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This work explores the potentially broader contribution of forensic science to preventive public health through the proactive view promoted by forensic intelligence. For that purpose, a new working framework is applied as a strategic tool that channelizes forensic intelligence in a more understandable and didactic way for decision-makers, guiding preventive crime processes. Concretely, the implementation of this operational framework focuses on preventing drug-facilitated sexual assaults in the nightlife context. Through a two-stage research scheme, the working framework is used as a study tool for understanding this violent phenomenon and as a strategic thinking and action platform for overcoming it. Forensic intelligence-guided actions significantly enhanced institutional and direct support facing this specific form of sexual violence. Awareness messages targeting potential assailants, witnesses, and victims reached more than half a thousand students from the university and pre-university education through a preventive intervention within the educational system. Moreover, the inter-professional dialogue between forensic science and other health, security, and education disciplines shows the broader proactive role of forensic science beyond the traditional retroactive view limited to courtrooms and intelligence-led policing. This study demonstrates as forensic intelligence becomes applicable for civilians, who participate as decision-makers in intelligence-led preventive processes, anticipating the need for intervention by police and judicial authorities., Competing Interests: Declarations of interest None. The authors affirm that there are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Few studies have reported the prevalence or incidence about the consumption of new psychoactive substances (NPS). The hair analysis can be useful for this purpose. At the present, ketamine is the most consumed arylcyclohexylamine associated to young consumers and polyconsumption profiles. For this reason, ketamine consumer cases become very interesting to provide information on NPS prevalence. In this work, ten former cases of the National Institute of Toxicology and Forensic Science (INTCF) of Madrid Department (INTCFM), all of them belonging to defendants accused of crimes against public health and who had been found positive to ketamine, were reassessed. At the first toxicological analysis of those hair samples, a positive consume in ketamine had been determined by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS). In this work, the same hair samples were reanalyzed by high-resolution mass spectrometry ( UHPLC-HRMS/MS) using an incubation methanolic extraction combined with a single, simpler, non-selective and direct sample pre-treatment. After corroborating the GC-MS results previously obtained for the same samples, the detection of additional NPS using this new methodology evidenced its benefits and opened the possibility to perform a NPS prevalence study. In brief, in those cases with a positive consumption in ketamine, a polyconsumption of other drugs and NPS was found, including different arylcyclohexylamines as deschloroketamine, 3-MeO-PCP and methoxetamine; and cathinones as methylmetcathinone and N-ethyl-pentylone., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. Conflict of Interest The authors declare that they haven´t conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

An innovative approach towards the holistic and multidisciplinary study of the victimization of women by drug-facilitated sexual assault has been developed. This phenomenon constitutes a significant problem given the narrowing of the gender gap in drug use over the last few decades and the widespread presence of psychoactive substances worldwide. As violence against women and drug misuse intersect in this phenomenon, this intersectional nature emphasizes the need for a novel approach that enables us to go beyond the studies carried out to date. Consequently, a multidimensional strategy incorporating a gender-sensitive approach has been implemented. The study was aligned with approaches recommended by international authorities concerning sustainable development, thus meeting current global challenges. Furthermore, the study was structured based on an ecological model divided into multiple influence levels and integrating the triangular theory of violence. As a result, a new ecological working framework was built as a multilevel platform useful for understanding and preventing the victimization of women by drug-facilitated sexual assault., (Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The victimization of women by opportunistic drug-facilitated sexual assault in leisure contexts was studied in this work by applying a novel approximation. A multifocal analytical strategy based on an intersectional gender-sensitive approach was used to analyse the evidence coming from both forensic case studies and contextual studies about sexual interrelation and drug use. The process of victimization comprises social changes affecting consumption patterns and sexual interaction, intersecting in the hegemonic recreational nightlife model. However, victims experience a range of situations that make it difficult for them to self-acknowledge themselves as such. Widespread myths about the victimization process add to the social questioning faced by victims, stemming from gender-based double standards which condition the expected female behaviors regarding the use of drugs and sexual interaction. The victims usually experience amnesia, lack of injuries and emotional harm, which make difficult the self-acknowledgement as a victim of sexual assault and the reporting of the episode suffered. Consequently, it is an urgent public health need to implement a new viewpoint about the victimization of women by opportunistic drug-facilitated sexual assault in leisure contexts, able to increase awareness of the severity of this form of sexual violence. Society must recognize the existence of this problem within itself to help victims to acknowledge themselves as such, lodge a complaint and seek adequate help. The lack of this social support feeds the perpetuation of the victimization process, which exacerbates the risk of locking victims into spirals of cyclical re-victimization and favors both the underreporting as well as inadequate coping strategies. In addition to focusing on the need to increase awareness of the severity of female victimization by opportunistic drug-facilitated sexual assault in leisure contexts, other recommendations include the use of the term "take advantage", the development of specific criminal approaches, and the in-depth knowledge of the phenomenon via victimization surveys. These steps are necessary for developing well-targeted and evidence-based preventive measures consistent-with-reality., (Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Multispectral images of clothing targets shot at seven different distances (from 10 to 220cm) were recorded at 18 specific wavelengths in the 400-1000nm range to visualize the gunshot residue (GSR) pattern. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that the use of violet-blue wavelengths (430, 450 and 470nm) provided the largest contrast between the GSR particles and the white cotton fabric. Then, the correlation between the amount of GSR particles on clothing targets and the shooting distance was studied. By selecting the blue frame of multispectral images (i.e. the blue frame in the red-green-blue (RGB) system which falls at 470nm), the amount of pixels containing GSR particles was accounted based on the intensity of pixels in that frame. Results demonstrated that the number of pixels containing GSR exponentially decreases with the shooting distance from 30 to 220cm following a particular exponential equation. However, the targets shot at the shortest distance (10cm) did not satisfy the above equation, probably due to the noticeable differences of the GSR-pattern of these targets (e.g. high presence of soot). Then, the equation was applied to validation samples to estimate the shooting distances, obtaining results with an error below 10%., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The addition of luminescent markers into ammunition cartridges is an appealing proposal to achieve a greater individual identification of the ammunition. The lanthanide elements present in these luminescent materials act as characteristic chemical markers that, also, offer the great benefit of making gunshot residues (GSR) collection easier. Although the use of luminescent markers offers numerous advantages, and can be a reliable future option in the cartridge ammunition market, little or nothing is known about the interaction of the marker with the ammunition compounds after the shot. For the forensic laboratories, it is of utmost importance to anticipate the commercialization of tagged luminescent ammunition by knowing the type of particles produced after the discharge. That is, to investigate if markers merge with GSR to form single particles or, on the contrary, they form individual particles that travel separately from the GSR particles. In this work, conventional ammunition cartridges tagged with two types of luminescent markers were shot. Then, the particles produced were visualized under UV light on the floor, clothing targets and the shooter. The luminescent particles spread over the floor determined the shooter position and the bullet trajectory. The illumination of the shot targets allows the visualization of the GSR patterns only using a portable UV lamp, avoiding the use of colorimetric test. The GSR particles were collected and subjected to SEM-EDX and Raman spectroscopy analysis to get information about their inorganic and organic composition. The results indicated that part of the marker and the GSR merge and travel together. With this, particles composed by the marker and propellant organic compounds can be identified by Raman spectroscopy, and the unequivocal identification of the GSR and the marker can be achieved by SEM-EDX. Consequently, the luminescent particles detected under UV light improve the evidence collection and offer information about the GSR and the marker. Additionally, this study support the use of luminescent ammunition to study, for example, the transfer or persistence of GSR., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Post-explosion scenes offer such chaos and destruction that evidence recovery and detection of post-blast residues from the explosive in the surrounding materials is highly challenging and difficult. The suitability of materials to retain explosives residues and their subsequent analysis has been scarcely investigated. Particularly, the use of explosive mixtures containing inorganic oxidizing salts to make improvised explosive devices (IEDs) is a current security concern due to their wide availability and lax control. In this work, a wide variety of materials such as glass, steel, plywood, plastic bag, brick, cardboard or cotton subjected to open-air explosions were examined using confocal Raman microscopy, aiming to detect the inorganic oxidizing salts contained in explosives as black powder, chloratite, dynamite, ammonium nitrate fuel oil and ammonal. Post-blast residues were detected through microscopic examination of materials surfaces. In general, the more homogeneous and smoother the surface was, the less difficulties and better results in terms of identification were obtained. However, those highly irregular surfaces were the most unsuitable collectors for the posterior identification of explosive traces by Raman microscopy. The findings, difficulties and some recommendations related to the identification of post-blast particles in the different materials studied are thoroughly discussed., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The study of gunshot residue (GSR) patterns can assist in the reconstruction of shooting incidences. Currently, there is a real need of methods capable of furnishing simultaneous elemental analysis with higher specificity for the GSR pattern visualization. Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) provides a multi-elemental analysis of the sample, requiring very small amounts of material and no sample preparation. Due to these advantages, this study aims at exploring the potential of LIBS imaging for the visualization of GSR patterns. After the spectral characterization of individual GSR particles, the distribution of Pb, Sb and Ba over clothing targets, shot from different distances, were measured in laser raster mode. In particular, an array of spots evenly spaced at 800μm, using a stage displacement velocity of 4mm/s and a laser frequency of 5Hz was employed (e.g. an area of 130×165mm 2 was measured in less than 3h). A LIBS set-up based on the simultaneous use of two spectrographs with iCCD cameras and a motorized stage was used. This set-up allows obtaining information from two different wavelength regions (258-289 and 446-463nm) from the same laser induced plasma, enabling the simultaneous detection of the three characteristic elements (Pb, Sb, and Ba) of GSR particles from conventional ammunitions. The ability to visualize the 2D distribution GSR pattern by LIBS may have an important application in the forensic field, especially for the ballistics area., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This manuscript presents a preliminary investigation on the applicability of Raman imaging for non-destructive and rapid analysis of blue crossing ink lines. The MCR method was used to facilitate visualization of the distribution of inks of the same colour and the most predominant Raman signature at the crossing was used to interpret the order of application of inks. Different pen ink types, different times separating the application of the two ink lines and different paper substrates were used. From the 90 Raman images examined, the correct order of application was determined in more than 60% by direct observation. The remainder cases were not as clear due to the uneven distribution of inks and the empty spaces similar to a net-like pattern observed at the crossing. This pattern was possibly caused by physical impediments (the first ink applied acting as a physical barrier) or chemical impediments (the two inks did not stick). Such impediments were more strongly observed in the crossings involving the U. Eye pen ink, causing the complete skipping of this ink line. Moreover, most crossings showed some mixing between the two inks and it was more accentuated when the times separating the application of the inks were shorter, since the ink was fresher. The use of white or certificate papers did not seem to influence in the inks distribution nor determining the order of the inks. Although this study provided useful insights regarding crossing ink lines, future statistic studies may be helpful for more objective examinations., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This manuscript aims to study the inter and intra brand, model and batch variability in the Raman spectral signature among modern pen inks that will help forensic document examiners during the interpretation process. Results showed that most oil-based samples have similar Raman signatures that are characteristic of the Crystal Violet dye, independently of the brand. Exception was the Pilot samples that use Victoria Pure Blue BO instead. This small inter-brand variability makes oil-based pens difficult to discriminate by brand. On the contrary, gel and liquid-based samples use different colorants such as Rhodamine B, Copper Phthalocyanine, Ethyl Violet and Victoria Blue B. No particular pattern was observed regarding the colorants used by each brand, except the Pilot samples that were the only brand using the Victoria Blue B dye, which is a clear distinct feature. Additionally, the intra-brand variability was also large among gel-based Pilot samples. The small spectral differences observed among several batches of Bic Crystal Medium samples demonstrated that changes were introduced in their chemical formula over the years. The intra-batch variability was small and no spectral differences were observed within batches. This manuscript demonstrates the potential of Raman spectroscopy for discriminating pens inks from different brands and models and even, batches. Additionally, the main colorants used in modern pens were also identified., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In this study near infrared hyperspectral imaging (NIR-HSI) is used to provide a fast, non-contact, non-invasive and non-destructive method for the analysis of explosive residues on human handprints. Volunteers manipulated individually each of these explosives and after deposited their handprints on plastic sheets. For this purpose, classical explosives, potentially used as part of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) as ammonium nitrate, blackpowder, single- and double-base smokeless gunpowders and dynamite were studied. A partial-least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) model was built to detect and classify the presence of explosive residues in handprints. High levels of sensitivity and specificity for the PLS-DA classification model created to identify ammonium nitrate, blackpowder, single- and double-base smokeless gunpowders and dynamite residues were obtained, allowing the development of a preliminary library and facilitating the direct and in situ detection of explosives by NIR-HSI. Consequently, this technique is showed as a promising forensic tool for the detection of explosive residues and other related samples., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Shooting distance estimation offers useful information for the reconstruction of firearm related incidents. The muzzle to target distance is usually estimated by examining the bullet entrance hole and the gunshot residue pattern. To visualize the pattern the forensic analyst usually uses presumptive tests based on color chemical reactions that are applied using long and tedious proceedings. Due to the drawbacks of the chemical tests recent developments for shooting distance estimation not based on color chemical tests were described in the literature. The present review covers the approaches for shooting distance estimation published in the last 10 years considering two types of target, clothing and skin., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Determining the sequencing of intersecting ink lines is one of the current problems for forensic document examiners. The way two inks will distribute and interact with each other and the paper at the crossing is a dynamic process that can be affected by many variables. Thus, the main purpose of this manuscript is to visualize and have a more comprehensive understanding of this process as well as study a methodology for determining the correct order of intersecting ink lines. For this, overlapping layers of different types of inks from writing instruments and printers were cross-sectioned and examined with a microscope. Results from pen/pen crossings showed that liquid-liquid and gel-gel intersections tended to form a double layer but oil-oil intersections usually formed mixtures. Additionally, oil-liquid and oil-gel intersections tended to form a double layer whenever the oil ink was on top and liquid-gel intersections tended to form a double layer for almost all crossings with exception of the ones involving a gel pen ink from one manufacturer. Results from pen/printer crossings showed the formation of a double layer only when the printer ink was on top of the pen ink. On the other permutation, the pen ink tended to penetrate through the printer ink producing the mixture of both inks. The inks drying time was found to be an important factor affecting the interaction between two inks in a crossing, particularly crossings involving gel pen inks. On the contrary, the type of paper and the writing pressure showed no significant influence on the inks distribution at the crossing. The methodology developed was reproducible with overlapping layers but there were many experimental difficulties during the validation process of intersections representing real crossings. Moreover, interpretation was dependent on the operator's eye which was a limiting factor., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

A comparative study on the retentiveness of two plastic bags (DUO and Royal Pack) has been carried out by gas chromatography with mass spectrometry detection. Two types of dynamites were packed in both plastic bags. The bags were placed into glass jars and headspace analyses were performed over 11 weeks to detect whether the volatile constituents of the dynamites were released from the bags. DUO plastic bags showed much better retentiveness than Royal Pack plastic bags. Ethylene glycol dinitrate (EGDN) was quickly detected in the headspace of the glass jars containing Royal Pack plastic bags after 1 week of storage. On the contrary, only a weak signal of EGDN, which was not detectable in the total ion chromatogram, was detected after 11 weeks of storage. Moreover, DUO plastic bags have shown less background signals than the Royal Pack bags, being the former bags much more suitable for the storage of dynamites., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The methods for perpetrating forgery and alteration of documents are becoming increasingly more sophisticated. Forensic examinations of questioned documents routinely involve physical and chemical analysis of inks. Raman spectroscopy is a very attractive technique for ink analysis because it combines chemical selectivity with ease and fast analysis and it does not require sample preparation nor leads to destruction of the evidence. However, some limitations of this technique include low sensitivity and the overwhelming phenomenon of fluorescence, which can be solved by resonance Raman spectroscopy and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy. This article aims to demonstrate the great potential of the Raman-based techniques by providing an overview of their application to forensic examinations of ink evidence from pens and printers. Moreover, it is also addressed the chemistry of ink-paper interactions and the problematic of intersecting lines., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Gunshot residues (GSR) are valuable evidence which provide the forensic analyst with useful information about a crime scene when proper analytical methods are used. Nowadays, the method of choice for analyzing GSR is scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM/EDX). However, SEM/EDX presents limitations when the GSR identification of "non-toxic" ammunition types is performed. To overcome this drawback, Raman spectroscopy has been recently proposed as a complementary technique to SEM/EDX. However, for the time being, it can only be used in a limited number of casework (e.g. examining the macroscopic GSR produced at short distance over victim's clothes) and further research to know when this technique could support SEM-EDX results is required. In the present work, the memory effect of the weapon, which plays an important role to link the GSR found and the ammunition fired, is studied. Twenty shots were fired at close distance (~30 