Chain of Custody & Preservation of Evidence

One of the most important purposes of physical evidence is to establish the identity of a suspect or victim. Some of the most valuable clues at a crime scene are fingerprints. "Processing a crime scene" is a long, tedious process that involves focused documentation of the conditions at the scene and the collection of any physical evidence that could possibly shed light on what happened and point to who did it.

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 evidence plays a huge role in most criminal cases. After the Daubert trial, forensic scientific evidence was reevaluated in criminal and civil cases. Scientific and forensic types of evidence can be extremely helpful in proving the case. It can help identify the suspect in a criminal case. That will help put a criminal in prison. There are many different types of forensic evidence that can be considered as scientific evidence. The different types include DNA matching, fingerprint identification, and hair evidence. The methods used to show these types of evidence are usually beyond the scope of knowledge that judges and juries know. Those types of forensic evidence are usually introduced as scientific evidence. Scientific evidence can sometimes be omitted from a courtroom or

Cogswell left the scene with the body, at 11:45 a.m., on March 19, 2005 from

On October 9, 1993, Kenneth was napping in the spare bedroom, and Tammy went to check on him finding him tangled into his sheets and was gasping for breath. She has tried to free him, but was unsuccessful. Tammy called 911 and the operator instructed her to perform CPR, but Tammy was too stressed and was not calm enough to follow the instructions.

family friends home. This was prior to the body being found. If the Ramsey’s thought

I arrived on scene at approximately 02:11 hours. I approached the front door and the victim, Hollie J. McIntosh (F/W, DOB: 07/26/1988) opened the door and let me inside. I inquired with McIntosh what happened. McIntosh stated she was shoved and choked by her boyfriend, James Dean Carvell (M/W, DOB: 01/25/1988). I observed a red mark on McIntosh’s neck. McIntosh advised Carvell was in the bedroom. McIntosh pointed to the bedroom. I entered the bedroom. Carvell was lying

On the night of the murder, the family had gone on an outing, and was preparing to retire for the evening. . In the early morning hours of December 26, 1996, shortly after 5:00 AM, Patsy Ramsey woke up in her Boulder, Colorado home. As she headed for the kitchen she found a ransom note on her kitchen staircase (CNNLawCenter.2006). The child and a ransom note were found hours later. The local police and friends and family soon gathered at the home. The local police’s progress was hampered because there were so many people in the home; the crime scene was not secured which caused chaos with the police investigation because things were cleaned and moved around (Jenkins, 2013). Given the confusion and disarray at the Ramsey home, the crime scene became significantly contaminated. Unfortunately, the police were unable to gather proper evidence and conduct an effective investigation. Furthermore, the murder was sensationalized by the media which tangled the issues even more.

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.

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.

When death in custody occurs what are the required procedures and investigations that are required to occur:

Chain of custody refers to the safekeeping of evidence during the trial process, the chain of custody also keeps track of who had access to the evidence, why did that individual had access to the evidence, what was done to the evidence, when and where was the evidence taken if it was taken somewhere for testing or anything, one of the main goals of maintaining a chain of custody is to try to preserve the evidence in the same form that it was found at the crime scene during the whole trial process, failure to maintain a chain of custody can result in the inadmissibility of evidence in court (Buckles, 2006, p.

Concerning the details of the admissibility of evidence it be quite the complex process if not understood properly, if the investigator follows the steps correctly then in no way possible is it to be proven to complicate the case at all. Whereas upon using the chain of custody it gives the confidence needed to reassure the court that all the evidence presented lines up with the rules concerning “the chain of custody”; it proves that nothing at all was compromised in any part of said investigation. At times things occur during investigations the stringent rules under the chain of custody might be done under time crunching deadline given by superior officers above you and can create or possibly create a

Evidence plays a major role usually in trail of a case. Several types of evidence can be used. Evidence can be divided into two categories – Testimonial evidence and Physical evidence. Physical evidence is one type of such evidence; this evidence can be brought to court room for observation during trails. This is the most important evidence. Physical evidence is also known as real evidence, they consist tangible article from tiny microscopic to macroscopic evidence from large building to molecules in air. It can be in solid, gas or liquid form. Advances in forensic science have increased the use of physical evidence