Behavioral Evidence Analysis

Question 1

Who uses BEA?

Answer 1

Turvey

Question 2

BEA Steps (10)

Answer 2

1. Exam scene and evidence with no assumptions
2. Equivocal forensics analysis
3. Classify evidence
4. Reconstruction
5. Wound pattern analysis
6. Victimology
7. ID crime scene characteristics
8. Infer offender motivation
9. Infer offender characteristics
10. Threshold Assessment

Question 3

Crime Reconstruction

Answer 3

The determination of the actions and sequence of events surrounding the commission of a crime before analyzing offender behavior

Question 4

Crime Reconstruction Steps (6)

Answer 4

1. Observe evidence
2. What can be learned from each observation?
3. What does the observation mean in light of the crime?
4. List alternative explanations
5. Eliminate alternatives
6. Sequence the events until the theory is complete

Question 5

Known evidence either:

Answer 5

Supports the reconstruction theory
Doesn’t support the reconstruction theory
Refutes the reconstruction theory
Is inconclusive

Question 6

Evidence Classification

Answer 6

Every piece of evidence helps determine what happened, when, where, in what sequence, and by whom (sequential, directional, locational, etc.)

Question 7

Sequential Evidence

Answer 7

Helps establish when an event occurred, or the order in which two or more events occurred (footprints over a tire track, blood found under paper)

Question 8

Directional Evidence

Answer 8

Anything that shows where something was going or where it came from (footprints, projectile trajectory analysis, bloodstain analysis)

Question 9

Locational/Positional Evidence

Answer 9

Shows where something happened, or where something was, and its orientation with respect to other objects at the scene (fingerprints, tool marks, bloodstains, livor mortis)

Question 10

Action Evidence

Answer 10

Shows what happened during the commission of a crime (blood stains, bullet holes, broken windows)

Question 11

Contact Evidence

Answer 11

Demonstrates whether and how two people, objects, or locations were at one point associated with one another (trace evidence, blood, two toothbrushes)

Question 12

Ownership Evidence

Answer 12

Evidence that may be connected to, or associated with, a particular person or source (ID, DNA, credit card)

Question 13

Associative Evidence

Answer 13

Indicates potential contact between people or environments (can’t tell when) - usually trace

Question 14

Limiting Evidence

Answer 14

Defines the nature and boundaries of the crime (points of entry and exit, fences, drag marks, walls and doors)

Question 15

Inferred Evidence

Answer 15

Anything the reconstructionist thinks may have been at the scene of the crime but wasn’t actually found (murder weapon, missing jewelry or money)

Question 16

Temporal Evidence

Answer 16

Specifically shows the passage of time at the crime scene relative to the commission of the crime (broken watch, bowl of ice cream, body temp, rigor mortis)

Question 17

Psychologcial/Motivational Evidence

Answer 17

Any act by the perpetrator to satisfy a personal need or motivation (staging, torture, records of the attack, genital mutilation)

Question 18

Evidence Dynamics

Answer 18

Any influence that adds, changes, relocates, obscures, contaminates, or obliterates physical evidence; pre-discovery and post-discovery