Chapter 2

Physical Evidence

Physical evidence encompasses

any and all objects that can
establish that a crime has or has
not been committed or can
provide a link between a crime
and its victim or a crime and its
perpetrator.
 I. How Physical Evidence is Produced
1. Changes Induced at a Scene:
– Physical evidence typically results from a change induced
at the crime scene
– For example: the depositing of
something not previously part of a
crime scene or an alteration of
something that was there
 I. How Physical Evidence is Produced
2. Imprints or Indentations:
• An imprint is a two-dimensional mark (pattern) left by an object
through contact with another object (e.g. a shoeprint on a
concrete floor)
 I. How Physical Evidence is Produced
• An indentation: is a
three-dimensional
mark (pattern) left
in a soft surface
through contact
with another
object (e.g. a
shoeprint in mud)
 I. How Physical Evidence is Produced

3. Striations:
• Striations are marks (scratches) left on a surface by an object
which is in contact and in motion along that surface
• Important in reconstruction of events
• The combination of
macroscopic and
microscopic striations
can be used to individualize
physical evidence
 I. How Physical Evidence is Produced
4. Damage:
• Physical evidence can be produced as a result of
damage, tearing forces, breakage, cuts, and other
processes
• Many of these processes
produce unique two and
three dimensional
surfaces leading to
individualization of the
evidence
 I. How Physical Evidence is Produced

5. Exchange of Material Upon Contact:

• Physical evidence can be generated by the transfer of
material during contact
• The Locard Exchange Principle states that when two
surfaces come into contact, there is a mutual exchange
of material
• The Locard Exchange Principle is an important guiding
principle in the forensic sciences
 I. How Physical Evidence is Produced

6. Deposited Evidence:
• Physical evidence can be generated in non-contact
situations
• Physical evidence such as pollen, hair, or fibers may
settle onto a surface
• Physical evidence such as bloodspatter may be
deposited onto a surface as a result of physical force
projecting blood droplets through the air
 II. Classification of Physical Evidence
• One way to classify evidence is to determine
whether it will be used for identification,
individualization, or reconstruction
• For example:
– Unknown powders will need to
be identified
– Fingerprints can be used for
individualization
– Glass fracture patterns can be
used for scene reconstruction
 III. Utilization of Physical Evidence
1. Providing Investigative Leads:
– a) Modus Operandi
• Physical evidence examination can provide an insight
into the perpetrators modus operandi (MO)
• MO refers to the perpetrators method of operation
• Information about the MO may help to connect
seemingly unrelated cases
 III. Utilization of Physical Evidence
1. Providing Investigative Leads:
– b) Computer Databases
• Three major computer databases help to provide
investigative leads
1. IAFIS: Integrated Automated Finger-
print Identification System
2. CODIS: Combined DNA
Indexing System
3. NIBIN: National Integrated
Ballistics Information
Network
 III. Utilization of Physical Evidence
2. Establishing Linkages:
• Linkages are a connection or relationship between
any or all of the following: objects, persons, scenes,
instruments
• Example: paint chips on a victim’s clothing in a Hit &
Run case
• Linkages based on two-way transfers provide a much
stronger evidence of association
 III. Utilization of Physical Evidence
3. Establishing Exclusions:
• Exclusions are just as important as inclusions
• An exclusion means that the questioned item could
not have come from a known item of evidence
• For example, if a paint chip from a Hit & Run scene
does not match a suspect’s vehicle, the suspect’s
vehicle is excluded as a source of that evidence
 III. Utilization of Physical Evidence
4. Supporting or Disproving Statements:
• One of the most useful applications of physical
evidence is to corroborate statements made by
individuals
• Physical evidence may play a critical role in breaking or
corroborating an alibi or making a witness seem more
believable
• In the corroborative role, physical evidence enhances
the credibility of an individual
 III. Utilization of Physical Evidence
5. Identification of Persons:
• In almost every type of case, there is a need to
unambiguously identify individuals (victim, suspect,
or others)
• Many types of physical
evidence can be helpful
in this role: fingerprints,
biological material (via
DNA profiles), and
dental information
 III. Utilization of Physical Evidence
6. Identification of Substances or Materials:
• Showing that an item of evidence falls into a particular class of
materials
• These identifications are not crucial to solving a crime, but are
critical to proving that a crime has been committed
• For example: that an
unknown powder seized
by police contains a
controlled substance
 III. Utilization of Physical Evidence
7. Establishing a Basis for a Crime:
• Physical evidence can help to establish corpus delicti,
that is, the elements defining an offense are present
• For example: the presence of a controlled substance
in a seized item or the presence of an ignitable fluid
in fire debris
 IV. The Physical Evidence Process
1. Recognition:
• The first step is to recognize that an object may be
useful as physical evidence
• What is or is not evidence depends on many factors
(scene, location, type of case etc.)
• Education, training, and experience are all important
in recognizing evidence
 IV. The Physical Evidence Process
2. Documentation:
• Proper and complete documentation is needed to establish
the legal and scientific requirements for the chain of custody
• Documentation establishes where an item of evidence has
been and who handled the evidence after it was collected
• Every item offered as evidence in the Court of Law must be
shown to be exactly the same as the object collected from
individuals or scenes
 IV. The Physical Evidence Process
3. Collection, Packaging, & Preservation:
• Evidence must be collected, properly packaged and preserved for
subsequent analysis
• An essential consideration are control and comparison specimens
• Control specimen: separate specimen to ensure
that the test is performing properly
• Comparison specimen is used for
comparison to evidentiary items
 IV. The Physical Evidence Process
4. Laboratory Analysis:
• Laboratory analysis have one or more of the
following objectives: identification, individualization,
or reconstruction
• Individualization may involve a comparison between
a questioned specimen (from the crime scene or an
unknown source) and a known specimen (from
known sources)
 IV. The Physical Evidence Process
5. Reporting and Testimony:
• Forensic Scientists convey their results in the form of a
laboratory report
• The laboratory reports must be clear, informative, and
understandable
• Court testimony represents the final step in the physical
evidence process
• Forensic scientists are qualified as expert witnesses based on
education, training, or experience in their specialty area
 V. Origin of Legal Systems
• People have tended to live in close proximity
and form societies for economic and security
reasons
• Societies require a mechanism to deal with
and to settle disputes
• Development of rules of conduct (the rule of
law) is one of the most important functions of
society
 VI. The Criminal Justice System
and Process
• A suspect may be arrested for a crime if the police
have probable cause
• Probable cause implies that there is sufficient
evidence to convince a reasonable person that a
particular person may be guilty
• Once a suspect is identified, it is possible to seek a
court order to obtain evidence from that individual
for laboratory analysis
 VII. Scientific & Technical Evidence
• The court, through judges, controls what evidence will be
admitted
• The basic standard for the admissibility of evidence is
relevance (the evidence has to be pertinent to the case
and have the
potential of helping
the trier of fact
reach a verdict)
 VII. Scientific & Technical Evidence
• The Frye v. United States Supreme court ruling on the
admissibility of new technical evidence.
• To meet the Frye standard, the evidence in question must
be “generally accepted” by the scientific community.
 VII. Scientific & Technical Evidence
• Admissibility issues were clarified for federal courts with
the issuance of the Federal Rules of Evidence
• The Federal Rules of Evidence emphasize the dual test of
relevance and reliability
• In the case of William Daubert v. Merrell Dow
Pharmaceuticals, 1993, the US Supreme Court issued
guidelines for deciding the admissibility of scientific
evidence, with the judges role being that of a “gatekeeper”
 VII. Scientific & Technical Evidence
• The Daubert criteria for admissibility:
– The scientific tests must be truly scientific
– The tests must have been subjected to significant hypothesis
testing of the underlying principle
– The tests must be generally accepted
– Is there information on the error rate?
– Has there been peer reviewed publications?
• The Daubert criteria apply equally to technical
examinations as well as scientific evidence
 VII. Scientific & Technical Evidence
• Judges determine the admissibility of evidence in special
hearings
• The hearing will determine if the testing of evidence
conforms to the Frye or Daubert standards, depending on the
jurisdiction
• Forensic scientists testify in courts as expert witnesses
• The legal system considers someone an expert if he or she
has knowledge or special training beyond the scope of the
average juror
• Experts must be qualified each time they testify