Drug Test Lab

In this lab we used certain reagents that can prove if a drug is LSD, Cocaine or Meth. When we started the lab the meth reagent was not yet produced do we could only test LSD or Cocaine. We put the crushed substance into water and mixing until it is completely dissolveddropping a little on a peachtree dish and adding a few drops of the reagent. If the reagent turns blue the drug is cocaine and if it turns yellow it is LSD while also testing the Ph of the drug. This is what our data was:

Drug	LSD	Cocaine	Meth	Ph
1	Negative	Positive	Not Tested	6
2	Negative	Positive	Not Tested	9
3	Positive	Negative	Not Tested	3
4	Negative	Positive	Not Tested	8
5	Negative	Positive	Not Tested	6
6	Positive	Negative	Not Tested	3 ½

Drug Analysis: Methamphetamine

History of Meth
Methamphetamine is a central nervous system stimulant drug that is similar to the structure of amphetamine. Because or it’s very high potential for addiction and abuse meth is classified as a Schedule II drug. It’s also only available through prescription and cannot be refilled. Though it is doctor prescribed it has a limited medical use, and doses are smaller than the ones of addicts. Most of the meth abused in the US comes from foreign or domestic super labs, though it can also be made in small, illegal drug labs. These labs are dangerous to people in the labs, their neighbors, or the environment.
http://www.drugabuse.gov/Infofacts/methamphetamine.html

Effects of Meth
Meth can increase the release and blocks the reuptake of the brain chemical dopamine, leading to high levels of the chemical in the brain. It can completely change the how the brain functions. Meth can have many symptoms including: paranoia, moodiness, depression, convulsions, hallucinations, violent behavior, excessive talking, sleep deprivation, extreme weight loss, sense of well being, shortness of breath, increased alertness, increased heart rate, and delusions of grandeur. It can also cause heightened sexual activity, grinding of the teeth and jaw clenching, sores from constant scratching, and uncontrollable movements like twitching and jerking. Just like cocaine meth can cause rushes and crashes causing you to want more.
http://www.methspace.com/Meth%20Impact.htm

Drug Analysis: LSD

History of LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide. LSD, is a chemical that alters a user’s mood, perceptions, and thoughts. Because of this it is grouped onto the class of drugs known as psychedelics or hallucinogens. These types of drugs cause auditory, visual or somatosensory hallucinations, paranoia or dream-like states. Certain fungus that grows on rye and other grains is what forms LSD. Albert Hofmann in 1938 was working in a Swiss pharmaceutical called Sandoz when he produced LSD for the first time. He hoped that the drug could be used to stimulate circulation and respiration, but all his tests failed and he forgot about it for 5 years. In 1943 Albert ingested LSD by accident and experienced the psychedelic effects of the chemical such as: dizziness, visual distortions, and restlessness. This is what helped identify the actual effects LSD can have on a person.

The effects of LSD
Even though LSD is odorless, colorless, tasteless, and water soluble do not let it fool you it is still VERY dangerous. Even the smallest dose, about .010 mg, can give you all the side effects of the drug. Behavioral effects of LSD include: Feelings of “strangeness”, vivid colors, hallucinations, confusion, panic, psychosis, anxiety, different emotional reactions, distortion of the senses and time and space, multiple flashback reactions, increases in heart rate and blood pressure, chills, and finally muscle weakness. Soon after LSD users become addicted they begin to have a tolerance for it and need to double doses to get the same effects. It is thought that the effects of LSD are caused by stimulation of serotonin receptors on neurons, this happens in an area of the brain called the raphe nuclei. Even with this information no one knows what really produces the effects of the LSD
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/lsd.html

Drug Analysis: Cocaine

History of Cocaine:
Spanish explorers first found cocaine when they noticed that the natives of South America were able to fight off their fatigue by chewing on coca leaves this was used to make the medical account of the coca plant published in 1569. Around 1860, scientist Albert Neiman isolated the cocaine from the coca leaves and described that if the cocaine was put on the tongue it had the same feeling as an anesthetic. In the early 1880’s Angelo Mariani produced a “medicinal” wine called Vin Mariani, it contained about 11% of alcohol and 6.5 mg of the cocaine in every once of it. Famous psychotherapist, Sigmond Freud, recommended cocaine for a variety of illnesses and for other addictions such as: alcohol and morphine, in the end his patients began to become addicted to the cocaine. Then in 1886, John Pemberton developed Coca Cola, a drink that contained cocaine and some caffeine, don’t worry the cocaine has been removed from the recipe in 1906. In 1914 the Harrison Narcotic Act was passed to make cocaine illegal this led to the production of crack cocaine and is now a major drug problem.

