Questions for “Manslaughter Caused by a Hit-and-run: Glass as Evidence of Association.”

1. Why is the author so confident that “The violent nature of vehicle accidents, even at slow speeds, produces a variety of transfer evidence making it impossible for the perpetrator to leave the scene ‘without a trace’?”

2. How do appreciate the crime scene processing by the local constable?

3. What does the author mean by “fracture match?” Why is a fracture match desirable?

4. Why were density measurements not performed on the glass?

5. What is the importance of comparing the variation of RI within a single headlamp to the variation of RI between lamps manufactured at the same plant?

6. Compare Figure 7.7 to Figure 4-15 in the text. What can be said about the RI of auto headlamp glass in relation to the RI of flat glass?

7. What is the practical significance of standard deviations in these studies? Put your answer in non-mathematical terms.

8. What is a pairwise comparison going to tell us in these studies?

9. Describe briefly what the refractive index measures.

10. In which bar of figure 7.7 do the “case results” fall in? (The bars are numbered 1 to 19 in the figure.

11. What experimental proof does the author provide that AES is more sensitive, precise, and accurate than RI?

12. Describe briefly how atomic emission spectroscopy works.

13. What are at least two strengths of the prosecution’s case?

14. What are at least two weaknesses of the prosecution’s case?

15. Guilty or Innocent?