for article.)
1.) Which of the following statements is false? A. The AICPA takes the position that external auditors should be required to carry out specific forensic audit procedures. B. The expectation gap widened in the late 1980s. C. HealthSouth cooked its books over 17 years. D. None of the above statements are false.
1.) Waveform analysis in videotape authenticity provides: A. Physical verification of inserts and edits. B. Identification of individual frames for enhancement purposes. C. Verification of blocking and mosquito noise. D. Confirmation of HBI width, RF signal, and duplication issues.
2.) Which of the following statements is true? A. More than 300 million Americans invest in the capital markets through direct investment or retirement funds. B. HealthSouth used PeopleSoft, with at least 2,000 different ledgers. C. SAS No. 99 does not define skepticism. D. None of the above statements are true.
2.) When initially received, all evidentiary tapes and recorders should be: A. Analyzed for anomalies resulting from tension error. B. Marked and scanned/photographed for identification purposes. C. Reviewed for vertical smear and discontinuities. D. Examined for defects in the alignment of the playback machine.
3. The AICPA has committed to the following stronger detection measures: A. Establishing antifraud criteria and controls for publicly traded companies. B. Improving antifraud attestation standard to test and report on client antifraud controls and criteria. C. Incorporating antifraud education into the accounting curriculum and textbooks. D. All of the above. 4. Which of the following is not a position of the AICPA with respect to forensic accountants?
A. Forensic accountants can best be used by ensuring such proper procedures are properly developed and executed in-line with internal audit and audit committee concerns. B. Forensic accountants could be engaged in high-risk situations or when a fraud is suspected. C. Companies should not use the forensic services of their outside audit firm unless it pertains to the annual audit. D. All of the above are positions of the AICPA.
Evaluation for Article 5: (1-3 rating section)
3.) Which of the following is not a typical procedure for video authenticity? A. Examination of dihedral error B. Inspection of time code issues C. Verification of diode rating D. Development of videotape 4.) In voice analysis, a spectrogram: A. Determines the individual’s mannerisms and dialect. B. Uses aural clues to evaluate speech patterns. C. Represents a three-dimensional print of time, energy, and frequency. D. Provides verbatim exemplars for comparison. 5.) Video enhancement often requires: A. Verification of the polarity of electrolytic capacitors. B. Isolation of individual frames to identify critical elements. C. Frame averaging, stabilization, and magnification of linear tracks. D. Examination of transients relative to phase discontinuity.
Evaluation for Article 6: (1-3 rating section)
Please circle one (1=Poor 2=Satisfactory 3= Excellent)
Please circle one (1=Poor 2=Satisfactory 3= Excellent)
1. The author presented material clearly. 1 2 3
5. Learning Objective 4 was met. 1 2 3
1. The author presented material clearly. 1 2 3
5. Learning Objective 4 was met. 1 2 3
2. Learning Objective 1 was met. 1 2 3
6. Learning Objective 5 was met. 1 2 3
2. Learning Objective 1 was met. 1 2 3
6. New knowledge or technique was gained.
3. Learning Objective 2 was met. 1 2 3
7. New knowledge or technique was gained.
3. Learning Objective 2 was met. 1 2 3
7. Additional comments:
4. Learning Objective 3 was met. 1 2 3
8. Additional comments:
4. Learning Objective 3 was met. 1 2 3
Payment Information: $15 per test
(Identifying information: Please print legibly or type the following:)
Name:
Fax Number:
Address:
City:
Credit Card # Circle one:
check enclosed
Name on card:
Phone Number: State: Signature
MasterCard
Visa
American Express
Exp. Date:
78 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
Zip:
E-mail: Date
Statement of completion: I attest to having completed the CE activity. Please send the completed form, along with your payment of $15 for each test taken. Fax: (417) 881-4702, or mail the forms to ACFEI Continuing Education, 2750 E. Sunshine, Springfield, MO 65804. If you have questions, please call (417) 881-3818 or toll free at (800) 423-9737.
Become Board-Certified in Professional Counseling Announcing The American Board of Professional Counselors v A Leading Advocate for the Rights of Professional Counselors v
You entered this field in order to help people. When was the last time that an organization came along to provide any real help to you? Become BoardCertified in Professional Counseling! The mission of the American Board of Professional Counselors (ABPC) is to be the nation's leading advocate for counselors. We will work with you to protect your right to practice, increase parity for your profession, and provide you with the recognition, validation, and fairness that you so richly deserve. ABPC will champion counselors’ right to practice. ABPC will provide you with resources, low- or no-cost continuing education opportunities, and a forum to network with your fellow professional counselors.
Minimum qualifications during grandfathering period:
• If you are credentialed by NBCC, you are immediately approved.
