Criminal investigation

Each year there are several reported cases of a missing child and local law enforcement depend on a Criminal Investigations officer to investigate and interrogate a suspect that is in custody. On My San Antonio website states, “The number of unsolved cases of missing children in Texas now totals 164, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety's online database of missing persons” (Joshua Fechter and Kyle Brennan, 2015). One of the first steps an investigator must include is and…

The Exclusionary Rule The gathering of evidence is an important part of the Criminal Investigation, and ultimately the Criminal Trial. Certain procedure such as the issuing of a warrant and probable cause must be followed in the gathering of evidence, in order to prevent the possibility of any evidence being dismissed at trial. The exclusionary rule is a court-created rule which was adopted in 1914 (Weeks v. United States), and then first applied in state trials in the case Mapp v. Ohio. By…

Communication is not limited to what is conveyed verbally. In fact, majority of communication involves nonverbal behaviors. Evaluation of body language is essential to the criminal investigation process. Deception is often communicated nonverbally, unknown to the deceiver. It important for investigators to analyze witness and suspect nonverbal behaviors to learn the truth. However, there is no particular gestures or behavior directly related to lying. An investigator must have the ability to…

just outcomes in court cases. It is a technique that leads to a criminal’s conviction or acquittal. The many skills and areas of DNA help the reliability of an investigation as each expert area are assigned professionally. Whilst DNA testing can be incorrectly interpreted and used ineffectively leading to false imprisonment, it enhances criminal justice for the whole community. DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) evidence is stated as the most dependable source for forensic scientists to rely on,…

era increasingly permeated society in the 18th century, criminal investigation became a more evidence-based, rational procedure − the use of torture to force confessions was curtailed, and belief in witchcraft and other powers of the occult largely ceased to influence the court's decisions. Two examples of English forensic science in individual legal proceedings demonstrate the increasing use of logic and procedure in criminal investigations at the time. In 1784, in Lancaster, John Toms was…

Photography plays an important role in the criminal investigation and how influence to the artist. Since the early centuries has been used for evidence collection, recording crime scenes, identify suspects in his capture and to report events to the public. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art is presenting an exhibition “Crime Stories: Photography and Foul Play”, the exhibition includes about 70 works in collection from 19th and 20th shots. Photography by modern documentation which includes William…

The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution provides “protection against unreasonable searches or seizure by government agents and law enforcement officers who then attempt to use that evidence in a criminal prosecution”(Buckles, 2006, p. 132), therefore law enforcement and investigators must meet certain requirements in order to avoid that the evidence would fall under the exclusionary rule. There are two Four Amendment Search Warrant Requirements they are probable cause and a sworn affidavit…

DNA analysis, also known as DNA profiling, testing, typing, is a process that takes genetic material and evaluates it so that it can identify individuals in a criminal investigation or in use of a forensic application. The beginning step of the performance of DNA analysis on a reference sample or person is the collection of DNA from cells. These cells can come from a blood sample or even swabbing the inside of an individual’s cheek. After it is collected, the samples are then sent to a lab for…

The study conducted under Lentini and DeHaan highlights that investigators cannot use patterns as a method to establish how a fire started. This is what caused arson investigation to be described as needing “much more research on the natural variability of burn patterns and damage characteristics” (NCJRS, 2009). This means that arson experts cannot simply look at patterns to determine its origin because there is still a lot unknown about arson and fire patterns in general. This is a common…

According to Locard’s principle, at a crime scene traces are left by the perpetrator linking their presence to the scene, which can be crucial information for an investigator in a criminal investigation (Locard, 1930). Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) are left behind on items that are touched or handled even for a brief moment, and by swabbing the surface a DNA profile can be acquired (van Oorschot and Jones, 1997). Henceforth, there has been great interest in the conditions that allow primary, or…