Chain of Custody & Preservation of Evidence Idris Rawls Westwood College It does not matter the reputation you have earned for your high integrity and honesty, you will always be open to allegations of civil or criminal liability. The first type of evidence and usually the most obvious is physical evidence. Evidence can be anything from tangible objects such as cartridge cases and firearms to latent fingerprints and DNA. Evidence collection or recovery step in crime scene processing is the methods, techniques, and procedures used in retrieving evidence. Patience and care are very important at the crime scene. The criminalist should take the proper time and care in processing the scene. The work is tedious and time consuming. It …show more content…
2009).” One friend even helped clean the kitchen, wiping down the counters with a spray cleaner possibly wiping away evidence. Many hours passed before police blocked off the basement room. A pathologist did not examine the body until more than 18 hours after the crime took place (Bardsley, M., & Bellamy, P. n.d.). The type of evidence that was found in the JonBenet Ramsey case was both latent and visible. DNA traces were found on the child's body and clothing, and footprints were analyzed in the basement. In addition, a ransom note was found on the stairs by the mother Patricia Ramsey. Fibers from blankets, carpet, clothing, bedding, car interiors and other materials can be identified and traced by the forensic team. The different between the latent and visible evidence are as follows According to Saferstein, R. (2011), “Latent evidence is evidence at a crime scene that cannot be seen with the eyes. Examples might be a blood stain that was bleached out, or semen stains that can't be seen without special lighting, or a fingerprint on an on even surface, such as a tree (pp. 400).” Saferstein, R. (2011), also argues that visible evidence are made when an object touches a surface after the ridges have been in contact with a colored material such as blood, paint grease, or ink, (pp. 400, para. 1). I do not believe that there was a secure chain of custody due to the fact the crime scene had already been contaminated. However, once the evidence was collected the
Cogswell left the scene with the body, at 11:45 a.m., on March 19, 2005 from
If any torn fabric or other trace evidence is found at the crime scene it will be photographed, scaled, and evidence tagged, being photographed on each step and then it would be collected and placed in a small manila envelope and evidence tagged and filled out. All evidence will be later submitted to the crime lab for processing and comparing to anything else found later in the
family friends home. This was prior to the body being found. If the Ramsey’s thought
Police believe the couple's newborn and two-year-old child were by their father as he murdered their mother, dismembered her body, and loaded as much of her he remains as he could into a cooler. He boiled some in a pot and flushed the rest down the toilet.
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
Examples of evidence: physical or chemical evidence left at the scene of a crime by a victim or suspect; recovered (stolen) property; or property currently under observation which is suspected to have been used in, or be the result of, the commission of a crime.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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
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.