Chain of Custody & Preservation of Evidence
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 the criminalist responsibility to guarantee the integrity of the unbroken chain of custody from the very moment an item of evidence is found until it reaches its final destination at the evidence locker or the laboratory and then again when them item goes from one of those places to the courtroom. “No evidence can be introduced without a human’s testimony to make it part of trial. However, anyone who has no official business with an item of evidence should never handle it, or else the chain is broken. Once the chain has been broken, the integrity of the evidence will be in jeopardy (pp. 13).” On the card you will have written the case number, date and location of crime, time of discovery, location where you found the blood drop and that you found it. 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
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 the criminalist responsibility to guarantee the integrity of the unbroken chain of custody from the very moment an item of evidence is found until it reaches its final destination at the evidence locker or the laboratory and then again when them item goes from one of those places to the courtroom. “No evidence can be introduced without a human’s testimony to make it part of trial. However, anyone who has no official business with an item of evidence should never handle it, or else the chain is broken. Once the chain has been broken, the integrity of the evidence will be in jeopardy (pp. 13).” On the card you will have written the case number, date and location of crime, time of discovery, location where you found the blood drop and that you found it. 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