OR
• Master's or doctorate degree in counseling, psychology, social work, marriage and family therapy, psychiatry, medicine, law, or related area from an accredited institution. • Minimum of 3 years experience as a counselor. • A current license, if required by the jurisdiction in which you practice. • Score at least 100 points on our scale of education, training, experience, knowledge, and skill. • Write one test question (multiple choice or true/false) for future National Examination for Board Certified in Professional Counseling and include the correct answer and at least one paragraph with an explanation for the answer.
Call Toll free for more information (800) 205-9165
•
www.americanpsychotherapy.com
Publications by ACFEI Members Forensic Investigation of Animal Cruelty: A Guide for Veterinary and Law Enforcement Professionals By Leslie Sinclair, DVM, Melinda Merck, DVM, and Randall Lockwood, PhD Forensic Investigation of Animal Cruelty: A Guide for Veterinary and Law Enforcement Professionals is a comprehensive introduction to the emerging field of veterinary forensic investigation. Much like their counterparts in the human medical and science fields, veterinarians have a key role in recognizing and addressing animal abuse cases. For example, in 2003 Dr. Randall Lockwood assisted the Salt Lake City and Denver area law enforcement officials in investigating the deaths of dozens of cats found dead over several months that summer. Forensic work helped officials conclude that the cats had likely been killed by animal predators rather than by a human. This year, Dr. Lockwood and Dr. Melinda Merck conducted a similar investigation for officials in Spokane, Washington, again proving that cat deaths there were also the work of predators. Animal crimes and the penalties for perpetrating them have come a long way. Once considered merely a piece of property, today 42 states and the District of Columbia currently have laws making certain types of animal cruelty a felony offense. “Cases of animal torture and severe neglect are shocking and disturbing to the public,” said Dr. Lockwood. Forensic Investigation of Animal Cruelty provides essential information and techniques that will help veterinary practitioners respond effectively when animal cruelty is suspected. The text is also an invaluable resource for animal shelters and investigative and law enforcement professionals. “As laws have been passed to upgrade the status of crimes against animals, there’s 80 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER Spring 2007
been a need for detailed investigation, examination, and forensic testing for successful prosecution,” said Dr. Merck. “Until now, some of these cases haven’t been investigated or prosecuted due to lack of knowledge and resources.” Melinda Merck, DVM, is a veterinary forensics consultant at The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals® and a member of the American College of Forensic Examiners. Randall Lockwood, PhD, is the senior vice president for Anti-Cruelty Initiatives and Legislative Services at The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals® and a member of the American College of Forensic Examiners. Dr. Henry Lee’s Forensic Files: Five Famous Cases By Henry C. Lee, PhD and Jerry Labriola, MD Dr. Henry Lee’s Forensic Files: Five Famous Cases is a fascinating insider’s look by a worldrenowned expert into the pursuit of justice in some of the most sensational and intriguing criminal cases of recent times. Dr. Henry C. Lee’s vast investigative experience and participation in many high-profile trials have earned him not only the highest respect from the law enforcement community, but also widespread public recognition. Here Dr. Lee once again gives avid fans of true crime an intimate glimpse into the real world of crime investigation, combining his unpar-
alleled expertise with a clear and lively narrative. Beginning with the infamous Scott Peterson trial, Dr. Lee vividly recounts his investigation of the case by focusing on the crucial issue of physical evidence. As a criminalist who examined the remains of both Laci Peterson and Conner, he brings a distinctive perspective and unique voice to the case and weighs in on the verdict. Next, Dr. Lee considers the much-publicized abduction of Elizabeth Smart from her family’s Salt Lake City home. After a fruitless 10-month search, Elizabeth was found alive in a Salt Lake City suburb with Brian Mitchell and his wife, both of whom appeared to be mentally unstable. Dr. Lee investigated this case and demonstrates the importance of physical evidence in reconstructing this crime. In the final three chapters, Dr. Lee examines the case of a novelist accused of murdering his wife, the shooting of an accused arsonist shortly before his trial, and the murder of a man’s wife in which both the husband and her lover are considered suspects! The outcomes are guaranteed to shock! In each case, Dr. Lee presents the scientific details of how law enforcement investigated the crime, using the most recent advances in modern forensic tools. Henry C. Lee, PhD, professor of forensic science at the University of New Haven and chief emeritus in the Department of Public Safety in Meriden, Connecticut, has been a consultant for over 300 police and law enforcement agencies and an expert witness in many high profile cases for both the prosecution and the defense. He is a Fellow of the American College of Forensic Examiners, the editor for seven academic journals, and the author of Cracking Cases and Cracking More Cases, among other works. Members can have their books reviewed in The Forensic Examiner® by sending a review copy to Editor, 2750 E. Sunshine, Springfield MO, 65804.
