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Criminal Investigations > Mid-Term Exam > Flashcards

Mid-Term Exam Flashcards

1
Q

What is criminalistics

A

Refers specifically to the science of physical evidence

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2
Q

What is forensic pathology

A

The science of dead bodies and autopsies. Through the analysis of these bodies information may be obtained about identity, nature and cause of death e.g weapon or time of death

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3
Q

What is forensic anthropology

A

Branch of physical anthropology which relays to the identification of skeletal remains of humans. Analysis of human remains may provide information about gender, age, race and height of the individual as well as sometimes the cause of death. Facial reconstruction also involved

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4
Q

What is forensic odontology

A

Application of dentistry to legal matters. Scientific analysis of teeth and bite marks for the purpose of identification. May overlap with forensic anthropology eg dental records of deceased

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5
Q

What is forensic entomology

A

Science of insects in answering legal questions. Particular focus is on the estimate time of death based on insect activity on the body of the deceased.

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6
Q

Do identical twins share the same dna

A

Yes

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7
Q

What is the definition of criminal investigation

A

The process of collecting crime related information to reach certain goals

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8
Q

What are the two types of criminal investigations

A

Reactive: crime occurs and police respond
Proactive: usually involves the police initiating investigations or activities prior to the occurrence of a crime

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9
Q

What is inductive and deductive

A

Inductive: one begins w specific facts and draws general conclusion

Deductive: one begins with general principles and forms specific conclusions

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10
Q

What are the three potential problems with evidence

A

One: when evidence is collected- investigators may not know if it is useful or not yet

Two: police may be overwhelmed s massive amounts of information but not know it’s relevance

Three: evidence may not be accurate.

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11
Q

What are the four stages of reactive investigations

A

One: discovery of the crime and police response.

Two: primary of initial investigation. Immediate activities all info collected and reports done

Three: follow up investigation. Case screening and if perp isn’t caught may reopen case. Two factors: seriousness and evidence available

Four: closure

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12
Q

What is a sting

A

Investigator posing as someone who wishes to buy or sell some illicit goods eg drugs or sex. Once seller or buyer identified and transaction determined officers make arrest.

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13
Q

What are buy bust operations

A

Undercover drug stings and arrest occurs after drugs are brought or sold.

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14
Q

What is a decoy

A

Undercover officer attempts to attract crime by presenting an opportunity to an offender to commit a crime. Crime committed then officer make an arrest.

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15
Q

What is an undercover fencing operation

A

Fence is business that buys and sells property that is known to be stolen. When the police open operation, word of buyer gets out. Police make purchases, track the original of the Merch and then make arrests.

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16
Q

What is the difference between surveillance and stake out

A

Surveillance is watching a person

Stakeout is watching a place

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17
Q

What is entrapment

A

The act of government agents in inducing a person to commit a crime that is not contemplated by the person, for the purpose of instituting a criminal prosecution against him or her. Predisposition is important - person wanted to do the crime police didn’t have to force them

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18
Q

What are the three components of the criminal justice system

A

Police, courts and corrections

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19
Q

What are the statistics for solving crimes and reporting

A

50% of serious crimes are not reported
Only 20% of those reported are solved (murder 62% - burgularies 13%)
Murders have the highest clearance rate of all crimes because police are mainly reactive

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20
Q

What is the reco act

A

ability for rental cars to be seized as they are used most commonly in drug trafficking

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21
Q

What are the levels of investigation.

A

Local: approx 16K local police agencies nationwide. 54% have less than ten sworn officers. Functions: service eg non crime related assistance, order maintenance: maintaining the public peace and crime control: enforcing laws and identifying perpetrators

County: service, order maintenance, crime control and is in charge of jails and provide security for court houses.

State: single unified agency and multiple agencies

Federal: authority is derived from the U.S. Constitution and congress. Can only enforce federal laws not state or local law. Service: most fed agents are specialised and focus on a narrow range of fed law.

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22
Q

What is single unified agency and multiple agencies

A

Seen at state level

Single: provides broad spectrum of services e.g. IL state police and patrols, investigations, special ops, crime labs, regular calls, training and all under one agency

Multiple: services are divided among different and distinct state agencies. Highway patrols and traffic but then also have an agency that does investigations, lab and training eg Tennessee and Missouri agencies

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23
Q

What does the FBI do

A

FBI: major investigative agency of the DOJ. Lead counterintelligence agency. Conducts background checks for fed agencies, investigates violations of the civil rights act of 1964 and the equal credit opportunity act. Tracks organised crime, enforces special fed laws, white collar crime, maintains and operates the national crime information centre, database for stolen cars, guns and missing persons, most wanted etc. operates the FBI national academy for police chiefs and high ranking officials provides other specialised teams

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24
Q

What are the types of federal agents

A 
FBI
U.S. Immigration and customs 
U.S. Customs and border protection 
Drug enforcement agency 
U.S. Marshall service 
U.S. Secret service 
Bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms 
International police (Interpol)
25
Q

What are the four different standards of proof

A

Probable cause: exists when more likely than not that a particular circumstance exists - certainty greater than 50%, standard of proof for arrest and search

Beyond a reasonable doubt: for finding defendant guilty and conviction used in court

Reasonable suspicion: in order for police to legally stop and frisk someone

Preponderance of evidence: the degree of certainty needed to prove and win a civil case.

