Fiber analysis has been used by law enforcement for many years in order to obtain evidence during investigations and also to place suspects at the scene of the crime. There is no set procedure for employing the use of fiber analysis however, it usually involves the examination of cross sections of a fiber under microscope. Additionally other tests such as the burn test and solubility test may be used to identify a fiber. Fiber transfers occur between people, people and objects, and objects and other objects. Typically the stronger the force and the longer the contact is maintained the greater amount of fiber is transferred. So in cases such as a homicide, the suspect and the victim are likely to have exchanged fibers during a struggle. Issue …show more content…
The woman was robbed and badly beaten. From the scene of the crime, we were able to recover several different fibers, one of which did not match anything belonging to the victim. The black fiber is believed to belong to the robber, as neighbors claim the victim did not likely own anything black. Neighbors recount seeing a tall young man wearing a black jacket enter victim’s apartment on Saturday night. The nightwatch claims no one entered the building the night of the murder, so the killer must be a resident. We gathered all the tall young men who own black jackets and consider them suspects. Proposed Solution: Fiber Analysis 6 suspects have been identified as follows: George, Dave, Jeff, Ted, and Casey. We hope with the use of fiber analysis we will be able to match the fiber recovered from the crime scene to the jacket the suspect was observed wearing the day the crime occurred. Each man owns a black coat made of a different material, one of which will match the fiber found on the victim that did not belong to her. …show more content…
When a fiber can be matched to a source, a value is placed on that fiber. The value of the fiber is affected by factors such as its type, color, variation of color, number, location at the crime scene or on the victim, and the number of fibers that can be matched to a suspect’s clothing. Although it is difficult to say that a fiber definitely originated from a specific source (unless we know its history), all of these factors make the possibility of two fibers matching coincidentally highly unlikely. This is especially true if the fiber is of a unique or uncommon material. The shape of man-made fiber can also be easily traced back to a likely source if it has unique cross sections. The greater the number of fibers that match between the victim and the suspect, the greater the likelihood that theses two individuals had
The suspect of the two rapes was known to smoke cigarettes, wear white gloves, ride a bike, use a knife, wear shoes that had rubber soles, and have a flashlight. When Ronald Cotton went into the police station to start things out, they took the knife that he always carried out from his front right pocket. Once Detective Gauldin started to question him, Ron told Gauldin that he smoked Newports, which is a type of cigarette. After he was questioned multiple times, they showed him a pair of black canvas World Cup shoes. He said that his shoes insoles were falling apart, but they weren’t that beaten up when the police showed them to him. They then showed him a piece of material that came from his shoe, which was left in Jennifer Thompson’s apartment. After that, they then showed him a red flashlight and accused him of taking batteries from Mary’s house, the other rape
The mystery of the Black Dahlia has interested people for decades, the murder happened mid January 1947. A body was found cut in half in a vacant lot on L.A’s South Norton Avenue. A police detective later said after seeing the crime scene “ I just can't imagine someone else doing that to another human being.”( “Black Dahlia” ), the crime scene was that gruesome. The murder victim was 22 year old Elizabeth Short, called the Black Dahlia by the murderer. The mystery got its public interest when the L.A.P.D couldn't find someone responsible for the
One of the core roles of police officers is that of law enforcement. However, there are times that it is necessary for an officer to rely less on enforcement of the law and instead concentrate on keeping peace in situations that exist outside of the norm. One such situation exists in the policing methods used in “skid-row” type areas of society. These types of areas are an anomaly to the rest of standard communities where simply enforcing the law will not be successful. The goal in these areas is to plainly contain the chaos using a hybrid form of community policing.
Crime is a common public issue for people living in the inner city, but is not limited to only urban or highly populated cities as it can undoubtedly happen in small community and rural areas as well. In The Real CSI, the documentary exemplified many way in which experts used forensic science as evidence in trial cases to argue and to prove whether a person is innocent or guilty. In this paper, I explained the difference in fingerprinting technology depicted between television shows and in reality, how DNA technology change the way forensics evidence is used in the court proceedings, and how forensic evidence can be misused in the United States adversarial legal system.
The autopsy report included the following information: Office of the Medical Examiner, Urban Government of woodland: Case #77, Deceased- Anna Garcia, Age- 38, Weight- 165 lbs, Height- 5’4 (64 inches), Race- Hispanic, and Sex- Female. The autopsy took place on August 15, 2011 at 11:00 A.M. and was performed by Dr. King. The category about the toxicology report in the laboratory results stated that there was no evidence of alcohol- BAC (% by volume) 0.015. Although there were trace amounts of acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) present, there was no evidence of an overdose of prescription or nonprescription drugs. The autopsy report continued with a external examination. The general appearance of the body was described as a well developed, healthy 38 year old Hispanic female who weighed 165 lbs and was a height of 5’6 (64 inches). In addition, there was no evidence of postmortem tampering and rigor mortis is generalized. When considering the clothing and valuables it was identified that there was a ring located on her right ring finger, clothes were not torn but were stained with blood, and there was a small portion of vomit on her right shoulder area of her blouse. Likewise, the head and neck is ordinarily shaped with medium length, black hair. Even though the neck showes no visible signs of injury, there is an injury to the right temple. Including an open wound where pre-mortem
Lyman, D. Michael; Criminal Investigation, The Art and Science; 3rd edition, 2002 Prentice Hall. Pgs. 188-200.