Falsely Accused After serving 22 years of a life sentence, Billy Wayne Miller was released from prison last May and received a full pardon from Texas Governor Rick Perry on December 20, 2006. Billy Wayne Miller had recently been paroled for a robbery and assault-to-commit murder conviction when he was arrested for abducting and sexually assaulting a woman. The abduction and subsequent multiple rapes occurred on September 26, 1983. After the victim left her friend’s house on her way to the bus stop that evening in Dallas County, Texas, a man in either a Chevy Impala or Caprice offered her a ride home. She agreed and gave the man directions to her home. However, as he drove past the exit that would lead to the victim’s house, he pulled out a gun. He raped the victim on the hood of his car after he pulled off into a vacant lot. She was raped again in the backseat of the car, and then a third time after the man had continued driving down a dark road. The victim memorized two of the street names they passed as the man drove her to a house. He forced her inside after unlocking the door and raped her a fourth time. She had talked to the man that held her captive, and at this point she
convinced him to drive her to a friend’s house, promising not to tell the police. When they arrived at the friend’s house, she was able to run inside before the man reached the door. He continued to stay outside the front door as the friend called the police, but later ran away when the friend made noise. The victim memorized the license plate numbers of the car the attacker used and directed the police to the house she recalled as the attack location. At that house, the police found a Chevy Impala carrying a license plate number only one digit different from the number the victim had memorized. Billy Wayne Miller’s father owned the registration on the car. A woman let them in the house. Miller was home, and police arrested him immediately. He was convicted of aggravated sexual assault in 1984 and sentenced to life imprisonment. A rape examination was performed in the hospital and samples collected revealed the presence of spermatozoa. The victim later stated to the district attorney’s office that the rapist could be the only source for the male DNA found on her vaginal swab. Miller attempted to secure post-conviction DNA testing in 2001, but was not granted testing until 2005. Because no evidence from the trial was found that could be subjected to DNA testing, the testing was performed on the evidence from the victim’s hospital examination. In 2006, the Texas Department of Public Safety tested the vaginal swab from the rape kit and determined that the DNA profile from the sperm fraction of the vaginal swab was not consistent with Miller’s profile. A second test showed the same results and Miller was released in May 2006. On December 20, 2006, Texas Governor Perry publicly exonerated and pardoned Miller. “I believe that a full pardon for innocence must be supported by strong evidence such as forensic DNA tests,” Perry (2006) said. “In this case, DNA evidence proves Mr. Miller is innocent. The recommendations of the district attorney, district judge, sheriff, po-
lice chief, and the Board of Pardons and Paroles were also important factors in my decision.” Miller, now 54, is sharing a home with his mother and trying to put his life back together. He says, “It’s kind of hard to convey just how I feel—you haven’t experienced confinement. Just like . . . Buddhist monks—I’m happy with nothing. I’m as happy as can be. You can’t go back and undo any of it. What happened, happened. I think I’m a stronger person because of it” (as cited in Tharp, 2006). He plans to seek restitution from the state of Texas for wrongful imprisonment, and he is considering a lawsuit. Miller has been working construction and other odd jobs since he was released in May. After spending 22 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, he is trying to get used to life beyond the prison walls.
References Dallas County Cases, The Innocence Project. (2006). Dallas County cases where DNA has proven innocence. Retrieved January 11, 2007, from http://www.innocenceproject.org/docs/dallas_county_cases.pdf The Innocence Project. (2006). Billy Wayne Miller. Retrieved January 11, 2007, from http:// www.innocenceproject.org/case/display_profile. php?id=192 Office of the Governor, Rick Perry. (2006, December 20). Gov. Rick Perry issues one pardon for innocence. Retrieved on January 11, 2007, from http://www.governor.state.tx.us/divisions/press/ pressreleases/PressRelease.2006-12-20.1138 Perry pardons Billy Wayne Miller. (2006, December 21). KVII Online. Retrieved January 11, 2007, from http://www.kvii.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=23971 Tharp, R. (2006, December 21). Exonerated man is pardoned by Perry. The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved January 11, 2007, from http:// www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/ localnews/tv/stories/DN-dnapardon_21met. ART.North.Edition1.3de44d4.html
Has your work on a case helped to exonerate someone who was falsely accused? Send your story to editor@ acfei.com or write to Editor, 2750 E. Sunshine, Springfield MO, 65804. Spring 2007 THE FORENSIC EXAMINER 81
Low-Cost Forensic Examiner Liability Insurance
Professionalsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Choice Insurance
Available Exclusively for ACFEI Members! Call toll free (800) 423-9737, ext. 138
American College of Forensic Examiners International 2750 E. Sunshine Springfield, MO 65804
Are you a member or on the board of a professional association and unhappy with how it is being managed? Management Executives, Inc. is your team to get your association on track! Management Executives Inc. is a full-service company that manages associations, including the following: • American College of Forensic Examiners • American Psychotherapy Association • American Association of Integrative Medicine • Society for the Cure of Souls • American College of Counselors • American College of Wellness
Management Executives, Inc. can help your association! • Increase membership • Define your mission • Establish long-range plans • Achieve financial stability • Stay on top of governmental and legislative issues • Develop continuing education and certification programs • Manage your trade shows
Call (800) 423-9737, ext. 121, for more information.