26
Q

What is the difference between judicial and extrajudicial evidence and exculpatory evidence and inculpatory evidence

A

Judicial: admissible evidence
Extra: inadmissible so can be used in investigations but not in court
Exculpatory: evidence that tends to exclude or eliminate someone from consideration as a suspect
Inculpatory: incriminate someone as a suspect

27
Q

What are thief takers and thief makers

A

Thief takers: private citizen who was hired by a victim to recover stolen property or to apprehend a thief.

Thief maker: individual who tricked another person into committing a crime and then would turn that person in for parliamentary reward

28
Q

What are the three eras of policing

A

The reform era
The political era
The community problem solving era

29
Q

What is Interpol

A

Not a law enforcement agency, no power to make arrests, not a U.S. Agency, based out of Lyons France, its primary functions are the collection and analysis of criminal intelligence on a worldwide basis. It’s primary concerns are terrorism, organised crime, financial crimes, international drug trafficking. It’s basically a international data sharing warehouse.

30
Q

What were the early forms of investigation evidence

A

Photographs: known as rogues gallery used as early mugshots now known as photo line ups.

Bertillonage system: utilised measurements for ID. Eye colour, hair colour, height, nose shape, length of left foot, length of right ear. Measurements together like a social security number.

Third degree: beating the suspect into confession or psychological coercion. Outlawed in 1936.

31
Q

What was the timeline focus of the FBI

A

1920-30s: gangsters and kidnappings
1940s: internal enemies conspiring against the U.S. During World War Two. Created smith act which outlawed conspiracy against US.
1950-70s: organised crime, 26 crime families down to four.
1924: started to use fingerprints to identify criminals +Hoover created national clearing house
1935: started the national police academy for police officers not FBI as they have their own academy
1960s: civil right movements

32
Q

What is direct v indirect evidence

A

Direct evidence: refers to crime related information that immediately demonstrates the existence of a fact in question. No inference needed to draw the associated conclusion.

Indirect evidence or circumstantial evidence: crime related information in which inferences and probabilities are needed to draw an associated conclusion. Eg ones physical ability to commit a crime

33
Q

What is testimonial evidence

A

Evidence provided by a witness speaking under oath when those witnesses would be committing perjury if they did not state what they believe is true.

Lay witnesses: witnesses who’s testimony is limited to the facts personally observed.

Expert witnesses: persons who possess special knowledge about a particular issue. Admissibility based off frye v Daubert standard. Frye standard is evidence is admissible if it gained acceptance in field. Daubert is trial judge screens evidence and testimony to ensure relevance and reliability

34
Q

What is real evidence

A

Physical evidence or scientific evidence or forensic evidence. Tangible objects that can be held or seen and produced as a direct result of the commission of a crime. Must be w testimony to show it is within the rules.

35
Q

What is demonstrative evidence

A

Refers to tangible objects produced indirectly from the crime that relate to the crime or the perp. E.g videos or photos of crime scene

36
Q

What is documentary evidence

A

Any evidence in the form of a document or to evidence that documents some issue related to the crime e.g printed emails or bank statements

37
Q

What are the six functions of evidence

A

Corpus delicti evidence: evidence that establishes that a crime actually occurred eg dead body w a knife in its back

Corroborative evidence: evidence that is supplementary to the evi already available and strengths existing evi eg fingerprints

Cumulative evidence: evi that duplicated but does not necessarily strengthen evidence eg five witnesses instead of one

Associative evi: evi that can be used to make links between crimes, crime scenes, victims etc or dissociative most evidence is associative

Identification evidence: evi that leads to the id of the perp eg fingerprints

Behavioural evidence: evidence provided a basis on which to identify the type of person who may be responsible for a particular crime and how it was committed.

