|
DNA Profiling:
Australian
Journal of Human Rights
Article on DNA and the criminal justice system
DNA
Forensics
"In the last decade or so, DNA forensics has become a tool
of unparalleled importance in law enforcement. The idea behind DNA
profiling is that there are some three billion separate pieces of
information in our genome, and each of us has a different DNA profile.
Any biological material we leave behind can incriminate (or exonerate)
us. The public and the media have characterised DNA profiling as
the greatest advance in forensic science since the introduction
of fingerprints a century ago. (Interestingly, fingerprints may
be more unique than DNA -- identical twins' fingerprints are different,
while their DNA is identical.)"
The
European Initiative for Biotechnology Education.
"DNA Profiling comprises information and discussion questions
about DNA fingerprinting and DNA profiling, with instructions for
a practical simulation. The Unit is designed to stimulate debate
in the classroom. DNA fingerprinting, especially its use in criminal
databases, raises important issues for society. Some of the more
frequently-raised concerns are examined. An introductory section
provides some background information on DNA profiling and its development.
This is followed by some case studies and explanations of modern
applications of the technique, and its reliability. Questions that
can be used to stimulate debate in the classroom about the application
of DNA profiling are also provided. The remainder of this Unit is
a practical simulation using DNA gel electrophoresis."
Forensic
Anthropology:
Argentine Forensic
Anthropology Team E.A.A.F.
"Since it was founded in 1984, EAAF’s work in Argentina
has focused on investigating cases of persons who were disappeared
during the last military dictatorship (1976-1983). In 1998, as in
previous years, EAAF concentrated much of its energy on working
with a variety of sources of documentation, such previously inaccessible,
which contain a great deal of information about the disappearances.
EAAF has also been creating new data bases that allow us to store
and analyze this information…"
Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team E.A.A.F.: Guatemala
"Over the past four decades, more people have been forcibly
disappeared in Guatemala than in any other Latin American nation.
Since 1960, when civil war broke out in Guatemala, approximately
45 000 disappearances have been reported — an extremely high
figure for a country with a current population of only ten million.
In addition to the disappearances, approximately 100 000 people
were killed in other ways during the conflict…."
Exhuming the
Truth
"The Guatemala Forensic Anthropology Team, working under the
authority of the United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala
(MINUGUA), will begin gathering evidence this week from a remote
mass grave site in Guatemala. The team will initiate their investigations
on December 8 in Acul, established in 1983 by the government as
the first "model" village in the country after the original
town was destroyed by the Guatemalan army…"
Forensics:
Discovery Channel Canada
"The practice of a forensic anthropologist is a bit different
from what we normally associate with anthropology. Forensic anthropologists
deal in bones, and when skeletal remains or badly decomposed bodies
are found, they're called in. They apply their understanding of
the human skeletal variations between individuals to criminal and
civil investigations, determining not only who was killed, but how."
Forensic
Science Web sites
A list of other links for further investigation into the study of
forensic anthropology.
Minesota
State University E-Museum
"Clyde Snow is perhaps the most famous Forensic Anthropologists
in the world today. He prefers to call his work, "osteobiography"
saying, "there is a brief but very useful and informative biography
of an individual contained within the skeleton, if you know how
to read it" (Current Biography 52)."
Physicians
for Human Rights
Since 1986, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) has conducted fact-finding
investigations and research on human rights violations and their
health effects in over fifty countries. PHR utilizes the skills
and knowledge of the medical and forensic sciences and the tenets
of international human rights and humanitarian law.
Rwanda: Stefan Schmits Human Rights and Forensic Anthropology
Page
The first three months of 1996 I spent in Rwanda. Physicians for
Human Rights had invited me to form part and assist the United Nation's
Senior Forensic Consultant Dr. William Haglund and the Director
of Forensic Programs from PHR, Bob Kirschner, M.D. in organizing
a team of forensic scientists that would exhume and analyze the
remains of victims that had been massacred in April of 1995 in the
small town of Kibuye.
Information Technology and Statistics
Policy
or panic, flight of the Albanians
An overview of Kosovar Refugee migration to Morina, Albania:
Political
Killings in Kosova/Kosovo March-June 1999
"A Cooperative Report by the Central and East European Law
Initiative of the American Bar Association and the Science and Human
Rights Program of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science"
Refuge
Flow Patterns in Kosovo, March-May 1999
"Much of the continuing debate about the March – June
1999 war between NATO and Yugoslavia turns on how many people left
their homes in particular places and at certain times. Solid information
about the flow of refugees out of Kosovo would help investigators
to link patterns in the flow to patterns of NATO bombing, Yugoslav
strategic plans for "cleansing" Kosovo, and Yugoslav and
irregular troop deployments. At its heart, this debate is about
whether refugees left their homes fleeing NATO attacks and fighting
between the KLA and Yugoslav forces, or whether they left their
homes after being threatened, assaulted, and robbed by Yugoslav
police, army, and irregular units.
Remote
Sensing:
Project
on Satellite Imagery and the News Media
A journalists' guide to remote sensing resources on the Internet.
Created by Christopher Simpson at the American University School
of
Communications.
|
