SCHOOL OF HEALTH AND LIFE
SCIENCES
Under examination conditions the duration of the examination was 3 hours and, typically, answers were handwritten. Due to the exceptional circumstances you can complete the paper over a longer period and are required to submit your examination script as a Microsoft Word Document. We would advise that, typically, answers should be one to two A4 pages in length using Arial font size 12.
Please ensure that the work undertaken is your own work and it does not breach the Regulations Relating to Academic Misconduct (Taught Provision) https://www.tees.ac.uk/docs/index.cfm?folder=Student%20Regulations
Figures and tables used as part of your answers should be self-generated.
Figures and tables can be generated in other programmes such as Microsoft Excel or PowerPoint but should be imported into your Examination script (Microsoft Word Document) prior to submission.
You are permitted to use calculators or software such as Microsoft Excel to perform calculations.
Your Examination Script should be submitted no later than 4 pm Friday 21st May 2021
Submission of your completed Examination Script should occur via the Assessment link provided in the module Bb site.
The submission link has been set to allow multiple submissions to avoid issues while you are off campus
Students who experience
Extenuating Circumstances during the Examination period are advised to apply
for Mitigating Circumstances. Guidance on how this can be done, along with the
Application Form, can be found by following the link
https://www.tees.ac.uk/sections/stud/handbook/extenuating_circumstances.cfm.
Extenuating Circumstances Application Forms for Mitigating Circumstances should be sent to the Student & Library Services: [email protected]
Students who are required to self-isolate during the examination period should inform School of Health & Life Sciences: [email protected].
All questions carry equal marks (20 Marks). Part marks for sections of questions are shown in brackets. You must answer 5 of the 6 questions.
You must answer 5
of the 6 questions.
Question 1
With reference to
the paper “A Survey of Paint Flakes on the Clothing of Persons Suspected of
Involvment in Crime”, Moore et al, 2012, discuss how:
1a) The colour of
the paint flakes will affect the evidential significance
1b) Finding only
a single layer paint fragment will affect evidential significance
1c) The location
of where the paint fragment is found will affect the evidential significance
1d) Having a survey of the background population of paint fragements found on clothing helps the forensic scienist intrepret paint as a forensic evidence type.
Question 2
2a) Define and describe the following features of a saw mark in bone:
1.
Kerf wall
2.
Cut progress
3.
Blade stroke
4.
Break away spur
5.
Break away notch
6.
False-start kerf
7.
Striae
8. Kerf floor
b) The morphology of a false start kerf mark will depend on three things. Identify and define those three things.
c) Explain the difference between a saw mark, a puncture wound, and a chop mark in bone.
Question 3
3a) The first step in comparing a footwear mark recovered from a crime scene to a suspects’ item of footwear is to compare the pattern. State the other three factors you would take into account, clarifying whether they are identifying or class characteristics.
3b) Critically discuss whether it is possible to use statistics
successfully when intrepreting footwear mark evidence. You may wish to refer to
the R v T within your answer.
Question 4
4a) NABIS has a number of regional hubs in England: Identify the location of these hubs and justify the rational for their locations in these areas.
4b) Evaluate what measures, tools and strategies the United Kingdom has for identifying cross border gun crime and what role NABIS plays in facilitating this.
4c) Name 4 mechanical features on a spent ammunition case that a forensic examiner may use to ascertain the likelihood that a particular firearm was used at the scene of a crime.
Question 5
5a) In traditional forensic entomology, insects are used to estimate PMI using the lifecycle of the blowfly, please describe this lifecycle and explain how it can assist in PMI estimation.
5b) A body has been found deceased at a residential address. The property is known to the police and the registered occupants are known to possess, use, and supply cocaine. The body, likely to be one of the registered occupants, is in an advanced stage of decomposition and is lying supine (face-up) on the sofa wearing only a pair of cotton boxer shorts. White powder residue is present on the coffee table and on the sofa next to the deceased. Third instar larvae are present in all facial orifices, under the armpits, and massing around a wound on the chest. Briefly evaluate how the insect evidence in this scenario could aid the death investigation.
Question 6
6a) Fingerprints when being compared by fingerprint experts used to rely on what was known as the 16-point standard, debate this standard and why it is no longer used as a marker.
6b)Evaluate the best powder, brush and recovery method for fingerprints on the following surfaces:
· Outside old wooden garage windowsill with flaking paint.
· Inside a uPVC top hung casement window.
USA 
India