Topic 1A chain of custody Flashcards
Explain the term ‘forensic’,
forensic:
refers to law enforcement, the judicial system, and the courts.
•Criminal vs civil cases
criminal law:
deals with crimes by a person or persons against the state,
which can be any level of government, including cities,
countries (disputes between individuals and the state).
civil cases:
arise from disputes that involve private rights or disputes as
that between people or two corporations (disputes among individuals).
•Types of evidences: Inclusive, exclusive, direct & circumstantial
inclusive: samples could be from the same source, ‘consistent with’
exclusive: samples that could not be from same source, ‘inconsistent with’ eliminates possibilities
direct: is what is known to a person by personal knowledge IT CAN ONLY BE EYEWITNESS!!
circumstantial: produced my forensic scientists, requires further inference tp move logically from info provided to answer a question
E.g CCTV footage
•Flow of a forensic analysis what after the 3 main groups of techniques forensic scientists use in forensic analysis? VOA
Aforensicanalysisisusuallyanarrowing‐downprocess.
Aforensicchemistreliesonthreegroupsoftechniques
-Visualexaminationandinspection(bothmacroscopicandmicroscopic)
-Organicanalysis&Inorganicanalysis;
-AnalyticalInstrumentationTechniques
The Forensic Mind-Set (8 characteristics, ARTCTLFP)
Assumenothing. Beresourceful. Thinkoutsidethediscipline. Becreative. Buildabigforensictoolboxthatneverstopsgrowing. Knowtheirlimitationsandconfirmtheresults. Beflexible. Bepersistent.
explain ‘forensic chemistry’,
the application of analytical chemistry in a legal setting.
explain ‘precedent’
principle or rule established in a previous legal case that is either binding on or persuasive without going to courts for a court or other tribunal when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts.
explain and ‘chain of custody’ in forensic science. What does the chain of custody ensure? describe the process
Chainofcustodyisadocument(physical/e‐record)thattracksevidencefromitscreationorcollectiontoitsfinaldisposal(traceability).
Itensuresthatthesamplehistoryhasnogapsandthatthesamplewasinthedirectcontrolofonepersonatalltimes,thoughnotalwaysthesameperson.
Maintenanceofthe“CHAIN”isafundamentalresponsibilityofanyforensicchemist. Whenasampleisthelaboratory,iteitherisstoredinasecure,lockedstorageareaorisbeinganalysed.
Painstakingstepsaretakentoensuretheintegrityofallevidence.Amongthesestepsareestablishingsecuritymeasures,guaranteeingcontrolledaccesstostorageareas,andimplementingspecificprotocolsforopening,marking,sealingandtransportingevidence
explain the role of forensic chemist. What can they assist in and through what techniques? What kind of identification?
Forensic chemist can assist in the identification of unknown materials found at a crime scene through the application of analytical chemistry; provide the qualitative & quantitative identification of an unknown sample in various forensic science disciplines through application of analytical techniques i.e.wet chemistry e.g.titration & analytical instrumentations(spectroscopy & chromatography).