NCJ Number
143779
Date Published
1991
Length
238 pages
Annotation
Designed for law enforcement officers, this book introduces physical evidence and forensic science and the role they play in criminal investigations. It aims to prepare officers to recognize, document, collect, package, and submit physical evidence to the criminal laboratory for analysis.
Abstract
Type of physical evidence at crime scenes include transient, pattern, conditional, transfer, and associative evidence. The introductory chapter on forensic science describes areas of specialization including criminalistics. Aspects of the crime scene search discussed here include AIDS and other biohazards, sequence of operations, and scene preservation, observation, and documentation. Physical evidence collection and preservation procedures are described specifically for fingerprints, impressions and imprints, hair, fibers, debris and soil, glass, paint, toolmarks, firearms, obliterated serial numbers, blood and body fluids, accelerants, questioned documents, and voice identification. Special procedures for DNA analysis and clandestine laboratory evidence are outlined. The final chapters discuss evidence submission guidelines and laboratory examinations of the types of physical evidence described above. 20 tables and 68 figures