Posted by Paul Deville on Nov 22, 2009 in
Education For each crime there is a different set of elements that are used to define it. When defending criminals, attorneys take a good look at the elements that make up the crime that took place, and try to make arguments that not all of the elements were present. They present their cases to demonstrates that the facts do not support a conviction.
Every crime can be broken down into elements. First take the traditional definition of the crime, such as the definition of burglary, “the breaking and entering into the dwelling of another in the night with intent to commit a felony inside.” Then consider the elements that make up this definition: breaking, entering, into the dwelling, of another, in the night, with intent to commit a felony inside. If any one of these elements is missing then the criminal cannot be convicted of the crime of burglary, although they could well be found guilty of something else if some of the elements are present.
Federal Jury Practice and Instructions, by Kevin F. O’Malley, et. al. (Thomson-West Publishing, 5th ed. 2000) is a good read if you want to know the elements that make up a criminal offense. This book is a a jury instruction handbook – something that is given to juries at criminal trials so that they know how to analyze the details of the case.
One thing to be very wary of is going by a layman’s understanding of the elements of a criminal offense. Even though the definition may appear to be in plain English it could be the case that it is making use of a legal term of art which has a completely different meaning. You should contact an attorney to be sure that you understand what constitutes a specific crime.
If you are facing criminal charges then you should retain counsel and quickly get up to speed with the elements that make up your crime.
If you want to comprehend the elements that make up a criminal offense then http://hubpages.com/hub/Criminal-Offense is a great article to start by reading.
Tags: Criminal Law, Education, law, legal
Posted by Cory Clarke on Nov 20, 2009 in
Education Establishing the time and cause of death are the basic tasks of the forensic pathologist. Medical examiners and coroners are also tasked with this role. Forensic pathologists are trained to take a dead body and discover facts relating to when the person was alive. Establishing the weapon that was used to kill someone is a common task for the pathologist during a homicide investigation. To the untrained eye a body dredged from a lake may look like it drowned, but the pathologist will look beyond that and may find that the body was stabbed to death before being dumped in the water.
Forensics teams use many techniques, for example, neutron activation analysis (NAA), which can reveal highly specific information about a crime. It can trace the type of paint that was used on something (sometimes down to the factory it was manufactured at), it can tell if drugs traces are on a mirror, and its most well known ability is being able to tell whether there is gun residue on someone’s hand indicating that they had fired a gun recently.
The NAA technique measures gamma rays emitted by material after it has had neutrons fired at it. When it comes to the criminal trial some judges accept the evidence based on expert testimony, whilst some still ask the prosecution to go through the steps of establishing the validity of the NAA technique.
Fingerprinting is another branch of forensics which identifies whether criminals were at the scene of a crime. One problem is that it cannot be established when the fingerprints were left, and a standard defense is to contest that the fingerprints were left at a time other that the crime. Fingerprints work by using chemicals and powders to make the unique friction ridges that people have visible.
Forensic pathologist jobs also include the analysis of DNA fingerprinting, an area of science, that is becoming ever more critical to criminal investigations.
Forensic Pathologist Jobs are some of the most interesting in the field of criminal investigation. You can find out about the role at http://hubpages.com/hub/Forensic-Pathologist-Jobs
Tags: Criminal Law, Education, law
