Not necessarily buried bodies: Forensic GPR investigations from criminal to civil justice

Normally, when the GPR (ground penetrating radar) method is involved in forensic investigations, it is to search for missing bodies, generally buried under the ground. In the literature, it is possible to find several studies and examples to this effect. Recently, this technique has become relevant not only in criminal but also civil justice. Numerous civil cases, in which geophysical approaches have been used, particularly GPR, have become as important as the criminal cases, particularly in Italy. One of these cases involves the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and its power to put a legal restriction on an area with high archaeological potential. Based on this, nobody, including the landowners, can remove soil for any purpose, including building new construction and planting. The cases in which the GPR technique is involved in the research of pollutants or illegal dumping underneath the soil surface are also frequent. The chemical and physical modification of the soil both in the shallow and in the deep part of the subsurface creates the perfect dielectric contrast that is detectable by the GPR system. This paper will show the various ways in which forensic GPR investigations can help in criminal and civil justice at the same level of high standards and with the same distinguished results.