CHAPTER TWO: PRINCIPLES OF INVESTIGATION

Khanyisile Majola – LECTURER

CRIMINOLOGY AND FORENSIC SCIENCE CFSD 201
 Introduction

• The investigation of a crime, incident or transgression is a science. Therefore, an

investigator should apply scientific methods, up to date techniques and logical reasoning
during investigation process.
• The investigator must be familiar with the principles of investigation to ensure that a
scientific approach is adopted during an investigation.
• The principles of investigation include identification, individualization, the Locard
exchange principle, examination and the gathering of factual information that answers
questions or solves problems.
• The purpose of identification in forensic investigation is to identify physical evidence. The
Locard exchange principle is known as the foundation on which identification is based,
while individualization can be seen as a more specific and later facet of identification.
 The Locard Exchange Principle

• The Locard exchange principle is the most significant and influential concept in the history of forensic
investigation. The hypothesis of the principle is that some form of evidence is usually left behind when
two objects or people come into contact with each other.
• The principle is fundamentally applied to a scene of incident where the perpetrator comes into contact
with the scene.
• It is impossible for an individual to act without leaving traces of their presence.
• Modern day technology has presented scenarios in which perpetrators can be identified without two
objects or persons physically coming into contact with one another in order to transfer ‘tracks’.
• Cellphone signals can help identify the whereabouts of a perpetrator. A cellphone receives and sends
invisible radio signals. Investigators must learn how to how to identify invisible clues of this nature.
 1
Identification

• It entails the act of identifying a person or object. Have to ensure that an innocent person
is not held liable for an incident they have not committed and equally to ensure that the
perpetrator is identified.
• In the context of forensic investigation, ‘identification’ is explained as a classification
systems when objects with similar characteristics are classified into one category (class)
and a name is given to each category. Identification concerns the identification of
something or somebody as belonging to a specific category.
• Class characteristics are described as the features that place an item in a specific category.
 Classification of identification

• Situation identification
• Witness identification
• Victim identification
• Imprint identification
• Origin identification
• Action identification
• Perpetrator identification
• Cumulative identification
 Direct identification (Read
on your own pages 55 to
63)
Refers to techniques to
identify perpetrators, such
as:
 Personal descriptions
Types of  Sketches

identification  Identification parades

 Incidental identification
 Photo identification
 Voice identification
 Identification by means
of CCTV
 Modus operandi
 2
Individualization

The aim of individualisation is to individualise the incident as the act of a particular person
or persons.
Individualisation starts with identification, progresses to classification and leads, if possible,
to assigning a unique source to a given piece of physical evidence.
It refers to the demonstration that a particular sample is unique even among members of
the same class.
The mere identification of an object does not have much evidential merit unless it is
positively linked to a specific individual.
 The term individualisation should never be mistaken for
identification.

Differences In any forensic investigation, evidence must first be identified

before the investigation can continue. The investigator should
between identify evidence by asking questions such as: Is this a
disputed document? Is this a blood stain?
identification and
Identification without individualisation has no evidential
individualization value; it merely gives direction to the investigation of an
incident, victim or perpetrator.
Identification does not allow for comparison to be drawn. On
the other hand, individualisation involves comparison.