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If you have issues viewing or accessing this file contact us at NCJRS.gov. , I .Ir. I. .--, . I \ ~ _'- ~ : ,rIP' • - , ,.~ .'~ .- 0::-" " ,1 January 1994 Volume 63 Number 1 United States Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation Washington, DC 20535 Louis J. Freeh, Features Director Contributors' opinions and statements should not be considered as an endorsement for any policy, program, or service by the Higher Education Educational standards for police FBI. for Law Enforcement personnel enhance police professionalism. {tfto ~3 3 By Michael G. Breci The Attorney General has a determined that the publication of this periodical is necessary in the transaction of the public Forensic Imaging Comes of Age Enhanced computer technology business required by law. advances the field of forensic Use of funds for printing this By Gene O'Donnell periodical has been imaging, providing lawe~'PJcement II with new capabilities. Lft0 approved by the Director of f 534 the Office of Management and Budget. Child Abuse: Understanding child development is • the key to successful interviews of The FBI Law Enforcement Interviewing Possible Victims young sexual abuse victims. Bulletin (ISSN·0014-5688) By David Gullo Em is published monthly by the /%j-:3~ Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1Dlh and Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20535. Second-Class postage paid Obtaining Consent to The use of deception to obtain at Washington, D.C., and Enter by Deception consent to enter is a useful iaw additional mailing offices. enforcement to~1f..hen legal'%.. Postmaster: Send address By John Gales Sauls employed. / S changes to FBI Law '1-6 3 8' Enforcement Bulletin, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Washington, D.C. 20535. Editor Departments Dr. S.cpl1en D. Gladis Managing Editor Kathryn E. Sulewski Art Director 1~53:) John E. Ott 11 Notable Speeches 18 Bulletin Repc-rts Associate Editors Causes of Violence Gang Information Andrew DiRosa Karen F. McCarron Needle Exchange Programs Kimberly J. Waggoner 16 VICAP Alert Assfstant Art Director Robert Lee Clegg 24 Research Forum /'/(pj""".31 Amelia J. Brooks Production Manager Videotaping Interrogations T.L. Wilson Staff Assistant Darlene J. Butler Cover photo by K.L. Morrison ISSN 0014-5688 USPS 383-310 U.S. Department of Justice National Institute of Justice This document has been reproduced exactly as received from the person or organization originating it. Points otvlew or opinions slaled in tllis document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent ths official position or policies of Ihe National Institute of Justice. Permission to reproduce this copyrighted material has been granted by FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin to the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS). Further reproduction outside of the NCJRS system requires permission oHhe copyright owner. n 1987, the FBI's Newark, Forensic Imaging New Jersey, field office for I warded a then unusual request for forensic assistance to the Special Comes of Age Projects Section of the FBI Labora By tory. Agents asked if it would be GENE O'DONNELL possible to produce age-enhanced photographs of a longtime fugitive J:.). in order to better represent to the public and to other investigative .... - agencies how the subject might cur :"'§'t! ~it ,¢',. .... '>+ rently appear. The fugitive, John E. List, had eluded detection since murdering his entire family 17 years earlier. Using newly acquired computer systems, visual information special ists in the FBI Laboratory prepared an age-enhanced image of John List and forwarded it to the field office. The office then publicized the pho tograph in various national publica iii:t . " <, ::'~,. "..,-. ~~~ tions. A woman recognized her neighbor as List (who lived under the assumed name Robert P. Clark) from the age-enhanced image that appeared in a supermarket tabloid. The woman dared Clark's wife to confront lh~r husband with the pho tograph. Apparently, she never did. Two ye~:rs later, in 1989, the List after his arrest in 1989. television srow, America's Most Wanted, featurt~d a plaster bust pre pared by a forensic ani"l that was based on photographs of List. By this time, List had moved to Midlothian, Virginia, a suburb of Richmond. Convinced that Clark was, in fact, John List, his former neighbor asked her son-in-law to call the FBI and provide investiga tors with List's new address. When agents confronted the man, he de nied he was List. But fingerprints Photograph of John List Age-enhanced image Plaster bust based on from a gun permit application filed a taken prior to 1971. ofJohn List prepared in photographs of John List. 1987. month before the siayings revealed the truth. List was arrested and _________ January 1994/5 compositing and retouching sys "The FBI's imaging tem. The system produces age-en