Matching Items (925)
Description
Every minute and a half, an American is sexually assaulted (Department of Justice, 2017). After an instance of sexual assault, some victims are given the choice of having a sexual assault evidence kit (SAK) collected. These kits are designed to collect DNA evidence that will, in the best case scenario, result in the identification of the perpetrator. If the perpetrator cannot be located, the DNA profile can still be submitted to the FBI’s CODIS databank, which houses hundreds of thousands of DNA profiles from criminal cases, and may still lead to apprehension of the rapist. Unfortunately, some SAKs experience long delays, decades even, before being tested. To date, there are hundreds of thousands of untested SAKs that remain in police custody awaiting to be submitted for forensic profiling across the country. Here, we completed a holistic investigation of sexual assault response and SAK processing in Arizona. It is important to notice that the focus of our study not only includes SAK processing and the backlog but sexual assault prevention and improving victim reporting in an effort to understand the SAK “pipeline,” from assault to prosecution.
We identified problems in three major categories that negatively impact the SAK pipeline: historical inertia, legislative and institutional limitations, and community awareness. We found that a large number of SAKs in Arizona have remained untested due insufficient funding and staffing for public crime labs making it difficult for state labs to alleviate the SAK backlog while simultaneously responding to incoming cases (“Why the Backlog Exists,” n.d.). However, surveys of ASU undergraduate students revealed a significant interest in campus assault and the SAK backlog. Based on our findings, we suggest harnessing the interest of undergraduate students and recruiting them to specialized SAK-oriented forensic technician and sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) training at ASU with the goal of creating a workforce that will alleviate the absence of trained professionals within the country. We also explore the possibility of the creation of a private crime laboratory at ASU devoted the processing of SAKs in Arizona as a measure of alleviating the demand on local public laboratories and providing a more economic alternative to commercial laboratories. The creation of an SAK laboratory at ASU would provide undergraduates the opportunity to learn more about real forensic analysis on campus, provide a pipeline for students to become technicians themselves, and help reduce and prevent a future SAK backlog in Arizona.
We identified problems in three major categories that negatively impact the SAK pipeline: historical inertia, legislative and institutional limitations, and community awareness. We found that a large number of SAKs in Arizona have remained untested due insufficient funding and staffing for public crime labs making it difficult for state labs to alleviate the SAK backlog while simultaneously responding to incoming cases (“Why the Backlog Exists,” n.d.). However, surveys of ASU undergraduate students revealed a significant interest in campus assault and the SAK backlog. Based on our findings, we suggest harnessing the interest of undergraduate students and recruiting them to specialized SAK-oriented forensic technician and sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) training at ASU with the goal of creating a workforce that will alleviate the absence of trained professionals within the country. We also explore the possibility of the creation of a private crime laboratory at ASU devoted the processing of SAKs in Arizona as a measure of alleviating the demand on local public laboratories and providing a more economic alternative to commercial laboratories. The creation of an SAK laboratory at ASU would provide undergraduates the opportunity to learn more about real forensic analysis on campus, provide a pipeline for students to become technicians themselves, and help reduce and prevent a future SAK backlog in Arizona.
ContributorsStewart, Jamie (Co-author) / Brokaw, Danielle (Co-author) / Stone, Megan (Co-author) / Kanthaswamy, Sreetharan (Thesis director) / Oldt, Robert (Committee member) / School of Human Evolution & Social Change (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Rhesus (Macaca mulatta) and cynomolgus (M. fascicularis) macaques are the most commonly used nonhuman primate models in biomedical research. It is therefore critical to correctly infer each study animal's ABO blood group phenotype to prevent fatal transfusion- and transplantation-induced immune responses. While most macaques can be efficiently and accurately phenotyped using a DNA-based assay, we have identified some animals that are unable to be classified as type A, B, or AB and therefore exhibit an indeterminate phenotype. The purpose of this study was to develop a protocol for resolving indeterminate blood group phenotypes and consequently determine if these animals do indeed belong to an O blood phenotype. We attempted both direct and cloning-based sequencing of 21 animals phenotyped as A, B, AB, or indeterminate in order to assess variation at the functional mutation site in exon 7 of the macaque ABO gene. Although direct-from-PCR Sanger sequencing was unable to generate reliable sequence results, our cloned plasmid protocol yielded high quality sequences consistent with known blood group-specific alleles and as such can be used to identify informative polymorphisms at this locus.
ContributorsVizor, Choice Popsira (Author) / Kanthaswamy, Sreetharan (Thesis director) / Oldt, Robert (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Ancestry estimation in forensic anthropology has been one of the most complex determinations to make from the human skeleton. There is a long history in biological anthropology using different morphological characteristics from the skull and other areas of the skeleton but it remains a difficult estimation that always has some variability. Currently, more studies have been conducted in morphological and metric methods from the skull of ancestry estimation to better the accuracy of the determination. Since most forensic cases are not in the best condition, there also must be other estimation methods from other bones from the remains such as the cervical vertebrae and the femur. These methods have some degree of accuracy but are not as commonly used in forensic cases as the skull is. It seems that the best method for ancestry estimation is to use a combination of multiple methods, having multiple lines of evidence. With the advent of DNA, many researchers have started to study the use of DNA in ancestry estimation. Genetics can be used in ancestry estimation as certain populations have allele frequencies that can be quantified. Using ancestry informative markers (AIMS), DNA can be used to estimate the ancestry of an individual as well as the amount of admixture in the individual. Many different methods have been tested in genetic evaluation of ancestry and have been supported with good accuracy. However, DNA analysis is expensive and time consuming, putting more reliance on osteological methods. Social implications have had a tremendous impact on the fate of ancestry estimation in forensic anthropology. Anthropology has generally rejected the notion of races but it is still used in forensics due to how much it is inculcated into everyday society. Also, the overarching theme of admixture is becoming more prevalent in society. This causes the estimations in forensic anthropology to be extremely difficult. If more research into ancestry estimation does not continue, the determination will almost be impossible to be made.
ContributorsDowell, Kori Kalei (Author) / Falsetti, Anthony (Thesis director) / Kanthaswamy, Sreetharan (Committee member) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
ContributorsHandel, George Frideric, 1685-1759 (Composer)
ContributorsHandel, George Frideric, 1685-1759 (Composer)
ContributorsHandel, George Frideric, 1685-1759 (Composer) / Halvorsen, Johan, 1864-1935 (Composer)
ContributorsHandel, George Frideric, 1685-1759 (Composer)
ContributorsHandel, George Frideric, 1685-1759 (Composer)
ContributorsHandel, George Frideric, 1685-1759 (Composer)