Chapter+1+notes

1/9/08

A crime scene can be anywhere, it can even be a body Urged to analyze the room and the situation before beginning an investigation Crime scene analysis- "combination of criminalistics and criminology" Criminalistics- using science to investigate the physical evidence such as blood, DNA samples and other visible marks Criminology- evaluating crime scenes for reasons and use the evidence to find out what happend, motives, traits, behavior. Help to explain the evidence Crime scenes are very fragile and must not be tampered with before or during an investigation. People not with the CSI must be prohibited from the site Anyone who was at the scene automatically is assumed to have taken something and/or left something the If someone is injured or in danger the scene can be tampered with in order to insure safety Major crimes call for detectives who must determine the boundaries of the crime scene, the boundaries vary from the severity and type of crime committed They must decide how thurolly the scene needs to be investigated and searched They must decide if a search warrant is needed and/or necessary and if it is, they must receive one order to collect evidence that will not be thrown out in court Two kinds of evidence- testimonial and physical Testimonial- people involved and witnesses of the crime Physical- physical evidence, 5 categories: Temporary, conditional, associative, pattern, trace/transfer Evidence help to prove that a crime has been committed indicate key aspects of the crime find victims and suspects testimony prove innocence of a deserving suspect find leads pressure suspects to confess Crime scene kits help to get and find evidence and extract it from the scene Evidence must be preserved in many different ways in order to continue long investigations and/or come back to an incomplete investigation