The effects of Cocaine
Dose’s of 25-150 mg of cocaine is taken just by being inhaled. Within a seconds to a few minutes cocaine can cause: a feeling of euphoria, excitement, reduced hunger, and a feeling of strength. After these symptons or “high”, last about an hour, the user of the cocaine then “crashes”, or period of depression. This crash is what causes the user of the cocaine to want more cocaine and usually become addicted. This can cause the addict to become depressed, paranoid, and anxious this can lead to them to go into long periods of sleep. Various doses of cocaine also produces neurological and behavioral problems such as: dizziness, headache, movement problems, anxiety, insomnia,depression, and hallucinations.An overdose of cocaine can also cause death. This is because cocaine causes a large increase in blood pressure that may result in bleeding in the brain. This construction of blood form the brain can also cause a stroke.
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/coca.html

Foot Printing

Foot printing is helpful in identifying a suspects shoe print and shoe size. In this lab we were put into groups of 4 and took a pile of dirt and pressed our foot in it and recorded how wide and long the foot was. After each person a new pile was made and data was recorded. This is my footprint it is 10 Inches long and 4 Inches wide:

Every person in my group had at least 10 inches in length and exactly 4 inches in width.

Create a Profile

In this lab we were given 5 clues:

1. Fingerprints
2. Large Hair/Fiber
3. Ripped up Note
4. Small Hair/Fiber
5. Light red/pinkish Spot

With these clues we have to identify the specifics of each of these clues and create a profile for a suspect of what we know, what we don’t know, and what we need to find out.

I grouped up with April and our profile was:

1. Fingerprints
1. Right hand Print
2. Small fingers possible female
3. Thumb has a plain whorl
4. Index has a radial loop
5. Middle has a plain arch
6. Ring has a radial loop
7. No pinkie print present
2. Handwriting
1. “You will never find her!” is written in cursive by the kidnapper
2. When he/she writes they don’t pick up their pen
3. Both Hair/Fibers
1. Large
1. Two different colors Brown/Black
2. Thought to be cat hair based on similar looks from known cat hair
2. Small
1. Red/Color treated red
2. Looks like a white girl hair that she had dyed for more color
4. Red Spot
1. Could be lipstick but does not look like it contains any form a petroleum jelly in it
2. Not dark enough of red to be blood but not ruling anything out for all we know it could be juice

In the end we concluded that the suspect was a female with color treated red hair and a pet cat with possibly a light red lipstick, or bleed a little. Bring in females close to suspect with red hair and a cat test them for color treated and see if the pet hair matches. Check for any new cuts or scratches or light red lipstick or gloss. Then test the handwriting for any similarities.

Lipstick Analysis

       In this lab everyone in class put on lipstick or lip gloss, yes even the guys, and put our lips to a sheet of paper and found significant features of our lips.

    In my lips I noticed that I have a small lip print. I also noticed that my upper lip is bigger than my bottom lip and it curves more at the top.



We then re-did our pint and without any clues other than your original lip print, unnamed, and have another group try and find out whose lips are whose.

Our group successfully identified whose were whose because one lip had a smaller top than bottom and the curve in the others lips were the exact same. It also helped that they didn’t change  the way they put their print and they didn’t change the color they used on the original

Forensics Part 3: Handwriting Analysis

History of Handwriting Analysis

1. Handwriting is a very personal and individual trademark of a person seeing how no two people have the exact same handwriting
2. 2,000 years ago Aristotle realized there was a correlation between a person’s handwriting to their personality
3. Around the same time the Chinese made the observation that there was a connection between some ones character and writing
4. In 1622 an Italian physician and professor published a book describing the analysis of character through the analysis of handwriting
5. Handwriting analysis was renamed graphology in the late 1800’s by Abbe Michon
6. Alfred Binet, confirmed that handwriting traits revealed actual character traits
7. http://graphicinsight.co.za/background.htm

List of Handwriting Characteristics
1. Line quality. Are the pen marks smooth and free flowing or shaky and wavering? This can be connected to the speed that the document was written at.

2. Spacing of words and letters. What is it the spacing between letters and words? Is it consistent?

3. Ratio of the relative height, width and size of letters. What is the ratio? Is it consistent?

4. Pen lifts and separations. Does the person stop to form new letters and begin words? Forgeries may have lifts in unusual places.

5. Connecting strokes. Are capitals connected to lowercase letters and are there connecting strokes between letters and words?

6. Beginning and ending strokes. Are these straight, curled, long or short, an upstroke or a down stroke?

7. Unusual letter formation. Are there any unusually formed letters such as backward, letters with a tail, or unusual capitals?

