The evidence suggests that she was in the car a little longer than she admitted and due to her clothing being quite rare and unusual, finding these fibres on the suspects clothing confirm contact, which is what she said in her statement when he grabbed her. But why would the pill of purple fibres from his underwear be in her knickers? This suggests intimate contact with the suspect. The suspect also had fibres from her clothing all over him but not her underwear. This suggests that he undressed but she didn’t (no fibres from the her halter-top were found due to her wearing a shirt over the top of it and none of her underwear fibres were found on the suspect or in the car). At this point she could of made a run for it – when he was undressing but why are her clothing fibres on his underwear? If she wasn’t tied up then its possible she voluntarily was intimate with the suspect. As the suspects clothing is very common and ubiquitous, finding them in unexpected locations (like victim’s underwear) has some evidential value.
Would a kidnap victim sit in the front passenger seat? Usually in the boot or rear seats. None of this evidence can prove if it was forced or voluntary intimate contact between this couple only that they have had intimate contact. Some of her story could be true but I don’t have any evidence to back it up and she has lied about being in the back seat, there are some unanswered questions that I have about the victim’s story and our labs (did they have any tape lifts from the rear seat?).
2. I think this case has very good evidence supporting the contact between the victim and suspect. It’s a moderate to strong case that proves the suspect had intimate with the victim. The fibre evidence doesn’t prove if the victim was forced/thrown or voluntarily got into the car with the suspect. The tapings from the passenger seat prove the victim was in the front of the car. Her clothing had rare fabric, which doesn’t transfer easily so to find the evidence on the passenger seat is good evidence. There weren’t very many fibres found on the suspects clothing but due to the time delay from apprehending him the fibres could have been lost. The small piece of material found in the car is also god evidence that the victim was in the car and a possible struggle/ frolic occurred. Fibres found on the underwear of the suspect and the pill found on the victim show contact when he had no other clothes on. The pill of cotton fibres are when the clothing bobbles and a collection of small fibres forms, this usually has to be pulled off your clothing with a little force so either the victim or suspect could of transferred the pill. The fibres from the seat found on the victim also confirm she was in the car – these are rare fibres.
- Most of the cases are weak except case 2 and 5. Case 5 is strong in respect of proving contact occurred between the victim and suspect but the victims story doesn’t add up and there wasn’t as much quantity of evidence as in case 2. So the strongest fibre case is number 2 because we have evidence to prove the weapon was the knife and fingerprints to prove the suspect used the knife. Also a very good number of fibres, 47 in total was found on the knife linking the knife to the victim and the suspect. The fibres found were fibres that don’t usually transfer easily but the blood on the knife made more fibres stick to it than in normal circumstances. Also had 10 non match fibres which could of been from the suspects clothing.
- Cases 1,3 and 4 are all weak but more so is case 3 because it is all circumstantial evidence and hearsay. Case 1 has fibre transfer but the evidence shows no transfer on the victim’s knickers, which the suspect must have been in contact with if her victim’s story was true. There was other explanations for the fibre evidence found, suspect was a former boyfriend – he’d been in the room before, victim could have had grey military sweat pants that some of the fibres were from. Case 4 had very little fibre transfer, which was explained as he victim danced with the suspect the previous day. Too much time had passed from when the alleged attack took place. No fibres were found on either person’s underwear, which should have occurred. So case 3 has the weakest fibre evidence but has good evidence that the pink acrylic blanket was used during the attack on the victim but only circumstantial evidence. The small amount of fibres found on the suspect could have been from secondary transfer. Too much time had passed since the attack and when they found a suspect that any evidence would have been lost.
Section B
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Locard’s principle has practical influences, such as: environmental factors – weather damage/alter evidence, trace evidence – if found can recover, relevancy, time since contact, contamination, recovery methods – good sample, adequate, procedures followed. The suspect will have also taken something with them from the scene. Evidence from the suspect can easily link them to scene if they were there. E.g. suspect broke in a house, climbed through a window, picked up items to steal, was interrupted and left items ran off catching his clothing on the door before he escaped. There are endless points of contacts – tool marks, fibres, footprints, biologicals, fingerprints, etc. All the evidence is there but we need to find it and process correctly. (Saferstein, 2001). 115 words.
Saferstein, R. 2001. Criminalistics. London, Prentice Hall.
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Forensic scientists use presumptive tests to confirm the identity of a sample. They are simple – anyone can use them, speedy – compared to sending samples off to the lab and awaiting results, sensitive – can identify blood from a small or large sample, cheap – paying for more thorough tests and can link to further evidence or paths – UV/ luminol. (White 1998). Presumptive tests can be destructive if applied directly to the stain – luminol, you have to have a good size sample to test so if you only have a tiny spec cant use the test. There are lots of false negatives, bleach, vegetable oil (Saferstein 2001) and from rust and plant extracts. (Pepper 2005). 107 words.