Believe it or not, wounds from a victim are also evidence. The wound can allow the investigators to match up any marks that could have been made from the weapon and therefore allows them to determine at what angle, distance, and how fast the weapon was used.
The criminal justice system has changed a lot since the good old days of the Wild West when pretty much anything was legal. Criminals were dealt with in any fashion the law enforcement saw fit. The science of catching criminals has evolved since these days. We are better at catching criminals than ever and we owe this advancement to forensic science. The development of forensic science has given us the important techniques of fingerprinting and DNA analysis. We can use these techniques to catch criminals, prove people's innocence, and keep track of inmates after they have been paroled. There are many different ways of solving crimes using forensic evidence. One of these ways is using blood spatter analysis; this is where the distribution and pattern of bloodstains is studied to find the nature of the event that caused the blood spatter. Many things go into the determination of the cause including: the effects of various types of physical forces on blood, the interaction between blood and the surfaces on which it falls, the location of the person shedding the blood, the location and actions of the assailant, and the movement of them both during the incident. Another common type of forensic evidence is trace evidence. This is commonly recovered from any number of items at a crime scene. These items can include carpet fibers, clothing fibers, or hair found in or around the crime scene. Hairs recovered from crime scenes can be used as an important source of DNA. Examination of material recovered from a victim's or suspect's clothing can allow association to be made between the victim and other people, places, or things involved in the investigation. DNA analysis is the most important part of forensic science. DNA evidence can come in many forms at the crime scene. Some of these forms include hair; bodily fluids recovered at the crime scene or on the victim's body, skin under the victim's fingernails, blood, and many others. This DNA can be the basis of someone's guilt or innocence; it has decided many cases in the twentieth century. As the times continue to change and the criminals get smarter we will always need to find new ways to catch them. Forensic science is the most advanced method yet, but is only the beginning. As the field of science grows so will the abilities of the
This paper explores deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) collection and its relationship to solving crimes. The collection of DNA is one of the most important steps in identifying a suspect in a crime. DNA evidence can either convict or exonerate an individual of a crime. Furthermore, the accuracy of forensic identification of evidence has the possibility of leaving biased effects on a juror (Carrell, Krauss, Liberman, Miethe, 2008).
Forensic Science, recognized as Forensics, is the solicitation of science to law to understand evidences for crime investigation. Forensic scientists are investigators that collect evidences at the crime scene and analyse it uses technology to reveal scientific evidence in a range of fields. Physical evidence are included things that can be seen, whether with the naked eye or through the use of magnification or other analytical tools. Some of this evidence is categorized as impression evidence2.In this report I’ll determine the areas of forensic science that are relevant to particular investigation and setting out in what method the forensic science procedures I have recognized that would be useful for the particular crime scene.
Review, PubMed PMID: 19543886. Saferstein, R. (2011). Criminalistics: An introduction to forensic science (10th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
Recent advancements in technology have had a huge impact on the current criminal justice system. These new developments have made it easier for those in the field to track down criminals and help provide better evidence to support their cases. Things such as fingerprint databases, DNA testing, GPS tracking, and many other things have made it easier for prosecutors or defendants to prove their cases in court. This is very beneficial because with this new wave of technology officials are now able to provide more reliable and credible evidence in court. This current upsurge of technology will help benefit a lot people in the field. People such as law enforcement, falsely accused criminals, prosecutors, defendants, judges, the list just goes on and on. Technology has been has had a major impact on the criminal justice system, it is now been made easier to track down and catch criminals and made it so that the evidence provided at court is more reliable and credible.
The use of technology in the policing domain has been rapidly adopted over the past few years. However, it should be noted that the process of adopting and effectively using technology in law enforcement, begun more than 50 years ago. For instance, it become apparent in the 1950’s that computer would enable easier storage and retrieval of large amounts of data. More recently, advancement in technology has incorporated more sophisticated ways of transmitting and analyzing information, therefore aiding the law enforcement process (Button, Sharples & Harper, 2007). The police have found various aspect of technology useful; predominantly, computer crime mapping has been widely adopted and consequently received a lot of attention (Goldstein & McEwen, 2009).
Forensic science has now been recognized as an important part of the law enforcement team to help solve crimes and cold cases. The advances in technology are being used each day and we must continue to strive to develop better advances in this field. The recent discovery of using DNA in criminal cases has helped not only positively identify the suspect, but it has helped exonerate hundreds of innocent individuals. “With new advances in police technology and computer science, crime scene investigation and forensic science will only become more precise as we head into the future.” (Roufa, 2017) Forensic science and evidence helps law enforcement officials solve crimes through the collection, preservation and analysis of evidence. By having a mobile crime laboratory, the scene gets processed quicker and more efficiently. Forensic science will only grow in the future to be a benefit for the criminal justice
Gaensslen, R. E., Harris, H A., & Lee, H. (2008). Introduction to Forensic Science and Criminalistics. New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. .