Is it different when it’s someone you know? When I was younger my cousin was always getting into trouble. Seemed he would borrow other people’s cars and go for a ride. People he didn’t know. People he didn’t ask for the use of their car. I love my cousin. Did he do it? Yes. I knew he was guilty but it didn’t stop me from supporting him.

Is it different when the crime is more serious? What if someone you knew was charged with murder or sexual assault. Armed robbery? Would you support them then? It’s a cliché now when you see interviews with people talking about a killer or rapist. He was such a nice guy. Always friendly. That always made me question how well you can really know someone. One of the reasons I write the books I write (with murder and mayhem) is to examine that question.

In truth you can only know someone as well as they WANT you to know them. They’ll only reveal aspects about themselves they want you to know. Can you ever truly know you didn’t marry a murderer? How do you know your boyfriend isn’t a rapist? Getting jewellery from your loved one? How do you know they actually bought it? Most of the time he’s not a murderer. He is a sweet guy. And he just likes to buy you things. Unless there are signs that something is very wrong I think you’re probably safe.

I’m suspicious by nature. Goes with the territory writing serial killer books. It helped me pick out the signs. Now, before anyone freaks out he wasn’t a killer or anything. But he was heavily into credit card fraud. Did I stay with him? I was young, rationalized that he wasn’t hurting anyone, really, so I stayed.

What tipped me off? Having to meet someone at midnight. Getting a pager at a time when only doctors and drug dealers had pagers. Before he actually admitted it to me he said he worried I wouldn’t love him anymore and I would leave him. I assured him that as long as he hadn’t killed or raped anyone and he wasn’t selling drugs I would stay.

In the end he broke up with me. But we were together for probably about a year after I found out what he did and why we could go on the getaways we went on. Why his sister’s boyfriend could afford to buy a boat. It wasn’t all bad. I got a horror movie idea from it all.

Would I have stayed if he had done something more serious? I can’t even say that depends. If he was charged with something more serious, knowing his temper, his size, his friends, I could have believed he’d done it. I didn’t know him that long. We’d only been together two years total before we broke up. Did I really KNOW him in that time? Probably not.

What about you? Do you truly know your partner? What if they were charged with a serious crime? What would you do? Stand by your man (or woman) or leave? Without proof the choice might be easy. But what if there was proof? What would you do then?

Until next time…

Cindy

For some this is not a good day in TV for them. Some good shows got the axe. I loved Unforgettable. Alcatraz was pretty good too and had tons of potential. Over 200 inmates and guards were missing. They could have done episodes into season 10 with that. I’ll miss House but at least it’s going out on a high.

I’m not surprised Missing was cancelled, even though it is my kind of show. I love spies. Love a good kick ass heroine. But from the commercials I’d seen I knew the show wouldn’t do well. And I knew it wouldn’t be one that I would particularly like. I’m’ not a mom. And though I get the mother/child bond I would have been more interested in the show if it was her husband or boyfriend. Plus, how long could they drag it out before viewers just got bored? He couldn’t be “missing” forever. At least the old(er) show Missing (that started as 1-800-MISSING) had a different person missing every episode.

I mourn the passing of some of the shows but we must make way for new shows. I saw what might be coming to TV this Fall and it didn’t look good, though. How about someone in Hollywood gets creative and comes up with something new? Not a medical show, not a police show, not a show about lawyers.

There is one bright spot on the horizon, a show that looks great, creative (sort of – if a new Lost is creative). At least it’s not a cop show. J.J. Abrams has a new show coming this fall. Revolution. From IMDB – A group of people struggle to survive and reunite with loved ones in a world where all forms of energy have mysteriously disappeared.

I had an idea like that. In mine it was done on purpose by one person because things have gotten out of hand. Mine was going to be a book. I think J.J. Abrams probably did it better than I could have. Will I still write it? Maybe, maybe not. From the trailer I know mine is very different from the TV show.

Off to get some work done.

Until next time…

Cindy

I have to admit when I first started on social media I stuck to Facebook. It seemed easier to follow than Twitter. You could do more with it too. Post photos, comment on friends’ status updates. Like companies and interact with them. I had a Twitter account but I hardly ever used it. My followers count stayed locked at 56 for the longest time and I couldn’t figure out why.

I figured out why. The trick with most social media is you have to be social. Since I was never on Twitter I didn’t get new followers. Because I wasn’t tweeting I didn’t have anyone retweeting or replying to me. Because I wasn’t there no one knew I was there so no one followed me.

I’ve tried some of the other social media sites as well. So far Twitter is favourite. It’s my favourite now because I learned how to read it and reply to people. There are tools out there that can help you organize your social media so you don’t waste time online. I use HootSuite to follow my Twitter streams and Facebook news feed. I can update my status and post tweets from there. I can even post updates on my author page from HootSuite.

To help other writers find their social media groove I’m teaching a workshop! Social Media for the Writer starts May 7! Hope to see you there.

See you on Twitter!

Until next time…

Cindy

There is justifiable homicide. A homicide committed without evil or criminal intent, for which there is no blame. This could be self-defense to protect oneself or someone else.

There is also criminal homicide which takes several forms and includes certain unintentional killings. When it comes to homicide the state of mind of the defendant is taken into account. Murder is usually intentional. Certain types of murders automatically qualify for capital punishment in the U.S. Canada doesn’t have the death penalty anymore. And homicide that occurs during the commission of other felonies may constitute murder no matter what the perpetrator’s intent to kill or not to kill was at the time.

