NCJ Number
223839
Journal
Child Maltreatment Volume: 13 Issue: 3 Dated: August 2008 Pages: 298-300
Date Published
August 2008
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article reports on a child abuse case, and the importance of determining who abused the child to assure the child’s safety when the child has more than one caretaker.
Abstract
The article discusses the use of digital photography, copiers, and photo printers as legitimate tools in forensic investigations. It was found that this methodology was helpful in determining the perpetrator, but it also helped to exonerate a suspected perpetrator. A 21-month old boy was taken to an emergency department with an inflicted bruise on his face. The parents were separated, but shared custody at the time of the injury. Both parents accused each other for the inflicted injury. Through the use of many photographs taken by the Department for Child and Families caseworker using an Olympus 5.1 digital camera taken from several angles, the bruise was seen lateral to the area of impact with sparing of the skin at the point of impact, thus causing the “negative” imprint; it was also determined that it was on the left side of the child’s face, indicating a right-handed slap. With both parents being right handed the handprint outlines of both parents were transferred to a clear plastic overlay and compared to the bruise marks on the picture. The findings showed that the father’s hand was too large to have caused the bruises, but the mother’s hand was a close match. With this evidence the mother admitted to slapping her son. Figures and references