Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Jennifer Juarez
Criminal Justice
CJ-2350
Law of Evidence
When it comes to the basics of physical evidence, it’s important to consider all the
different types that there are. There is physical evidence, which is defined as “Material objects in
a criminal trial, for example, [a knife, a gun, a getaway car, fluid stained clothes that could
contain traces of blood, semen, hair follicles, skin, etc].” (Criminal Evidence, Garland, Page 412)
Real evidence is the item itself. And lastly, there is demonstrative evidence, which is defined as
“...a representation of the real [item].” (Criminal Evidence, Garland, Page 412). Though, it’s
important to also understand the meaning of relevant evidence, which entails that the evidence
must relate to the execution of the crime that was produced. Law enforcement officers must be
able to distinguish the difference as they go towards the next step necessary, which is
authenticating the item and laying the foundation. It is quite apparent that physical evidence is
the foundation of how most trials conduct their convictions for criminal activity. From real life
examples of cold cases that are solved thanks to Physical evidence, to experimental methodology
in obtaining evidence. To also exploring what the Federal Rules of Evidence considers to be
inadmissible and admissible in court. As well as transport of the evidence, the preservation of the
evidence, to the system of what is must go through in order to aid with conservation of the
evidence and the information it must carry when different people have custody of the evidence.
Even to real life scientific discoveries and new methods that I honestly had no idea about. These
are the reasons why physical evidence is so crucial, despite being so understated.
Joseph Deangelo is a primary example of such, not only because of his notorious, new
found infamy of being identified to be the Golden State Killer, who's also raped over 45 people.
Allegedly, at least. Yet, was also just apprehended not too long ago on the account of new found
technology with DNA that was finally able to pinpoint him. There are also cases such as Green
River Killer, who was not found until DNA was found on the body of a victim, though,
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surprisingly, even to the point that the Green River Killer was cooperating with law enforcement.
As the list of examples can easily go on, it’s apparent that physical evidence is the deciding
factor in a trial, between both the plaintiffs and defendants and to determine what is appropriate
when facing justice and punishment for breaking the law with their criminal actions and
decisions. However, not everyone is familiar with the actual basis of physical evidence, how the
evidence has to be recorded, in the sense of who was in possession of the evidence, and finally,
how it’s applied to law enforcement on a day to day basis, all while having to fit the criteria that
the item is as claimed by the supporter, that either being the prosecutor or the defense attorney. It
directly must go through the “Laying the Foundation” process right after, ensuring that the item
truly is authentic. As the textbook, Criminal Evidence, 7th edition, states there are specific ways
to achieve authentication;
familiar with a person’s handwriting and did not gain the knowledge of the
allowing the jury or an expert to compare the object to an example and decide its
sending a bill to an address and receiving payment from the bill; or voice
Though not every piece of evidence requires going through the process so they become
admissible. FRE 902 has a list of accredited public records and documents, that may be under an
official seal from national or international levels. These certain documents are able to self-
explanatory when it comes to authentication. It is still the responsibility of the law enforcement
expert to preserve and protect the evidence, as well as having to connect the dot between the item
itself to the accused person, their methodically prove their connection to the item, and how it
Evidence does still need to be documented as need be, specifically because law
enforcement must create a controlled process of who possess the evidence, and as explained
previously, to conserve and sustain the evidence as it was found at the scene of the crime or
acquire by a law enforcement expert. Which is why the chain of custody exists, it’s a controlled
system requiring documenting every single person who has or had custody of the evidence, as
well as conserving the consistency and characteristics of the evidence, the system itself in order
to keep up with recordings, the information that the records hold, and particularly containing
“(1) the case number; (2) the name of the defendant; (3) the name of the victim;
(4) the name of the law enforcement professional who found the object; (5) the
date, time, and place where the object was found; (6) a brief description of the
article (this is important in case the tag becomes detached from the object and
because some objects cannot be recognized from appearance alone); (7) the
signature of the person finding the object; (8) the person to whom the object was
released and the reason for the release; (9) the date and time of release; and (10)
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the ultimate disposition of the object—what will be done with the object if it is not
Despite the huge emphasis on conserving the evidence is, it’s also still important for the
evidence to be stored properly. Because to possibly let the evidence become compromised due to
lack of care and storage will definitely bring problems. Not only the officers and custodians in
charge of storage will be deemed incompetent, but the entire police department will be
scrutinized by the judge and the city, possibly having to face severe consequences due to their
neglect and incompetence. It’s also preferable that the least amount of people have custody of the
evidence, that way it reduces the risks of compromising evidence. However, dependence on the
evidence and all its contents is quite crucial, notably physical, even more so when it has skin
particles, hair follicles, blood, semen, basically any type of DNA so the scientific and
technological discovery may be deemed useful for law enforcement, the prosecutor, or the
defense attorney. Then there is the way to keep the pieces of evidence from being compromised
by outside factors that make it inadmissible. Separate rooms are created for the evidence to be
accurately gathered in, depends where you go, but usually there’s some kind of keys or
combination in order to gain access to the area that only a “property control officer and his or her
supervisor” (Criminal Evidence, Garland, Page 424) have clearance for entry. Obviously, must
decomposable pieces. The evidence must also be put away properly by placing the evidence in a
sterile bag, marking it with the case number, the officer who found the item, their information,
where it was found, etc. It’s intriguing to see how much of a process physical evidence needs to
go through before going to court, but then again, there’s how police officers utilize evidence
outside of the crime scene and the courtroom, both experimental and reality.