program is based on a hanced photographs, merged im sophisticated photo ages (Le., a human skull combined with antemortem photographs), and compositing and reconstructed facial images based retouching system. solely on the skeletal remains. The forensic artist can also create de tailed composite sketches on the " system and use the system to per form other retouching functions. In order to produce a desired image, forensic artists must gener Mr. O'Donnell is a visual information specialist in the Special ate several preliminary images. Projects Section of the FBI Laboratory, Washington, DC. These initial and intermediate im ages, as well as the final product, are collected together in a folder re fen'ed to as a "film." returned to New Jersey, where he Composed primarily of off-the A film consists of several was convicted of murder and sen shelf hardware and software, the images, or "frames," in sequence. tenced to life in prison. system allows operators to alter Each frame corresponds to one of The John List case is notable for photographs for investigative pur the images used to produce the several reasons, including List's poses by projecting the likeness of final product. To ease handling, the ability to elude detection for 17 individuals as they might currently artist binds the frames together in a years and the impact of mass media appear. By combining the sophisti single film. This also ensures that all on his capture. For the FBI Labora cation of the computer system with materials necessary to produce the tory, the List case also signaled a the forensic art skills of the operator, final image can be found in a single new age in computer-assisted foren age-enhancement and other imag place. sic imaging. ing can be achieved with a high degree of accuracy. AGE ENHANCEMENT BACKGROUND The programmer who devel The age-enhancement process Traditionally, forensic artists oped the system used by the FBI begins by entering the images that assisted investigators by producing worked closely with Laboratory will be used in an "update" into the drawings and airbrushed photo personnel in making necessary computer system. Forensic artists graphs based on witness accounts or modifications to enhance the com enter these images into the system in photographs. Over the years, foren puter's capabilities. The user several different ways. sic artists produced many such im friendly format allows operators In the most common method, ages, which assisted in solving nu with limited computer training to the forensic artist uses the video merous cases. However, advances make full use of the system. As camera to "grab" or digitize photo in computer technology now allow always, the most critical element graphs into the system. This is ac these same artists to create or alter is the forensic r'rt ski lIs of the complished by placing a photograph images much faster, more accu operators. on a copy stand under an activated rately, and with many more options video camera to produce an image than ever before. COMPUTER·ASSISTED on the display monitor. When the In 1986, the FBI purchased FORENSIC IMAGING photograph has been properly the computer system used for the The FBI's imaging program is framed, the camera focused, and the age-enhancement of John List. based on a sophisticated photo lights adjusted, the image is 6/ FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin _______________________________ - "grabbed." The computer then appears in a pop-up menu. The op based solely or in part, on this inves converts the image into digital form erator alters the image by selecting tigative technique. and stores it in its memory. The different commands from the vari To update a child's appearance, forensic artist then repeats the ous menus and then drawing on the the forensic artist enters photos of image entry process for each refer image using the stylus. Mistakes the child, as well as one or both ence image used in the aging pro can be corrected through a variety of parents (or Hiblings who resemble cess. When all of the photographs commands. the child) into the computer. The have been entered into the system, operator then creates grids for the forensic artist begins creating Child Aging each image that "describe" the lo the aged image. When "aging" childhood pho cation of the facial features in that The computer displays avail tographs, forensic m1ists can de image. One or more of the missing able commands in a collection of velop highly accurate and detailed child's photographs are "warped" or pop-up menus driven by a fixed enhancements by studying photo realigned to bring the features of menu selection that runs across graphs of the subjects' family mem thOat image into alignment with the bottom of the screen. The opera bers to gauge accurate facial growth those of another. tor selects a category by pointing patterns. Since the introduction of After this process, the images to it with a pen-shaped stylus.