Comprehensive analytical method to identify 11 kinds of synthetic cannabinoids has been investigated by thin layer chromatography (TLC), gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). The analytes used in this study have already been detected from various herbal-type designer drugs: 8 kinds of aminoalkylindoles (AAIs) (JWH-015, JWH-018, JWH-073, JWH-081, JWH-200, JWH-250, JWH-251 and JWH-398), two kinds of cyclohexylphenols (CPs) (CP 47,497 and Cannabicyclohexanol), and a Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol analog (HU-210).
  Although specific color changes were observed for the cannabinoids using Marquis reagent, identification of each analyte based on Rf values was difficult to be obtained by TLC.
  On the other hand, GC/MS and LC/MS/MS were appropriate for their qualitative analyses because of their chromatographic and mass spectral differentiation. A semi-polar capillary column DB-5MS showed the best separation and retention properties of the targeted cannabinoids among the tested GC column phases. Also, characteristic fragment ions were observed in each electron ionization-mass spectrum. The observed fragment ions were mainly derived from α-cleavage of ketone and α-cleavage of amine for AAIs, simple cleavage for CPs, and McLafferty rearrangements for HU-210.
  Based on the ionization efficiency of the target analytes using LC/MS/MS, electrospray ionization positive mode was selected for AAIs, and negative mode for CPs and HU-210. All analytes were completely separated by gradient elution of ammonium formate aqueous solution-acetonitrile mobile phase on a C₁₈ (ODS) separation column. In addition, characteristic fragment ions were observed in product ion spectra of AAIs and second generation product ion spectra of CPs and HU-210, enabling reliable confirmation.
  These results provide useful information not only for simultaneous analyses of the targeted cannabinoids but also for structural assignment of future cannabimimetic compounds that may appear in the illicit drug market.

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  Behavioral case linkage is the method of identifying crimes committed by the same offender analyzing offender's behavior in crime scenes. Previous researches on behavioral case linkage have not provided enough information of analyzing procedure and predictive validity of quantitative case linkage in practice, especially in case of number of serial offences is more than four.
  In the present study, we illustrated the procedure of quantitative case linkage for practice, and investigated predictive validity of behavioral case linkage analysis, conducting a simulation experiment analyzing crime scene data from 90 serial rape cases of 18 offenders by hierarchical cluster analysis and non-metric multidimensional scaling (MDS).
  The results of the study indicated that 66% of the trials were perfectly or satisfactorily performed (average Cohen's kappa=0.78) in a simulation experiment of hierarchical cluster analysis. The results also indicated that MDS could effectively illustrate association between serial rapes by different offenders in most of trials.
  It is considered that quantitative case linkage based on crime scene behavior has enough predictive validity for helping crime investigations to link a number of serial crimes to one offender and reduce the cost of investigation of serial crimes.

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  In the case of arson, the police often have difficulty in finding forensic evidence and eyewitnesses. If the police can identify the suspects based on their crime scene behaviours, it will be helpful for the criminal investigation.
  As the first step to fulfill the above purpose, this study focused on the behavioural characteristics of the Japanese repeat arsonists. It examined their behavioural consistency using the suspect retrieval support system developed by Adachi and his colleagues (1993, 1996, 1997). The system estimated behavioural similarities between a target sample and a database containing prior offenders and their offences, using the random choice probability method.
  The data comprised arsonists who had committed crimes between 1982 and 2005. Three hundred and nineteen repeat arsonists were the target sample in the above system. The offences in the database numbered 10,237, and these crimes were committed by 10,154 arsonists.
  Fifteen out of the 319 repeat arsonists were retrieved as a rank score of 1 among 10,154 offenders in the database, based on the similarity. The past records of 170 repeat arsonists were ranked within 10^th percentile in the database. Additionally, an examination of the offenders who had more than one offence recorded in the database revealed that the most recent crimes among the offences committed by the same offender were most similar to the target crimes.
  The consistency in the characteristics of each offence were compared by performing a chi-squared test between 81 offenders who showed the highest similarity and 81 offenders who showed the lowest similarity, differentiated by the suspect retrieval support system. The results showed that consistencies regarding the following behavioural characteristics showed highly significant differences between the two groups: the tools used and the way in which the fires were set, the objects burned, and the towns where the arsonists committed their crimes.

