Crime Scene Analysis

Based on Bartol, Holmes, Meadows, &

Saferstein
Forensic Science
The application of science to criminal and civil
laws

That are enforced by law enforcement in the

criminal justice systems
 Truth & Deception Detection
Ancient China Methods

Ancient India

Lie detector machines

Psycholinguistics
Hans Gross
1847 to 1915

Criminal Investigation (1893)

Prosecutor and Judge from Austria

Hans Gross
Edmond Locard
1877 to 1966

Founder & Director of the Institute of

Criminalistics at the University of Lyons
Father of Criminalistics
Locard’s Exchange Principle
Wherever two objects come into contact with
one another, there is exchange of materials
between them
FBI Laboratory
1932

Offered its services to all law enforcement

agencies in the U.S.

Model for forensic laboratories

FBI Crime Lab
Dedication at FBI Crime Lab
Recent Forensic Science Scandal
April 2015

FBI’s Laboratory’s Microscopic Hair Comparison

Unit

National Association of Criminal Defense

Lawyers (NACDL) & The Innocence Project

n=2,500 cases where FBI examiners declared

hair matches
Barry Scheck & the Killer Nanny
FBI Scandal (continued)
n= 268 trials reviewed so far

n= 32 defendants sentenced to death

n=14 have been executed or died in prison

There is no accepted research on how often hair

from different people may appear the same
Oldest Forensic Laboratory in US
Los Angeles Police Department

1923

August Vollmer
August Vollmer
Mother Jones Report 2015
Forget CSI: Real Crime Labs are a Total Mess

San Francisco Police Department Crime Lab now

auditing n=1,400 criminal cases

Not the first time SFPD Crime Lab has been

under fire

2010 SF District Attorney’s office dismissed

n=1,700 cases
CSI Effect
People, including jurors, think television is real

DNA processing is complex

If no evidence = no conviction
CSI Effect
But what if…..
Boston – Academic Fraud

St. Paul, Minnesota – cases botched

329 Post conviction DNA exonerations since

1989

47% improper forensic science played a role

Integrity of entire trial process is in question

No national standards

Only 10 states require crime labs to be

accredited

American Society of Crime Laboratory

Directors/Laboratory Accreditation
Most crime labs are run by
Law enforcement agencies

District Attorney’s office

Need for CJ reform?
National Academy of Sciences
Federal body

Set accreditation

Fund and oversee process

Improve training

Remove from law enforcement & DA’s control

Justice Department
Established a commission

But one big problem

California Association of Criminalists
Network of state-operated crime labs

1972

Model system of integrated forensic

laboratories
Frye v. United States (1923)
“Just when a scientific principle or discovery
crosses the line between the experimental and
demonstrable stages is difficult to define.
Somewhere in this twilight zone the evidential
force of the principle must be recognized, and
while the courts will go a long way in admitting
expert testimony deduced from a well
recognized scientific principle or discovery, the
thing from which the deduction is made must
be sufficiently established to have gained
general acceptance in the particular field in
which it belongs.”
Daubert v. Merrell Dow
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (1993)
• Frye Standard

• Not an absolute prerequisite to the admissibility

of scientific evidence under the Federal Rules of
Evidence

• Trial judge becomes the “gatekeeper in judging

admissibility & reliability of scientific evidence
Crime Scenes
“Most crime scenes tell a story. And like most
stories, crime scenes have characters, a plot, a
beginning, a middle, and hopefully, a
conclusion. The final disposition of a crime
scene depends on the investigators assigned to
the case. The investigators’ ability to analyze
the crime scene and to determine the who,
what, how, and why govern how the crime
scene story unfolds.” Douglas, J. & Munn, C.
(1992). Violent Crime Scene Analysis in FBI Law
Enforcement Bulletin
Types of Evidence
Direct: First-hand knowledge of the crime

Real: Physical evidence

Demonstrative: Maps, tape recordings,

photographs, and sketches

Opinion: Testimonial evidence by a qualified

expert witness
Evidence (continued)
Circumstantial: Indirect evidence is any
evidence other than direct evidence.

Implies a certain person committed the crime

Effectiveness of identifying suspect
Depends on how well crime scene is protected

Evidence must be properly secured and

analyzed
Collection of physical evidence
Research shows it is collected in less than 10%
of the cases

Usually serious cases

Only small amount of evidence actually

undergoes forensic analysis
Eyewitness Testimony
Memory is fragile

Needs to be protected just like any evidence

Kevin Green case

Ron Cotton Case 1984