Until tomorrow…

Cindy

So why would anyone want to study someone’s handwriting? Some businesses use it for potential candidates in order to do a personality profile. They can then see what job be right based on the candidate’s personality. Handwriting analysis has also been used as psychological analysis. Some of the more interesting and areas that don’t make sense to me are the marital compatibility and medical diagnosis. Unless there is a medical condition that makes you write a certain way I just don’t get the medical diagnosis. It’s also been used in jury screening.

The only one that makes sense to me is the use of handwriting analysis to determine the authenticity of documents. Forensic document examination. But because this is actually determining if the person thought to have written the document actually wrote it, it isn’t part of graphology.

Some interesting sites to check out for graphology:

Graphology on Wikipedia

Handwriting Pro

MD Consulting

Until tomorrow…

Cindy

As far back as 1686 an anatomy professor at the University of Bologna, Marcello Malpighi, noted the spirals, ridges and loops in fingerprints. He did not mention anything about their value in identifying people. Jump ahead to 1823 and another anatomy professor, John Evangelist Purkinje, from the University of Breslau, discussed nine fingerprint patterns in his thesis. He too did not mention their use in identifying individuals. However in the later 1850s people used their fingerprints as signatures or part of their signature. Finally, in 1888 Sir Francis Galton put ridge and loop together and thought fingerprints could be used as a means to identify people. Then in 1892 Juan Vucetich made the first criminal identification of a suspect. A bloody print was left at a crime scene and he was able to identify Francis Rojas as the murderer.

Now of course we use fingerprints all the time. They can even get partial matches. They use powder and a dusting brush to collect visible fingerprints left on soft surface. But they can also use superglue fuming for prints on non-absorbent surfaces. Fingerprints are kept in a database that law enforcement can use to compare prints found at crime scenes.

History of Fingerprinting

Fingerprinting Analysis

Until tomorrow…

Cindy

There are four types of evidence. A Canadian website and a U.S. website provided different names for them but they appear to be the same.

Direct Evidence
Circumstantial Evidence
Character Evidence
Hearsay or Second-Hand Evidence

OR

Real Evidence
Demonstrative Evidence
Documentary Evidence
Testimonial Evidence

I won’t go into all the rules of evidence or the definitions of each. I’ll provide a link for that. But there are very strict rules of what can be evidence, not to mention the hearsay rule. Years ago (2004?) I was on a jury. There was no direct (real) evidence in that case. It was all circumstantial. The Crown explained circumstantial evidence to us as being able to conclude that it was raining outside if someone walked into the room with an umbrella with water droplets dripping from it. Or something like that.

Though all we had was circumstantial evidence we found the guy guilty of second degree murder. Looking at it now it’s kind of scary that someone can be convicted of anything with no direct (real), tangible evidence.

Summary of Rules of Evidence

Kinds of Evidence Offered in Court

Until tomorrow…

Cindy

According to Wikipedia (yes, I know), Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic acid containing the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms (with the exception of RNA viruses). DNA profiling (also called DNA testing, DNA typing, or genetic fingerprinting) is a technique employed by forensic scientists to assist in the identification of individuals by their respective DNA profiles. What makes it useful in criminal investigations is the fact that though 99.9% of everyone’s DNA is the same there is enough that is different to make almost everyone’s DNA unique. With the exception of identical twins, no one has the same DNA as someone else. So if DNA is left at the scene of a crime and investigators can match it to someone that someone should probably get a lawyer.

For more than you could ever want to know about DNA check out the following links:

DNA Forensics

DNA Forensic Evidence – This is a PDF

About Forensic DNA – History

About Forensic DNA – Basics

DNA and Forensic Science Criminal Investigations

Bodily Fluids in Forensic Science

I will catch up on blog hopping tomorrow and over the weekend. Work has thankfully slowed down a little.

Until tomorrow…

Cindy

The classes were amazing. The topics included:

Use-of-force training
Interactive training scenarios
Firearms demonstration – amazing since I had never fired a gun before. Now I know all about recoil.
Child Abuse and Sexual Assault Bureau
Speed Measuring Devices
A day in the life of a police officer
Collision reconstruction unit
Homicide Bureau
Domestic violence unit
Tactical and Rescue Unit (our version of SWAT)
Canine unit
Explosives disposal unit
Crisis negotiators
Forensic identification services
Identity theft and fraud
Intelligence
Guns and gangs unit
Court/judicial system

What would you as a suspense writer pay for all that knowledge over 11 weeks of classes and hands on demonstrations? You know what I paid? Nothing! The Citizen’s Police Academy is free.

To read the recaps of the classes click here for the category listing and start at day 1.

If you’re a suspense writer I recommend doing a search to find out if your city offers Citizen’s Police Academy. You’ll get invaluable information and meet members of your community.

Until tomorrow…

Cindy

When I think ballistics I always thought it was studying the bullets fired from a gun to see if the rifling matched with a known sample, either one in a database or one found at the scene of a crime. I found out there is more than one ballistics category. There is internal ballistics (which is within the gun), external ballistics (which is from the gun to the target), terminal ballistics (when the projectile hits the target). I found an amazing explanation of the various types complete with diagrams here. It’s part of a firearms tutorial from The Internet Pathology Laboratory for Medical Education.

In Canada the RCMP has an Integrated Ballistics Identification Network (CIBIN). The network allows police to have their ballistics evidence compared against any evidence from across the country. Plus it can also be compared against the U.S. National Integrated Ballistics Information Network.

For more information check out:

How Stuff Works

Ballistics Calculator

FirearmsId.com

eNotes Article on Ballistics

Crazy busy at work but I intend to do some blog hopping tomorrow to check out some of the great posts participants are putting up.

Until tomorrow…

Cindy