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  We have developed preliminary test of forensic saliva identification method to locate saliva adhesion position on a wide area such as clothing and floor using coloration reagent. We used 2-chloro-4-nitrophenyl-4-O-β-D-galactopyranosylmaltoside (Gal-G2-CNP), which yields 2-chloro-4-nitrophenyl (CNP) by α-amylase and turns yellow. Detection of α-amylase activity was performed by dropping or spraying Gal-G2-CNP reaction reagent on a sample, and then the sample stained with Gal-G2-CNP reaction reagent was incubated at room temperature. We defined a positive result as yellow coloration within 10 min by the naked eye. The CNP produced by α-amylase was clearly observed as yellow coloration in saliva stain. This method was able to detect stains of 10∼100-fold diluted saliva and 10 U/ml α-amylase. The results of detection of α-amylase from 112 forensic samples by this method completely corresponded with the results of the blue starch-agarose method. All of the saliva stains stored for 6 years on filter paper showed positive reaction. Also in wide area such as the shirt and the mask, saliva adhesion position was easily identified using this method. This reaction reagent did not influence DNA extraction and DNA typing. When Gal-G2-CNP reaction reagent stored at 4°C, deterioration of sensitivity was not observed at least 6 months. This method has many merits that are able to overcome demerits of traditional saliva detection methods because this method is suitable for locating saliva adhesion position on a wide area, rapid and simple. Therefore, this method is very useful as forensic preliminary coloration test of saliva.

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  A validation study was performed for the AmpF/STR MiniFiler PCR Amplification Kit (the MiniFiler kit) to evaluate its usefulness in analyzing forensic biological samples. The optimal DNA input for PCR amplification was approximately 0.5 ng of DNA. The marker-specific stutter ratios to filter stutter peaks provided by the kit manufacturer have been adopted without change for all markers. From a mixture of two individual DNA samples, all alleles possessed by the minor DNA contributor were detected when DNA derived from the minor contributor was present at 30% of the total DNA and above. A human genomic DNA quantitation system using real time PCR with an intercalator dye and primers targeting the 98 bp in D17Z1 was developed. The MiniFiler kit combined with the developed DNA quantitation system to determine the amount of DNA input into the PCR reaction was shown to be useful in analyzing degraded DNA samples. Primer concordance validation study using the MiniFiler and AmpF/STR Identifiler PCR Amplification Kits was performed. Typing discrepancies were observed at CSF1PO (1 individual) and D21S11 (1 individual) out of 330 Japanese individuals.

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  Within-individual standardization is a method of eliminating individual differences and habituation effects of physiological responses in the Concealed Information Test. In this study, effects of within-individual standardization on the following tests were investigated. (1) A paired t-tests between the critical item and the average of non-critical items. (2) A paired t-tests between the critical item and a single non-critical item. (3) An ANOVA with one within-subject factor (each item). (4) The effect size of each of the above statistical tests. Results indicated that larger was the differences of mean of population distribution between the response to the critical and non-critical item, more overestimated were within-individual standardized data statistics. However, with the exception of Cohen's d, this overestimation did not cause a serious error in the interpretation of the statistical test results or the effect size. In addition, it was indicated that the overestimation of each statistic might have resulted from the overly small standard deviation for each item of within-individual standardized data.

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  We ascertained that one of the lachrymator, allyl isothiocyanate (AITC), reacted with alkyl alcohol to form O-alkyl allylthiocarbamate. AITC was incubated with methanol, ethanol (EtOH) or 2-propanol, respectively, and analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). On the total ion chromatogram of the reaction mixture, one peak appeared which was different from AITC, and the molecular weight was 131, 145 or 159, respectively. The reaction product of AITC with EtOH was prepared from the mixture. By ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis, six pairs of the signals which resembled each other appeared at room temperature and some of the paired signals overlapped by heating. It was suggested that the reaction product of AITC with EtOH was O-ethyl allylthiocarbamate, and that it was composed of the mixture of conformational isomers at room temperature.

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