Pepper, I. 2005. Crime Scene Investigation: Methods & Procedures. London Open University Press.
Saferstein, R. 2001. Criminalistics. London, Prentice Hall.
White, P. 1998 Crime Scene to Court, Cambridge: Royal Science of Chemistry
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The human pubic hair and a dog hair are very similar in most area; like they both have the same basic structure of the medulla, cortex and cuticle. The medulla is particularly important when distinguishing between animal and human hair. This is usually based on the relative width of the medulla. (White, 1998). Pubic hairs are short, usually 10-60mm in length and curly due to the cross section being irregular and asymmetric. They have more obvious and a wide continuous medulla. Dog hairs have mosaic scale pattern, amorphous medulla with uni-serial ladder, smaller cortex with central pigmentation and spade shaped root. The medulla index is >½ whereas human hair is <1/3. (Ogle, 1999) 110 words.
Ogle, R.R. and Fox, M.J. 1999 Forensic Animal Hair Atlas – Microscopic Characteristics, CRC Press
White, P. 1998 Crime Scene to Court, Cambridge: Royal Science of Chemistry
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When analysing glass we need to know as much amount the fragment as possible to determine if it matches our crime scene sample? We need an accurate, simple to use, cheap, quick method. Our method needs to provide detailed information like; origin, density, type, surface shape, sharpness of edges, chemical/ microscopic composition. (Pepper 2005) Before testing need to verify fragments are glass by fracture, isotropism, depression. Separate those that differ in colour, clarity, and surface curvature/ characteristics. (Saferstein 1982) The Refractive Index is the most accurate technique used that meets the requirements. The glass is tested to a high standard and provides detailed analysis of the glass providing the discriminatory evidence. 107 words.
Pepper, I. 2005. Crime Scene Investigation: Methods & Procedures. London Open University Press.
Saferstein, R. 1982. Forensic Science Handbook V2. London, Prentice Hall.
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Footwear marks provide vital clues to the identity of the suspect, shoe size and pattern to pinpoint a make/model of shoe. The wear, showing the owners gait and damage, which is unique to a person. (Owen, 2000). Tool impressions show shape, size, and characteristics like edge detail, coarseness, and quality. And sub-class characteristics like damage, wear and manufacturer marks/logo. All this information gives the tool individuality leading to tool responsible and the suspect. (Saferstein, 2000). Tyre impressions are unique to vehicle make/model. The mark will indicate tyre size and will show any abnormalities of wear/damage making a more precise identification. (Owen, 2000). Bite marks also give details on arrangement, spacing, size, dentistry work, which can be matched. 110 words.
Owen, D. 2000. Hidden Evidence. London, Quintet Publishing.
Saferstein, R. 2001. Criminalistics. London, Prentice Hall.
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With requested samples can be proved who wrote it, contain certain text, words and letters. They can be consciously altered by the writer, but there are several steps to minimise this – writing long letters, dictating text, no help with literacy, given same text, pen, paper to use. (Saferstein, 2001). Whereas non-requested samples are difficult to prove authorship, wrong type of script – capitals not cursive writing, and may not contain enough details for an accurate comparison. They are likely to be more natural writings and easier to compare for likeness to the original document without any disguise and possibly large in quantity – if report writing or statement reports. (Ellen 1997). 106 words.
Ellen, D. 1997. The Scientific Examination of Documents 2nd Ed. London, Taylor & Francis.
Saferstein, R. 2001. Criminalistics. London, Prentice Hall.
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The calibre of the bullet can be measured – tells you the diameter of the bore in rifled firearms. Rifling appears on the bullet, general rifling characteristics – number/width of lands and grooves, direction of twist and degree of twist – allows you to match to a single firearm as unique to firearms manufacturer. (Saferstein, 2001). If no rifling then smooth bored sot gun, where a gauge is used. Characteristics are stored in a database so you can use this information to check the make/model of the firearm and see if the weapon has been used in a previous crime. These markings are then used in comparisons with suspect’s fired bullets. 107 words.
Saferstein, R. 2001. Criminalistics. London, Prentice Hall.
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Superglue fuming is popular due to the lack of methods to retrieve prints from non-porous surfaces. This method is easy to use, versatile, accurate, precise/clear, shows prints not visible to naked eye and is easily developed. Handheld wand – which used with mix of cyanoacrylate and fluorescent dye, so can be used at crime scenes. The fluorescent dye enhances visualisation with laser light. (Saferstein, 2001). A portable device – to fume whole interiors of a vehicle at once, which will uncover all prints available. (Caddy, 1999). Works well in vehicles, recovered items with non-porous surfaces like plastic bags, vinyl, rubber, metals (weapons), electrical tape and leather. 105 words.
Caddy, B. 1999. Forensic Science Journal: A cyanoacrylate case for developing fingerprints in cars – 39(3): 163. Harrogate, FSS
Saferstein, R. 2001. Criminalistics. London, Prentice Hall.