cm) at paper targets using the same weapon with two different types of ammunition. The first, third, ninth, and twentieth shots were fired with the first ammunition and the shots among them using the second ammunition. The macroscopic GSR produced by the first ammunition were analyzed using Raman spectroscopy. First, the spectra obtained were visually differentiated by taking into account the band at about 1342 cm(-1). This first approach shown that in the first shot were no GSR particles from the second ammunition, but 1.5-7.5% of analyzed particles corresponded to the second ammunition in the third, ninth, and twentieth shots. Additionally, the same differentiation was then performed by discriminant analysis using the spectral range from 1800 to 800 cm(-1). Although using this second approach only one GSR was identified as the second ammunition, was remarkable that after the shots with different ammunition the GSR obtained shows greater variability. The results obtained suggest that the memory effect of the weapon has not a significant influence when the organic analysis of macroscopic GSR on targets by Raman spectroscopy is performed., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The differentiation of blue ballpoint pen inks written on documents through an LA-ICP-MS methodology is proposed. Small common office paper portions containing ink strokes from 21 blue pens of known origin were cut and measured without any sample preparation. In a first step, Mg, Ca and Sr were proposed as internal standards (ISs) and used in order to normalize elemental intensities and subtract background signals from the paper. Then, specific criteria were designed and employed to identify target elements (Li, V, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Zr, Sn, W and Pb) which resulted independent of the IS chosen in a 98% of the cases and allowed a qualitative clustering of the samples. In a second step, an elemental-related ratio (ink ratio) based on the targets previously identified was used to obtain mass independent intensities and perform pairwise comparisons by means of multivariate statistical analyses (MANOVA, Tukey's HSD and T2 Hotelling). This treatment improved the discrimination power (DP) and provided objective results, achieving a complete differentiation among different brands and a partial differentiation within pen inks from the same brands. The designed data treatment, together with the use of multivariate statistical tools, represents an easy and useful tool for differentiating among blue ballpoint pen inks, with hardly sample destruction and without the need for methodological calibrations, being its use potentially advantageous from a forensic-practice standpoint. To test the procedure, it was applied to analyze real handwritten questioned contracts, previously studied by the Department of Forensic Document Exams of the Criminalistics Service of Civil Guard (Spain). The results showed that all questioned ink entries were clustered in the same group, being those different from the remaining ink on the document., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

After the train bombing in Madrid (Spain) on 11 March 2004, methenamine was detected in some of the specimens of Goma-2 ECO dynamite submitted to the forensic laboratories when analyzed by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry detection (GC-MS). Methenamine is synthesized from formaldehyde and ammonia through a condensation reaction. However, neither methenamine nor any of these compounds were used to manufacture Goma-2 ECO dynamite. Four different experiments were designed in order to explain the presence of methenamine detected in the dynamite samples analyzed. In the first one, GC-MS was used to analyze the individual components of Goma-2 ECO provided by the manufacturer and the components mixed in a raw paste. Methenamine was detected in the manufacturer's ammonium nitrate and in the raw paste. The other experiments were designed to find the precursors sources for methenamine generation in Goma-2 ECO. Results revealed that these sources could be ammonium nitrate for ammonia and sawdust for formaldehyde. Under heating conditions, dynamite could produce these precursors, which could condense in the injection port of the GC-MS system and generate methenamine. However, methenamine was not always detected in these dynamites. This was explained by the existence of two opposite effects: (a) dynamite stability makes difficult that ammonium nitrate releases ammonia and (b) there is a gradual loss of formaldehyde in sawdust along the time. Both effects can prevent the formation of an amount of methenamine large enough to be detected., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The purpose of this work was to study the appropriateness of polyethylene bags for the preservation of explosive specimens. To this end, specimens of two types of dynamites, Goma-2 EC, containing nitroglycol (EGDN) and dinitrotoluene (DNT), and Goma-2 ECO, containing only EGDN, were placed individually inside bags and introduced into hermetically sealed glass jars, which were stored for a period of time. Losses of volatile compounds were studied by headspace analysis using gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The cross-contamination between dynamites was studied by using high performance liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) to analyse the extracts obtained after a sequential solvent extraction of these specimens. Polyethylene bags permit the loss of volatile compounds since EGDN and DNT were detected in the headspaces of the jars. Moreover, cross-contamination between dynamites was also demonstrated since DNT content decreased in the dynamite containing this compound and increased in the dynamite that had not contained it., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)