SECURITY AGENCIES AND THE UNDERUTILISATION OF FORENSIC PALYNOLOGY IN CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION (original) (raw)

Pollen in Forensic Palynology: An Exploration into a Crime Solving Tool

International Journal of Environment, Agriculture and Biotechnology, 2022

Palynology is the study of pollen grain and spores. The term forensic when inserted into the picture marks the usage of pollen into a crime-solving and suspect finding tool. Pollen grain has an outer layer made up of sporopollenin which gives high durability and resistance due to which pollen can survive at adverse and extreme conditions. The samples collected from the crime scene are analysed, studied and investigated along with the samples obtained from the suspects. A relation is derived which acts as evidence during the judicial custody. Pollen analysis is highly useful if a crime that has happened long back, and now needs to be opened up. Advancement of this technique in India is still awaited.

Forensic Palynology: How Pollen in Dry Grass Can Link to a Crime Scene

Soil in Criminal and Environmental Forensics, 2016

This chapter describes a homicide case of a baby and the forensic potential of pollen in dry grass. Dry grass is a good source for pollen. Pollen analysis gave a very characteristic pollen assemblage, dominated by grass pollen and a fungal spore. The dry grass in which the baby's corpse was embedded could be traced back to the crime scene. An accompanying investigation of various dry grass samples showed that each one had a unique pollen assemblage. This case reintroduced Forensic Palynology to Austria.

Morphological Study of Pollen as an Aid in Criminal Investigation

2014

Study of the pollens, Palynology, is now gaining importance in forensic casework analysis. They not only help to link the particular type of flowers found at a crime scene but also to the time (season), when they are in bloom. Forensic palynology refers to the use of pollen and spore evidence in legal cases. The main forensic application of palynology is in providing associative evidence, assisting to prove or dis-prove a link between people and objects with places or with other people. The present study was conducted to examine the pollen morphology of various plants found in Institute Of Science, which are flowering during the month of February and March. Pollen morphology of 9 plants of different species was studied and documented using compound microscope.

Role of Forensic Palynology in Crime Investigation

Forensic palynology is an important tool for obtaining trace evidence from victims, suspects, items related with a crime scene, or for determining the location of a sample. This discipline has been used in court and have provided evidence for contact of objects and places, location of disposed human body remains and graves, estimating times of deposition of bodies, determine primary crime scene and secondary crime scene. Palynology involves the identification pollen, plant spores, and fungal spores It is important for its ability to provide information about pollen and spores trapped in clothing or other items of interest needed to help resolve criminal and civil cases, including instances of homicide, terrorism, bombings, forgery, theft, rape, arson, counterfeiting, manufacturing and distribution of illegal drugs, assault, cases of hit and run, poaching, and identity theft. The use of pollen in forensic applications comes from the discipline of pollen analysis, which began a century ago as a way to search for clues about past environmental changes. In this paper we are discuss about pollen grains which are help in the crime investigation by collecting from different types of trace evidence.

The Green Revolution: botanical contributions to forensics and drug enforcement

Croatian medical journal, 2001

Forensic botany encompasses many sub-disciplines, including plant anatomy, plant ecology, plant systematics, plant molecular biology, palynology, and limnology. Although the field of forensic botany has been recognized since the mid-1900's, the use of trace plant material as physical evidence in criminal casework is still novel. A review of published forensic casework that used plant evidence is presented here. Cases include the analysis of wood evidence in the Charles Lindbergh baby kidnapping, the use of pollen in establishing the location of a sexual assault, and pollen analysis to determine the time of year for burial in a mass grave. Additional cases discuss the use of plant growth rates to determine the time of a body deposit in a field, the use of diatoms to link individuals to a crime scene, and plant DNA typing to match seedpods to a tree under which a body was discovered. New DNA methods in development for plant species identification and individualization for forensic...

The spatial and temporal distribution of pollen in a room: Forensic implications

Science & Justice, 2014

This paper presents two experimental studies that deal with the spatial and temporal distribution of pollen grains within a room of a domestic dwelling. The findings concur with the preliminary work of Morgan et al. [1] and provide greater detail as to the behaviour of pollen grains within indoor locations that are pertinent for forensic investigations. The spatial distribution of pollen in a room exhibits strong distance decay trends, with the majority of pollen recovered within 0.8 m of its source. The pollen was found to persist in increasing quantities during the time the flowers were in the room. This study also shows that 20 days after the flowers were removed, 25-32% of the original pollen was still present within the room. The influence of disturbance was investigated and whilst areas of high disturbance were found to retain less pollen than undisturbed locations, the influence of the proximity to source was a more dominant factor. These findings have significant implications for forensic investigation protocols, particularly the collection and interpretation phases of trace evidence analysis. The distribution of pollen around a room ensures that viable sources of trace pollen are available for transfer if contact is made between a location in the room and a suspect. The persistence of pollen many days after the flowers have been removed from a room indicates that many rooms in domestic dwellings will have distinctive assemblages that reflect the history of the flowers that have been displayed within that room in the past, and that these assemblages will persist and therefore be available for transfer. These preliminary findings indicate that investigation by forensic palynology in indoor domestic settings may well be an underutilised technique that has the potential to provide accurate and valuable intelligence and evidence for forensic enquiry.

Year 2014 Forensic Botany : An Emerging Discipline of Plant Sciences

2014

Various disciplines have emerged due to vast expansion in the studies of plant sciences. Discovery of new methods, protocols and analytical techniques facilitates for thorough and deep study of the given subject. One among many disciplines which has appeared as an offshoot from basic plant science is forensic botany. Forensic botany is an interdisciplinary area where the knowledge of botany is applied to solve the crime. This paper introduces about the basic of the subject explaining various sub-disciplines and its application in forensic science. It also cites some cases where botanical evidences have been the part of judgements. Plants since the beginning of human existence have played important role in their civilizations. They have been used as both weapons and protector. The role of plants as evidence for solving the criminal cases though is comparatively new. It was only after 1932 when during the trial of Lindbergh kidnapping case the botanical evidences were accepted (Graham...