Essay on Fingerprint and Crime Scene

Physical evidence is anything that can establish a crime has occurred and anything that links the crime to a criminal. Three examples of physical evidence are fibers, weapons, and hair.

7) Pollen & Spore identification can provide important trace evidence in solving crimes dues to their

However, back in the 1980s, detailed studies were done to try to accomplish this task. One specific comprehensive study was done in 1984 by Peterson et al. In this study, the analysts found that physical evidence was discovered in only about twenty to thirty percent of serious crimes (Peterson, 2013). When each of the crimes were studied separately, however, they found that only crimes such as homicide, drug, or rape resulted in a large chance of physical evidence being found at the crime (Peterson, 2013). Cases such as attempted murder, burglaries, and robberies yielded lower chances of the retrieval of physical evidence from the crime (Peterson, 2013). When considering all of these possible crimes, the most commonly collected evidence were controlled substances, and then in lesser amounts, there was other physical evidence such as blood, hair, firearms, and fingerprints (Peterson, 2013).

Forensic Science has contributed to our world a great deal. People often misunderstand Forensic Science and believe it is much more capable than it really is. As a matter of fact what you see on T.V. is around 80% false or over exaggerated in some way. To Start of, Criminal Investigation is the largest and most known form of Forensic Science. Some of the more known areas include; Fingerprinting, Ballistics, DNA Identification, Fiber Samples, Computer Animation, Documentation analysis, etc. To get this out of the way in the beginning, what you saw on last night’s law and order is far from the truth. Things they do in a matter of hours take months at a time, and most of the time aren’t even plausible concepts.

I think the interesting thing about working with firearm evidence is learning about different types of weapons, identifying different markings on bullets and learning about the bullet trajectory and distance. The challenging part would be examining bullets that are broken or mutilated.

The gathering, protection and safeguarding of evidence is a crucial facet of evidence integrity, without accurate adherence to these processes, vital evidence that could possibly have significant influence on a court case could be deemed inadmissible. Therefore identifies the importance in establishing policy and procedure for law enforcement agencies in the identification, collection, and storage of evidence. Objects that constitute fruits, instrumentalities, or evidence of the crime or are contraband may be introduced in evidence and exhibited to the jury if it is proven that such objects offered as evidence relate to the crime charged (Garland, 2015, p. 417). Below is a procedure for handling physical evidence for presentation

We then documented the scene and videotaped the scene. Photographs were taken, and a crime scene sketch was conducted. We found 40 caliber casings which were taken into evidence and sent to the lab. We received a hit on the print that came back to Jeffery Williams, a search warrant was issued and we went to apprehend the suspect. We immediately conducted GSR, we applied paraffin wax to his hands to see if he recently discharged a

The purpose of this lab was to determine the murderer of Fan C. Baker given samples of a pen used to falsify Fan C. Baker’s last will and testament and an unknown white solid from the crime scene using both paper chromatography and physical property tests. We accomplished this purpose by conducting a series of tests on both the crime scene samples and a collection of substances known to be possible matches.

5.The evidence from the scenes should be collected by putting them into air-tight containers to help them from the evaporation of flammable substances. The paint cans would be good because of their airtight lids, and you would avoid the uses of plastic bags because they will produce harmful gases when it's mixed with these substances.

After the grey sheets are prepped and the evidence is labeled with the case number and location code, we scan the grey sheets into the computer system FORAY. FORAY is a system that holds all the information as far as evidence for all cases. Grey sheets, evidence request forms, and any forms that are related to the case are scanned into the system. The evidence is also logged onto a spreadsheet to keep track of amount and type of evidence comes in for all cases. Secure digital cards receive a unique sticker consisting of four numbers that is also attached to the SD card packaging. The grey sheet must be photocopied for the copy of the grey sheet is attached to the SD card packaging and sent to the photo lab. Finally, once scanning and logging is complete, the evidence is entered into the computer system. All evidence on an individual grey sheet is submitted under the case number in a property group. This property group contains each

between a cut (an injury that is longer than deep) and a stab wound (an injury

Physical evidence/scientific examinations is the evidence found at the scene of the crime. This can include clothing, blood, fingerprints, weapons and much more. An example of physical evidence could be any listed above but also a bloody knife or a casing from a bullet.

They have to make sure that before they entered the crime scene, nothing in the scene should have been moved. While they are going through a walk-through, they may have to construct theories about what happened in the crime scene based on visual examination. Investigators have to take photographs of the scene and will later on be collected. Taking photographs of the scene will help them solve the crime because there are some points of the investigation that investigators may have overlooked evidence, and that evidence could be found in the photographs. After taking photographs of the scene, they will start to collect clue and evidence that may lead them to their possible suspect(s). What they may find in the crime scene are fingerprints which can be done using colored powder and a brush, other thizngs such as blood, firearms, hair, glass and many more things that can be found in the crime scenes.

DNA is deoxyribonucleic acid, which is found in almost all living things. DNA serves as a code for the creation and maintenance of new cells within an organism. Within humans, it is found in almost every cell. Although most of our DNA is found within the nucleus of our cells as nuclear DNA, a very small amount of our DNA is also found within the mitochondria as mitochondrial DNA. Because mitochondrial DNA is generally not used for solving crimes, for the purpose of this paper it will be disregarded.

Every time somebody touches something, they leave behind a unique signature that forever links them to that object. This link is their fingerprints, which are unique to every person, for no two people have the same set, not even family members or identical twins. Palms and toes also leave prints behind, but these are far less commonly found during crime scene investigations. Therefore, fingerprints provide an identification process that is applicable to background checks, biometric security, mass disaster identification, and most importantly, crime scene investigations. Fingerprints are so differentiated because they are made up of distinct patterns of ridges and furrows on the fingers. The ridges are the “raised” portions of the prints, and the furrows are the “recessed” portions. This perceived uniqueness has led some people to falsely accept fingerprint analysis as absolute scientific fact. Although overall fingerprints are reliable, there are definitely situations where their accuracy can come into question.