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Abstract

The exploitation of wildlife is not a new construct, as this has been present in human culture since the beginning of humankind. Ultimately, this has led to wildlife crime becoming the fourth most lucrative criminal activity in the world today (Interpol, 2018b; Wyatt, 2013). In particular, the illegal rhino horn trade has contributed to this transnational crime, with Rhino Rest (2020) suggesting the price of rhino horn has reached highs of $65,000 USD per kilogram on the Asian market. The demand for rhino horn has led to the species decline as a whole, due to poachers using unsustainable killing methods to harvest the horn cheap and quick (UNODC, 2020). As a result of multiple rhino species becoming endangered, several of the species were listed under the CITES agreement in 1977, in an attempt to stop the illegal trade in rhino horn (Save The Rhino, 2018). However, this did little to reduce rhino poaching. Forensic science has the potential to disrupt the cycle of rhino poaching, specifically through the application of fingermark evidence.
Fingerprint evidence is one of the largest forensic domains used for identification purposes in a criminal investigation, as a forensic link can be made between a victim, suspect and location (Bode, 2019; Moses Daluz, 2018). Currently, there is an existing evidence base of using fingermark visualisation techniques on a range of wildlife substrates, but not on rhino horn (McMorris et al., 2015; Moorat et al., 2020; Weston-Ford et al., 2016). Therefore, the aim of this research is to identify an effective method to visualise and recover fingermarks from rhino horn, while considering the operational context of wildlife crime rangers. This was achieved through conducting primary research, through using an experimental design.
A pilot study was conducted to determine the suitability of gelatine lifters and alternative light sources to visualise fingermarks on rhino horn. The results from the pilot then informed the main study, where 8 participants deposited fingermarks on the rhino horn, half of which were visualised after 48 hours and the other half after 2 weeks. Using the Home Office grading system, the first set of marks visualised received a mean average of 0.5, while the second set received 0, due to no ridge detail being visualised (Sears et al., 2012). The inconsistency of results and the attrition of ridge detail could be attributed to a number of factors, including the substrates nature, donor characteristics, and the deposition conditions.
Overall, this research will be contributing to an existing evidence base of using forensic techniques to investigate wildlife crimes, while opening the door for future research on visualising fingermarks on rhino horn. Although this research was focussed on investigating techniques that would be deployable in the field, future research is needed to analyse the effectiveness of other fingermark enhancement techniques, that are known to be effective on semi-porous surfaces. Larger scale studies are also necessary to confirm the findings of this research

Course: Criminal Justice - MSc - C2681F

Date Deposited: 2023-05-03

URI/permalink: https://library.port.ac.uk/dissert/dis14124.html