Forensics

A basic axiom of handwriting identification science is that no two signatures will bear the exact same design features in every aspect.

National forensic medicine centers, such as Israel's National Center of Forensic Medicine, conduct forensic identification processes on recovered human remains and notify families after identification.

Forensic identification efforts in Gaza have been complicated by a shortage of DNA testing kits.

The Gaza Health Ministry publicly posts photos of recovered remains online to enable family members to attempt visual identification.

Physical items found at crime scenes, including bullet casings and medical images such as ultrasound photos, can be collected and introduced as forensic evidence in criminal investigations and trials.

Health authorities and hospital staff often rely on DNA testing kits to identify unidentified corpses recovered in conflict zones, and lack of access to DNA kits can significantly hinder identification efforts.

National institutes of forensic medicine or comparable forensic institutions carry out forensic identification of human remains recovered from conflict zones.

When human remains are returned to Israel from Gaza, they are received by Israeli security forces (the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet), presented in a military ceremony with the chief military rabbi, then placed in the custody of the National Center of Forensic Medicine of the Israeli Ministry of Health for identification, and families are formally notified once identification is complete.

Military forces conducting searches for missing persons or hostages may exhume remains as part of recovery and identification operations.

Law enforcement can collect DNA from a discarded personal item (for example, a cup) used by a person and submit that DNA for laboratory testing to generate a usable DNA profile.

A DNA profile obtained from a discarded personal item can be compared to preserved crime-scene DNA evidence and, if there is a match, can link the person who used the item to the earlier crime scene.

The ATF National Response Team specializes in explosives, fire, and bombing investigations and leads efforts to determine the origin and cause of explosions by analyzing, processing, and documenting incident scenes.

Latent fingerprints recovered from mailed letters can be used by investigators to identify and link suspects to threatening communications.

The U.S. Postal Service has forensic capabilities that can determine the geographic origin of mailed items.

A medical examiner's office determines cause of death and can assess whether injuries occurred before or after a person's death.

Forensic DNA analysis can link biological evidence preserved from decades-old crime scenes to specific individuals by matching crime-scene DNA to DNA from exhumed remains or to DNA obtained from relatives.

Long-term preservation of physical evidence enables later DNA testing that can produce usable matches even after multiple decades.

Academic forensic units and specialized criminal investigation resource centers can apply new DNA technologies and investigative techniques to re-examine and advance cold-case investigations.

Standard forensic procedures for investigating a suspicious death include photographing the scene with evidence markers, preserving items in place, restricting access to prevent disturbance, interviewing potential witnesses, and conducting basic forensic tests.

Removing a decedent's body from a scene before forensic personnel process and document the scene can eliminate critical information needed to determine how and when the person died.

Law enforcement and fire investigators can determine that one fire is a continuation ('holdover') of an earlier fire by using witness statements, video surveillance, cellphone data, and analysis of fire dynamics and patterns.

Medical examiners or coroners can determine and officially record the manner of death as 'homicide' during death investigations.