It is very important to persevere and collect evidence the right way when you are collected them from a crime scene. When persevering evidence at a crime scene you usually collect them or place them inside of envelopes, bags, or boxes depending on what type of item it is. If the evidence found at a crime scene is wet then you should let it dry before placing it inside of a bag (Finger-Printing 1958). At a crime scene you can collect anything from blood stains, hair, fibers, firearms, fingerprints, glass and so on. The specific evidences that I chose to write about are finger prints and hair. Finger prints and hair are some of the most common kinds of evidence that you can find at a crime scene (Polson, C. 1951). Both fingerprints and hair are …show more content…
classified as individualized evidence because they are unique to one person and can be traced back to one individual. Fingerprints are defined as very small ridges and patterns located on the ends of each of your fingers (O'Neill, M.
1940). Fingerprints are formed and developed inside of the womb due to certain types of pressures that are put on a baby’s hand when forming (O'Neill, M. 1940). Fingerprints are very unique and no two people have the same or alike fingerprints not even identical twins (Polson, C.1951). There are three main types of fingerprints (Polson, C. 1951). Theses fingerprints are called loops, arches, and whorls. Fingerprints can be found on any type of solid surface. Most finger prints that are found at a crime scene are latent prints there are other types of finger prints that can also be found at a crime scene to. Latent prints are not noticeable to the bare eye. In order to clearly see latent fingerprints you have to use things like magnetic fingerprint powder or alternate light sources. Fingerprints offer a dependable means of a particular proof of …show more content…
identity At the mock crime scene my group and I made sure all of the photographs, sketches and descriptions of each item collected had been documented correctly.
The latent finger prints at the mock crime scene where located in two separate places. One of the finger prints was located on the mirror while the other fingerprints where located on the top of the empty bottle of vodka glass. I used a black magnetic powder, magnetic wand and lifting tape to collect the fingerprints. I carefully and gently brushed the black magnetic powder across the finger print using the magnetic wand. I used the lifting tape to carefully lift the print making sure no air bubbles got inside of the tape when placing it on the finger print. After lifting the tape, I placed the tape onto a finger print card and placed it inside of a manila folder. I repeated the same steps for the prints on the vodka glass bottle also. After placing each print inside of a manila folder, I sealed all of them with evidence tape. After sealing each print I wrote on each manila folder a detailed description on the folders. And I also wrote my initials on each folder. Also I filled out a chain of custody and everybody that touched the items initialed it also and then it was placed in a bin and sent to the
lab. Hair is the most common evidence found at a crime scene (Miller, L. 1987). Hair can identify the victim or suspect. Hair is a useful piece of evidence because it can help law enforcement come closer to finding the criminal (Miller, L. 1987). If the follicle is still in tacked then that makes it even better. When collecting hair from a crime scene you should use your fingers or a tweezer. At the mock crime scene the hair was found behind the toilet. I used tweezers to collect it. The hair was partially connected to something on the wall so instead of pulling the hair, I collected it and what it was connected to on the wall to. After collecting the hair I placed it inside of a small manila envelope. Placed evidence tape over it, signed my initials and gave a brief detailed description of the hair, the location, and case number and wrote it on the manila envelope. Collecting and preserving evidence correctly at a crime scene is always important (1934). The purpose of doing these things can help create a broad picture of what happened at a scene and how something happened. Also if you preserve all your evidence correctly and document them correctly you won’t miss anything important because you have it all already. Also making sure everything is documented can help you out in the long run, say for instance the case was 3 years ago, if it was correctly documented and you had a lot of descriptions and pictures for it you could remember it better.
James, Stuart H., and Jon J. Nordby. "Fingerprints." Forensic Science: An Introduction to Scientific and Investigative Techniques. Boca Raton, FL: CRC, 2005. 341-60. Google Books. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
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.
In the criminal justice system, the best chance of a fair trial and justice lies within cases that include physical evidence. Physical evidence, whether fibers, fingerprints, or DNA, can give a jury proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Physical evidence can convict a criminal, or it can free an innocent man. It can bring closure to families and to the law enforcement that work the cases. The following cases will show what physical evidence does in a criminal trial and the vast impact it can make. For each case I will examine how the physical evidence was important to the case and whether or not it could have made more of a difference if the presentation of the evidence were different. The five cases are: the Mosley case, the Warren case, the Chandler case, the Frediani case, and the Swift Case.
The most important type of evidence is DNA. When DNA testing takes place, the samples are collected from the suspect and the crime scene. These evidences include hair, fingerprint, human secretions, blood, semen and other bodily fluids, are collected and sent to the lab for further investigation.
Crime scenes are known to have many clues left behind. The obvious would be a the body or bodies, clothing, and sometimes even the murder weapon. While these are great way to solve a case there's another kind of evidence; trace evidence. Trace evidence are small pieces of evidence that are laying around a crime scene. There are many types of trace evidence some of them include metal filings, plastic fragments, gunshot residue, glass fragments, feathers, food stains, building materials, lubricants, fingernail scrapings, pollens and spores, cosmetics, chemicals, paper fibers and sawdust, human and animal hairs, plant and vegetable fibers, blood and other body fluids, asphalt or tar, vegetable fats and oils, dusts and other airborne particles, insulation, textile fibers, soot, soils and mineral grains, and explosive residues. Although these are the most common found elements, they are not the only ones. The Trace Evidence Unit is known to examine the largest variety of evidence types and used the biggest range of analytical methods of any unit. materials are compared with standards or knowns samples to determine whether or not they share any common characteristics. In this paper I will discuss the different kinds of trace evidence and how crime scene investigaros use it to solve cases and convict criminal.