8. Shading or pen pressure. Is the pen pressure on the upward or the downward strokes?

9. Slant. Is slant left or right or straight up and down? Is there consistency between the slants of letters?

10.  Baseline habits. Is the writing above or below a line?

11.  Flourishes and embellishments. Are there any? If so what are they?

12.  Diacritic placement. How the t’s and i’s have crossed? Take note of the dotting of i’s, j’s. For example are the dots to the right or left of the letter?
13. http://www.clt.uwa.edu.au/__data/page/112506/fsp10_handwriting.pdf




Picture and Analysis of Handwriting template.
State how the free handing forgery and tracing forgery differ using the 12 handwriting characteristics. In other words, how would you tell that they are forgeries?

1. Freehand forgery is easy to identify because it wont have the same dotted i’s or crossed t’s and it can also have more space between letters and different angle of the letters
2. Traced forgeries can be a little more difficult to identify because it will have the same attributes of the real signature or handwriting. You can identify traced forgeries because how hard the forger wrote by the indentations

Which do you think is easier as a forgery technique: free handwriting or tracing?

1. For me tracing would be easier because I have awful handwriting and if I did freehand it would show that it is my handwriting but if I traced I would have a better chance with getting away with a crime

Reflection on the check forgery Activity? Did your group identify proper person/persons who did the forgeries? Which characteristics were the most distinguishing in your analysis?

1. In this activity we made a fake check with an alias and rip it up. We then gave them to another group and try to let them figure out who the check actually belongs to
2. In our group we correctly identified the other groups checks. There were two people with multiple checks and with the help of the trace and freehand forgery template we correctly identified which check belonged to one person

Famous Case that uses Handwriting Analysis

1. Ted Bundy was a serial killer that stalked and killed 36 college women and diagnosed with personality disorder
2. Using his handwriting analysists were able to determine whether or not Bundy showed any signs of being a serial killer
3. Two writing samples were taken from Ted were analysed and proved that he had a personality disorder but his writing showed that he was thoughtful and full of simplicity which made people think that he wasn’t a murderer
4. Later they found that he did commit all the crime that he was charged of and they out him in jail
5. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q9jlP0R2SwrXH9iPbMqrw5SCSJl_Tx5r_mbG_R5T89k/edit?hl=en_US

Forensics Part 2: Hair/ Fiber

History of Hair/Fiber

1. French scientist Edmond Locard first discovered the constantly people picked up and transferred little bits of dust, hair, fiber, and other material without knowing it
2. He realized that this material were key to analyzing a crime scene, this was called the “Locard Exchange Principle” and it became the foundation for forensic science in the early 1990’s
3. After this, Rudolf Virchow, a German Patholigist, showed that hair/ fiber were not unique enough to positively match a certain suspect to one or more victims,
4. Then Paul L. Kirk established the fundamentals of microscopic hair/fiber analysis that is used used by scientists today. His groundbreaking textbook “Crime Investigation” is still an important text used in criminal investigation
5. http://www.ehow.com/about_5597295_forensic-analysis-hair.html

Major Types of Fiber

1. Cotton
1. Soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium
2. Flax
1. Oldest fiber crop in the world. Flax is used for the production of linen
3. Wool
1. Textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats
4. Ramie
1. Flowering plant in the nettle family Urticaceae, native to eastern Asia
5. Silk
1. Natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. Best known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm
6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clothing_material

Methods for Collecting Hair/Fiber

1. May use combs, tweezers, containers and a filtered vacuum device to collect hair/ fiber at a crime scene. In a rape case the victim’s body will be examined for any hair’s or fibers. The hairs are then put in separate containers to be transported to a lab.
2. If hairs/fibers are found and a suspect is found the investigators will search the home for the same fibers or test the suspects hair for a match.
3. http://science.howstuffworks.com/csi4.htm

How to analyze and use hair/fiber data

1. Put the hair on a dry microscope slide under the microscope and analyze specific qualities in the hair
1. Under microscopes you can see if a hair has been dyed, if it fell out naturally or pulled out, if its human or animal, and where on the body the hair came from
2. Hair can have DNA on it which can help speed up the process of finding a criminal
3. Analyzing fiber is the same as analyzing hair. By putting it under a microscope and analyzing qualities in the fiber
1. Certain characteristics can be found under the microscope such as: the patterns on the fiber, what color is is, was it color treated and what type of fiber it is
4. http://www.eventbuddys.com/analyzing-hair-and-fibers.html

Reliability of Hair /Fiber crime Scene Data

1. If a hair is pulled out of a suspects hair and the follicle is present it can one can find the DNA or if it is pulled out hard enough blood cells can be found on the tip of the follicle which can help determine the blood type
2. It can also help narrow down suspects if fibers are found that aren’t in a certain suspects home or isn’t

Famous Court Case

1. About 15 years ago James Driskell was put in jail for the murder of Perry Harder in which he did not commit
2. Three hairs found at the crime scene were incorrectly analysed by Winnipe RCMP lab that placed Harder in Driskells van, or the scene of the murder
3. After being analysed again they found the hairs were not Harders and proved that Driskell was innocent and wrongy convicted of Harders murder