Criminal Investigations Exam

Describe three ways that a crime scene can be recorded. What is a benefit of each?

2. If you were a forensic scientist and you were called to a crime scene to see if drugs were present, what would you do to determine this?

After reading the assigned chapters and viewing the videos, discuss in your essay why “legalistic” definition of crime is not sufficient to cover all criminal activities:

The course that I feel that I made the most progress on is Criminal Justice 205. I believe I improved in many ways such as being able to identify what the crime being committed was and being able to understand the laws in general. I was able to develop my thinking skills and perspective on how I viewed crimes and the criminals mind set. The assignment that helped me clarify the subject and the way it was written was writing analysis papers. In the analysis papers I had to identify the crime being committed and observe his actions. The intent and actions being made during the crime scene has a lot to do with convicting criminals for example a killing of a person by another is homicide but if the killing is unjustifiable or premediated its murder.

The judge will usually order a protective order prohibiting the abuser from any contact with the victim before or after incarceration. “Municipal Court and Justice Court may also issue a criminal protective order that will extend for up to a year (Heleniak 2010)”. The Circuit Court can issue a criminal protection order for however long they feel the order of protection is necessary. The criminal protection order has stipulations and guidelines just like anything else. There are special guidelines for involving minor children. “The Attorney General Office will issue a copy of the criminal protection order to both the defendant and victim. “If the defendant violated the criminal protection order they will be punished by up to a five hundred dollar fine or six months in the county jail or both (Heleniak 2010)”.

I am Detective Sergeant Marcus C. Albright assigned to the Criminal Investigative Unit with the Maury County Sheriff’s Department and was so on the 29th day of December, 2017. I was contacted earlier this week by Sara E. Myers who is with the U. S. Attorney’s Office from the Middle District of Tennessee about attending a meeting with Mary Catherine Elizabeth Thomas at her attorney’s office. Tentatively I was informed the meeting with her attorney Jason Whatley was to explore possible information the U. S. Attorney’s Office had gotten regarding a relative of Tad Cummins communicating with Mary Catherine sometime over the last couple of weeks.

The patient in this scenario C was suffering with food poisoning caused by Salmonella sp.

The procedure by which criminal conduct is investigated, arrests made, evidence gathered, charges brought, defenses raised, trials conducted, sentences rendered, and punishment carried out.This is the defintion of criminal justice. Too me it means that you pour your heart your mind into every caes you go over the invesgation you look at every detail cause everything could protatine to the case.The invesgatior must go over every detail he must have a keen eye.Gathering evedence is not easy tracking all the leads is rogh long hours. You dont rest untill the find the truth..With the leads some may end to dead ends so sometimes invegators have to go back and see if there a another direction another road to take that they didn't see before.They have too look at every pices of information and just like a puzzle the information will lead to the person or persons who commited the crime.This is where the arrest are made then the person who the evidence thats been gather will pile on top of them.Then comes the charges that will be bougth agaisnt the perparater.

In the forensic science field, “A Latent Print is an impression of the friction ridge skin of the fingers or palms of the hands that has been transferred to another surface.” To break apart the phrase, “latent print”, the term “latent”, means “hidden” and the term “print” means “an indentation or mark left on a surface or soft substance by pressure especially that of a foot or hand.” So the phrase “latent prints”, refers to any print that must be enhanced chemically or physically to be made visible. Another way to define “latent print”, is simply sweat that is exuded from the body. Friction ridge skin is the only part of the body that doesn’t exude oil. The only oil that may be in a latent print has been picked up by touching another area of the body (face or ears for example) or some foreign object.”

Latent impressions are often found on smooth surfaces. The onsite processing for latent prints shall involve an examination of the body of the deceased, walls, counters and floor. UV light should be used to identify biological stains such as sweat, blood and saliva that may have been deposited on the counter, floor or on the deceased’s body (Siegel, Knupfer, & Saukko, 2013).

The facts of the case briefly discuss the discovery of a body and of physical evidence. The evidence discovered at the scene include: a yellow, queen sized sheet, an open bottle of red wine, substantial amount of food, a recently smoked cigarette butt, two sets of footprints, and car tracks. The body discovered at 7:30 p.m. exhibited a fatal gunshot wound to the back of the head. When analyzing the evidence, an inference can be made by the investigator as it is classified as a homicide. The investigator can assume the perpetrator had close relations with the victim. However, before the investigator can make an inference of the case, he/she must apply the necessary procedural requirements to collect evidence.

Today is September 14th, 2015. I arrived at the Criminal Investigation Unit at 6:43 pm and left at 10:45 pm. There were twenty-five pending cases. I read every case and assigned to the corresponding detective. After that, I answered the phones for about three hours. I was able to transfer some calls to the detectives and got messages for the detectives that were not available. Today was a very slow. Some of the detectives were just playing with their phones or others were just watching the football game. I just stayed at my desk and made sure I answered the phone when it rang. I noticed today that some of the detectives got distracted with other unrelated work activities. The lack of supervision is a problem in this unit. Even the Sergeant

Lee and Palmbach (2001) point out that the processes involved in examining a crime scene does not need to be sophisticated or elaborate; instead, investigators need to concern themselves with adhering to the fundamental principles and procedures within crime scene investigation. It is important to remember that there is not a comprehensive plan or sole guiding principle when it comes to processing crime scenes (Pepper, 2010, p. 101). This being the case, exploring different protocols and methods that assist in forming a logical plan towards crime scene investigation is crucial in policing. Understanding how different methods, protocol, and elements relate and connect to

Q1. Describe the importance of knowing the elements of a crime before an investigator decides on an investigative plan.

Figure 3: (Starting from the left) a) content image b) style image c) Descriptive method results with brush size control d) Generative method without brush size control