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
Once a crime has been committed the most important item to recover is any type of evidence left at the scene. If the suspect left any Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) at the crime scene, he could then be linked to the crime and eventually charged. A suspect’s DNA can be recovered if the suspect leaves a sample of his or her DNA at the crime scene. However, this method was not always used to track down a suspect. Not too long ago, detectives used to use bite marks, blood stain detection, blood grouping as the primary tool to identify a suspect. DNA can be left or collected from the hair, saliva, blood, mucus, semen, urine, fecal matter, and even the bones. DNA analysis has been the most recent technique employed by the forensic science community to identify a suspect or victim since the use of fingerprinting. Moreover, since the introduction of this new technique it has been a la...
For this study forensic evidence can be considered DNA evidence and/or trace evidence of any kind, included to but not limited to tire tracks, bullet casings, glass shards, fingerprints, and hair samples. Although this study proposes the idea that forensic evidence is more important it currently is not used frequently in the justice system. A study found that out of the cases they examined forensic evidence was collected in 37% of cases but only 18% of those cases were examined (Peterson, Hickman, Strom, Johnson, 2013). Another study found that 38% of participants said forensic evidence was hard to come by while 62% said they had spent time on victim credibility (Menaker, Campbell, Wells, 2016). This shows us that forensic evidence is not used frequently, and more time is spent on making a victim credible instead of finding evidence. It is the purpose of this study to determine if forensic evidence is more important than circumstantial evidence and eye witness testimony. If this can be determined than less time can be spent on things like victim credibility for testimonies, and more time can be spent on analyzing forensic
The three different main types of fingerprints are Loops, Arches, and Whorls (Jackson 1). Henry Faulds is known as the Father of Fingerprints and developing fingerprints (Jackson 1). His discovery of fingerprints has made a huge impact not only in his time but, in Modern Crime Scene Investigation (Jackson 1). Without fingerprinting, it would be very difficult to convict criminals of crimes and very hard to try to process information. Crime Scene Investigators make a huge impact in Forensic Science. We need CSI workers, without them people could only imagine what crime would be like not only in our community, but in our
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.
Collection of evidence is usually a term designated to refer to the collection of physical evidence, government agencies such as police or environmental protection departments will have their own methods for the collection, storage and conservation of physical evidence and it is the responsibility of forensic personnel to adhere to these set guidelines. General principles which are shared amongst various agencies include, the creation of contemporaneous notes, recording the collection of evidence via photographing, videotaping and/or audiotapes, preserving the crime scene by sealing off the location and only allowing designated personnel to enter, avoiding contamination of the crime scene by investigators through the use of full body covering and also preventing cross-contamination with the scene and any suspects.
...A. Maria, Ruth M. Robin. (2009). Latent prints: a perspective on the state of the science. Forensic Science Communications. 11.4.
Collecting evidence from a crime scene is a crucial aspect of solving crimes. Before evidence can be seized, there must first be a court order approving the search of the crime scene and the seizure of the evidence found at the scene. Standard protocol for officers is for them to always use latex gloves, avoid plastic bags, double wrap small objects, package each object separately, and to collect as much evidence as possible. It is better to have too much evidence than to not have enough. There are countless amounts of evidence that can be found at a crime scene.
As far back as 1832, James Marsh was the first to use forensics at trial to give evidence as a chemist in 1832. Since that time forensic science and evidence has come a long way in various ways and technology to help in determine if the suspect is guilt or not, through such things as DNA testing, blood, and fingerprints. The first forensic police crime lab was created in 1910. The contributions of Dr. Edmond Locard, a French scientist and criminologist, proposed that “everything leaves a trace”. This principle is still valid today as it was so many years ago. No matter how small, the specialized trained technicians and investigators can take these methods and go to a crime scene to get evidence. “Forensic science is the application of sciences such as physics, chemistry, biology, computer science and engineering to matters of law.” (Office of Justice, 2017) These different sciences can help achieve and assist in solving a case. Forensic science has also the ability to prove that a crime was committed, it can find the elements of the crime, it can help place the suspect at the scene and whether the suspect had any contact with the victim. However, in the last several years the techniques and with the use of technology the evidence that forensic science uncovers can also exonerate an innocent individual who has been falsely accused of the
Physical evidence is additionally important in every criminal investigation because too often witness accounts are sometimes biased or unreliable. Physical evidence such as trace evidence, DNA, and fingerprints may objectively attach one or more persons to a victim or suspect to a crime. Favorably, physical evidence can also demonstrate inestimable for exonerating an innocent suspect. Laboratory members and criminal investigators should perform together to resolve the biggest portion of evidence to institute the right suspect for a strong prosecution. Willingly, investigation officers should aggressively contact laboratory personnel when questions arise about the cases because DNA evidence is sensitive.