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There was a study done one Texas law enforcement officers a while ago, they were all
gathered from agencies from Round Rock, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, and Laredo police
departments. Their responses are classified, as their responses may insulate that they’re only
responding to their own though versus following their own protocol from their own agencies and
doesn’t reflect as such. There was a total of 18 law enforcement officers, 11 of them were
detectives and 7 of them were sergeants. Additionally, out of 18 of the law enforcement officers,
one was a female. Half of them took care of property crimes, while the other half took care of
crimes against people. They all had to conduct interviews and interrogations, which all relatively
took about half an hour to execute. Furthermore, they have revealed a list of 12 interrogation
procedures and were inquired whether or no said procedures were effective or ineffective. One of
the methods that were listed was to confront the suspect with existing evidence of guilt, which
there were six of the law enforcement utilized and said it was an effective method of
interrogation. It also leads to an experiment of how likely suspects were to administer convicting
evidence before and after given their Miranda warnings and also seeing if a custodial or
susceptible to providing that kind of information before having their Miranda warnings told,
especially when the ones who were involved also disclosed that they would rather operate
noncustodial interrogations.
Lastly, there are cases such as sexual assault. It has become a rising crime, or at least in
accusations. However, just because there’s become a higher risk of accusations, it’s even more
crucial than ever to verify the claims and acquire all the appropriate physical evidence in order to
bring the criminals their punishment and give justice to the poor people that go through such a
heinous crime. Quite obviously, the physical evidence can be anything such as hair, fingerprints,
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skin, saliva, blood, and semen. They’re all a part of DNA, which individualizes the culprit, that
is if they have committed a crime before and their biological and basic information has been
entered in the police department's system.According to the academic journal, Use of Forensic
Science in Investigating Crimes of Sexual Violence: Contrasting Its Theoretical Potential With
Empirical Realities, “DNA technology has significantly advanced the analysis of sexual assault
evidence, including semen, saliva, blood, and hairs but has expanded the types of samples
available for analysis, including urine, fecal matter, perspiration, and abortion products
associated with rape-related pregnancies.” (Johnson, Peterson, Sommers, and Baskin) Which is
astounding that physical evidence is commencing to transcend beyond the most utilized physical
evidence that police department usually looks for. If anything, it also broadens the spectrum of
apprehension. Thanks to CODIS (Combined DNA Index System) and PCR (Polymerase Chain
Reaction) is why forensic scientists, law enforcement officers, and criminologists are able to
obtain the necessary pieces of the puzzle to be able to apprehend the suspect and take them into
police custody.
This is how physical evidence is such a huge part of the criminal justice system. Not only
because of the prerequisites it has to go through before even going into court, but also the way
how it’s preserved, how much the criminal justice system depends on physical evidence. As well
inadmissible in the court of law, to how the evidence is transported from the scene of the crime
to the police department storage, to the information that it contains once someone has had
custody of the evidence. Including scientific leaps that lead to cold cases like the Green River
Killer and the Golden State Killer to be found. As well as law enforcement still improving their
skills and trying new methods to possibly apply to the real world. It’s information like this I
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could hope one day people would be able to see, to recognize all the hard work and the rigorous
References
Dolak, K. (n.d.). Green River Killer Claims He Murdered Dozens More Women. Retrieved April
http://abcnews.go.com/US/green-river-killer-claims-murdered-dozens-women/story?id=
0282652
Frantzen, D. (2010). Interrogation strategies, evidence, and the need for Miranda: a study of
doi:10.1080/15614260902830005
Garland, N. M. (2015). Criminal evidence (7th ed.). New York City, NY: McGraw-Hill
Education.
Haag, M. (2018, April 26). What We Know About Joseph DeAngelo, the Golden State Killer
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/26/us/joseph-james-deangelo.html
Johnson, D., Peterson, J., Sommers, I., & Baskin, D. (2012). Use of Forensic Science in
doi:10.1177/1077801212440157