Cold Case Reviews

Investigating Cold Cases: DNA, Detective Work, and Unsolved Major Crimes, analyses how long-term unsolved murders and unsolved stranger rapes are investigated years after the crimes were committed. The book examines how and why cold case investigations have become an established component of police investigative practice, the role of specialist expertise used, in particular DNA profiling techniques and technologies, and the investigative skills required to finally detect cold cases. The book is based on original fieldwork with one major crime review team as they investigated cold case murders and cold case stranger rapes, interviews with a variety of experts involved in cold case investigations, and analysis of police case files. Above all else, the book will examine the reliance on advances in DNA profiling techniques, to identify previously unknown offenders and suggests that alongside these technological advances it is traditional detective skills that are also necessary to finally detect these crimes.