38
Q

What is overt and covert and deceptive and non deceptive

A

Overt and non deceptive: basic reactive investigations eg a shooting

Overt and deceptive: psychological interrogations, manipulation and modelling thus making individuals more comfortable w you to get them to confess

Covert and non deceptive: not trying to create a story that is not true by non deceptive means eg surveillance

Covert and deceptive: underground investigation saying you’re something that you’re not

39
Q

What is displacement

A

Crime may be displaced or moved across time or locations. The idea that you may crackdown in one area + push crime to another area

40
Q

What is problems with undercover investigations

A

Displacement
Small fish: only caught small time offenders try to move up the chain
Officer safety
Organisational problems: agencies interfere with each other
Drawn in: officer may experience role conflict

41
Q

What are the three proactive strategies

A

Crackdown: a strategy in which the police abruptly enforce laws at a higher rate than normal. Focus on geographical area and type of crime. Anti drink driving for example

Hot spot patrol: also know as directed patrol or saturated patrol. Involve an increase in police presence in a particular area do not necessarily involve media sanctions or under cover officers

Selective apprehension: allocation of police resources to identify, monitor and arrest repeat or high rate offenders. Theory is that a relatively small proportion of people are responsible for a relatively large percentage of crime. 5% of population responsible for 95% of crime.

42
Q

What is geographic profiling?

A

Use of location of a connected series of crime to determine the most probable area of offender residence. Useful in serial crimes and fundamental premise is that human beings do not move randomly through their environment.

43
Q

What can physical evidence do

A

Also know as real or forensic evidence
Can help establish elements of a crime
Can be used to make associations between crime scenes, offenders, victims and tools
Can function as corrobative evi and thereby support other evidence.
Has more of an impact on convicting a suspect than solving a crime
Higher conviction rate of cases that utilise pe

44
Q

When does an arrest occur and what is an arrest warrant

A

Occurs when police take a person into custody for the purpose of criminal prosecution and interrogation. Police deprive person of freedom to leave

Arrest warrant is a writ by magistrate or justice requiring a officer to bring a person in have to find them and bring them in

45
Q

What is a search, a seizure and a search warrant

A

A government infringement into a persons reasonable expectation of privacy for finding evidence

An act of police in taking cour over a person or things because of a breach of law

Specifies the person, place or vehicle to be searched. Specifies the type of items to be seized by the law enforcement. There is 3 parts

46
Q

What are the three parts of a search warrant

A

The warrant itself

An affidavit (testimony on why there is enough probable cause and establishes pc for a warrant)

The warrant return ( lists the items seized).

47
Q

What are the five rules of evidence admissibility

A

Must be relevant to the case

Must be competent this valid or truthful

Evidence must be necessary to establish a point

Must be material

Chain of custody records must be maintained

48
Q

What are the eight exceptions to a search warrant

A

Exigent circumstances: without immediate police action the suspect may escape, destory evidence, or pose a threat to the police or public

Vehicles: automobile exception

Unprotected places: garbage on the curb or arson investigation

Hot pursuit: following someone from car into house

Consent: must be voluntary

Stop and frisk

Search incident to arrest

49
Q

What are the four exceptions to the exclusionary rule

A

The good faith exception: police make an unintentional error and error is beyond their control

Inevitable discovery exception: police were reasonably expected to discover the evidence

Purge tainted exception: illegal actions of the police maybe overcome by the voluntary actions of the suspect

Independent source exception: evidence obtained from an independent source

50
Q

What are the fifth and sixth amendments

A

The fifth amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects citizens against self incrimination.

The sixth amendment has several eighths. Most importantly right to legal counsel.

51
Q

What rights are covered in the Miranda rights

A

Right to remain silent
Anything you say can be used in a court of law against you
You have the right to an attorney and if you cannot afford one one will be provided for you

52
Q

When must a suspect be informed of their Miranda warning

A

When the person is in custody and prior to an investigation

53
Q

When can police not use Miranda warning

A

To prevent possible immediate danger to the public the police can question in a limited manner before warning

Undercover police don’t need too

During roadside questioning of motorists

54
Q

What is the analysis of fingerprints known as

A

Friction ridge analysis

55
Q

What are the three types of fingerprints that can be recovered from a crime scene

A

Visible transfer prints
Visible impression prints: pressed into something
Latent: most common made from oil and perspiration naturally present transfer to another surface but are invisible

56
Q

Three types of fingerprints

A

Whorls
Loops
Arch

Most common is loops

57
Q

What AFIS

A

Automated fingerprint identification system
Fingerprints are stored in data system
Print collected from scene scanned through AFIS
Cons: very expensive, very time consuming, have to collect elimination prints, could compare glove prints but can’t get fingerprints when someone wears gloves. Can only be used if the fingerprints of the perp are already in the machine.

FBI created IAFIS (integrated automated fingerprint identification system). 70 mil subjects and 73K known terrorists federal state and local agencies can access and add to database

Fingerprints mainly come from arrest and collected on ten print fingerprint cards. Must have probable cause or consent to collect fingerprints

Fingerprints are most likely to be available for recovery from burglary, stolen autos and certain robberies.

58
Q

What is the most common type of physical evidence at serious crimes

A

Blood

Criminal Investigations (1 decks)

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