Criminalistics ch 3

Common physical evidence

blood, semen, saliva, documents, drugs, explosives, fibers, fingerprints, firearms/ammunition, glass, hair, impressions, organs/fluids, paint, petroleum, plastic bags, rubber/polymers, powder residue, serial numbers, soil/minerals, tool marks, vehicle lights, wood/vegetative

indetification

process of determining a substance’s physical or chemical identity

1. adoption of testing procedures

2. permanently recorded and used to ID materials

3. number and type of test must be efficient to exclude other sources

comparison

asserting whether or not 2 or more objects have common origin → subject suspect substance to standard substance on tests

individual characteristics

evidence that is associated with a common source to an extreme degree of certainty

ex) ridge of fingerprints, random striation, bullet casing, irregular weapon patterns in tire marks

class characteristics

evidence associated only with a group, never to a single source

product rule

multiplying the frequency of independently occurring genetic markers to each other to obtain overall frequency for the genetic profile

ex) blood frequencies

integrated automated fingerprint identification system

premier model of all forensic database systems, → turned to next generation identification in 2014

1998 CODIS

became fully operational

-exchange and compare DNA profiles electronically across all labs

-creates investigative leads through indexes: forensics, offender, arrestee

Rapid DNA

developing DNA profiles from buccal swab within 90 min of arrest that are compatible with CODIS search laws

NIBIN

integrated ballistic identification system that compromises microscope and computer unit to capture imaging of bullet/cartridge casing

international forensic automative paint data query

chemical and odor information pertain to original automative parts

-make, model, year

shoeprint image capture retrieval

pattern coding system that enables analyst to create description of shoe print by assigning codes to individual pattern features