Identifying And Collecting Physical Evidence

When people usually hear the word forensics they usually automatically visualize crime scenes filled with things that can vary from blood, bullets, fingerprints ect. Unfortunately, it is not as cut and dry as you think, you're only seeing a small piece of the picture. The subject of forensics itself is very broad and actually involves a variety of different sciences all mixed together including, biology, chemistry, genetics, toxicology, phonetics, medicine, engineering, anthropology and many more. It is one of the fields of law enforcement, were technology and crime-solving all come together as one. Gathering the information needed to figure out what happened and the methods used to connect pieces of evidence to the crime scene were also not

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).

It’s important that all evidence is identified so that forensic scientist can examine it and take

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

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

All available physical evidence is handled competently. Evidence will be recorded and processed correctly and inside the law procedures.

In the United States, crimes are constantly being committed. Some of the crimes that are committed are simple, and other crimes are extremely complex. Every complex crime comes with its own challenges in distinguishing material evidence. Some evidence can be tiny as a hair, or a fiber that can be located on a piece of clothing or carpet. Even though, the size of the evidence is not important, the information that it provides investigators is crucial to finding the suspect of the crime. With the assistance of trace evidence, investigators can obtain the small particles that can transfer from two objects come together. Collecting material from any crime scene can yield a plethora of information. However, by properly collecting material evidence like the tire print impression, pubic hairs, multiple dog hairs, and foreign fibers. Investigators, were able to convict Cecil Sutherland for kidnapping, sexual assault, and three counts of murder.

The most efficient and acceptable means for the collection of evidence to be permissible and admissible to a court of law through trial proceedings is to maintain a credible chain of custody. However, the chain of custody is an insufficient factor without proper discovery retrieval and/or collection of evidence. When offenders respond to a scene in which there is evidence to be collected, only officers properly trained in the process are allowed to collect the evidence. In the State of Georgia, law enforcement officers undergo a strenuous police academy course in which they learn the fundamentals of collecting elements such as fingerprints and bodily fluids. In addition to learning the fundamentals of collecting elements at a crime scene, they are also instructed and trained on how to properly take crime scene pictures. These pictures are important because they show the courts where an element or piece of evidence was discovered in reference to the whole sight of the scene. Once the officer collects the elements/evidence according to his or her training they place the evidence in either a plastic or paper bag to be submitted into evidence. Upon the collection of evidence there is a legible record of each person that handles the evidence from start to finish

Behind every court case there’s a train of forensic science evidence and research. Forensic science is the application of scientific principles of criminal justice. In many court cases a forensic scientists is the one on the scene collecting finger prints, photos, blood samples and other evidence. Unfortunately one of the controversial issues in the forensic world is the evidence and its lack of verification of its reliability. In the field of forensics there are issues in finding proof in generating conclusion, fundamental knowledge to solve problems, and the whole false memory defense in the court. These issues can be solved in many ways like extensive research, preparation and training. These issues

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.

Forensic science borrows from a number of sciences which include: physics, Biology and chemistry. It therefore involves examination of a wide spectrum as compared to any other method of investigation. Due to the wide spectrum of investigation and evidence analysis the method offers; it ensures that the results are accurate and can be used in the court of law to make a decision. The method establishes the existence of a crime, the connection between the crimes and the

Today, more than ever, the quality of evidence in criminal cases is scrutinized because of contamination. Contamination is the introduction of something that physically corrupts a substance at a crime scene that was not previously there; it comes in many forms and most often times comes from the humans who investigate a crime scene. It is imperative that prevention of cross-contamination is implemented when gathering evidence. Several of the more sensitive forensic techniques such as trace analysis, bloodspatter interpretation, and DNA comparison are not being used to their fullest potential. Items of physical crime scene evidence are not always visible to the naked eye and may be easily overlooked so deliberate and methodical approach to collection and preservation of evidence is essential. Prosecutors have lost cases due to crime scene contamination; this could be prevented by simple and productive behaviors. The U.S. Supreme Court, in a leading case on physical evidence, stated:

It’s impossible to list down the physical evidence because this evidence depends upon the nature, manner and the location of the crime committed. But few physical evidences r listed out with can be encountered in most of the cases.

In the second part of the following essay I will be nominating one source of evidence that is present at the scene of a scenario. I will be discussing in my own words how Police should collate, handle and analyse the piece of evidence in a Criminal Investigation. In doing this I will be using relevant crime scene powers, NSWPF operational guidance and making reference to the Horswell (2004) reading.