The Importance Of Crime Scene Investigation And Evidence

The popular television show, CSI: Crime Scene Investigations has been on the air for 12 years, and it has brought forth the behind-the-scenes actions of criminal investigations, even if its portrayals are not always scientifically accurate. This has caused an interest in the forensic sciences that has led most people to a skewed view of how a criminal investigation actually works. The reality of a criminal investigation is that it is generally more tedious and difficult than the theory of criminal investigation would have you believe. By examining the forensic and investigative procedures of the case of Pamela Foddrill, it is apparent that the theory of criminal investigation was not representative of the procedures concerning examination

Nearly anyone you ask would be familiar with the television show CSI. The crime lab is colorful and high-tech with all of the fun toys and machines that analysts use to test the ever abundant amount of forensic evidence from every crime scene. It makes for an exciting drama that you cannot help but get immersed in—it also gives us a false illusion, however, creating what has been dubbed as the “CSI effect” (Baskin, 2011). This effect describes the idea that crime shows such as CSI generate unreal expectations, making viewers believe that forensic evidence should be existent in all criminal trials, therefore affecting their overall perspective on a case (Baskin, 2011). But in reality, forensic labs are not that glamorous. In fact, the

Since the time that the scientific science dramatization "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" turned into a tremendous hit and generated its fans, reporters have been worried about what they instituted the "CSI Effect." The hypothesis behind the effect is that fans of the well-known show disguise misguided judgments about the law that they bring with them into the court as jurors. In this way, the trepidation is that the TV show is at last influencing the results of trials - and not in a great manner. Criminal justice researchers have started to study the inquiry of whether nationals who are called to serve on juries bring unreasonable desires and convictions to the court as a consequence of TV projects. The impact that these projects may have on the jurors, their desires, and their choices is known as the CSI effect.

One of the biggest legal challenges of crime scene investigations is whether federal or state procedural laws were followed correctly, failure to properly conduct procedural steps in the collection of evidence could result in the evidence being contaminated, altered, or if stored improperly it would result in the lost of evidence (Buckles, 2006, p. 29). Evidence that is not properly documented will not be admissible in court or if the evidence was obtained illegally meaning that the evidence was collected without a warrant when a warrant was needed the evidence will not be admissible in court therefore it is crucial for law enforcement and investigators to be familiar with the laws that govern crime scene investigations (Buckles, 2006, p.

What is crime scene investigation? Crime scene investigation is the use of physical evidence at the scene of the crime and the use of of the deductive and inductive reasoning to gain knowledge of the events and of the surrounding crime. Crime scene investigating is a big combination of Science, logic and law.

When investigating a crime scene before touching anything investigators must document and photograph everything, investigate all doors, windows, ect of any evidence of how offender got in and out of the crime scene, investigate every inch of the crime scene for blood, fingerprints, footprints, weapons, bullet holes, shell casings etc. and anything that looks out of place. Once this is done investigators can then collect any evidence using the right equipment.

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

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.

I have always loved suspenseful whodunit television shows, movies, and books that use forensic science to crack the cases. My favorite television show is The First 48, my favorite movie is The Silence of the Lambs, and my favorite book is The Body Farm. Therefore, I was excited to have the opportunity to take this course and learn even more about the subject of forensics. This essay gives a summary of N. E. Genge’s book, The Forensic Casebook: The Science of Crime Scene Investigation, and includes the things I disliked and liked about the book.

Since the Victorian era, crimes have been solved using confessions or eyewitness accounts. Those tactics are still used today, but as technology continues to develop more and more, law enforcement and criminal investigators have started to rely more on forensic evidence to solve today’s crimes. In the article “Forensic Science: Evidence, Clues, and Investigations,” by Andrea Campbell, the author discusses the reliability and importance of forensic evidence. By today’s standards, forensic evidence is the most important evidence to present at a trial.

Every criminal investigation starts off the same way: A crime was committed, someone informs the police, law enforcement shows up, secures the crime scene and they start the investigation. There are steps taken in every investigation. Police interview witnesses, check surveillance, interrogate suspects; however, one of the most important steps is the collection and analysis of evidence. According to the Encyclopedia of Criminology (2014), forensic evidence refers to the verbal statements and physical items presented to a neutral fact-finder in the court of law that assist him or her in rendering a verdict (Vandenberg, 2014). In simple terms, it is anything offered to a court to demonstrate if the suspect on trial is guilt or innocent.

The investigators must identify the significance of every aspect of evidence found in the scene, i.e. they have

What do you know about crime scene investigations other than what you see on TV? Crime scenes vary with the amount of physical evidence which is ordinarily expected to be recovered. The only thing consistent about crimes scenes is their inconsistency. A crime scene investigation can described as the application of what has become known as “Locard Exchange Principle”. The “Locard Exchange Principle” is mainly a theory that was established by “Dr. Edmond Locard”. Crime scene investigator document crime scenes in detail and collect physical evidence. Crime scene investigators include recorder to record the data, sketch artists to sketch the scene, photographers to take photos of the crime scene and evidence collectors.

Forensic science involves the use of science to solve criminal and civil crimes but mostly lies on the side of criminal investigations. It makes it possible to identify the criminals based on the DNA traces they leave behind. It involves analyses of blood, DNA and other evidences and later on uses the findings as evidence in the court of law. It helps in solving the various crimes in the world and this has been the greatest contributor to the growth of the sector. Cases that were previously considered impossible due to lack of evidenced tracing to the victim can now be solved using forensic science evidences. The essay aims at analyzing the different aspects of forensic science that are used in the process of solving criminal activities. It will also look at the different cases that forensic science was used to solve crimes in a court of law.

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: