NCJ Number
138603
Date Published
1990
Length
0 pages
Annotation
This video examines investigative techniques used with various crimes, including homicide, arson, and rape.
Abstract
The video first examines issues in a West Virginia hearing that involved the presentation of PCR-DNA evidence as new evidence in an effort to gain an acquittal or a new trial for a man convicted of two rapes. The DNA evidence showed that the defendant's blood characteristics did not match the semen characteristics obtained from the clothing of the victims. The judge ruled that this was valid evidence that warranted a new trial. Another segment of the video profiles a technique used by a Connecticut forensic pathologist in homicide investigations. The techniques involves an examination of patterns of blood spatterings in various locations to determine the actions of the victim and the offender. This technique is described for an auto accident staged to mask a murder and for a murder that involved the destruction of the body. A third segment portrays the identification of homicide victims from their skulls, based upon the reconstruction of the face with clay applied over a plaster cast of the skull. A profile of fingerprint processing in Los Angeles emphasizes the importance of determining where latent fingerprints are likely to be found at the crime scene and the fingerprint- matching process through a computerized system. If no match is found from existing fingerprint records, the crime-scene prints continue to be rerun as arrestee fingerprints accumulate. Another segment profiles arson investigations: one that involved arson of a social club that killed over 100 people and another that involved arson of a car.