April 25th, 2022
By: Mr. Garside
Forensic Evidence
"The Devil is in the details"
On the first day of Forensics week, Mr. Garside came and introduced the class into the basics of forensics and traffic homicides. In a homicide case, you determine, through physical and circumstantial evidence. The HOW+WHY=WHO, forensic evidence helps determine all of these components. The WHY can be found within preexisting cases, through DNA evidence.
What is Forensic Evidence?
"The details of the matter are its most crucial/significant/essential aspect."
Forensic evidence is evidence obtained by scientific methods such as ballistics, blood tests, and DNA tests and used in court. Forensic evidence is used to help establish if a possible suspect is guilty or innocent. The analysis of forensic evidence is used in investigations and prosecutions of criminal and civil proceedings. When examining for evidence, any item that can be examined can have evidentiary value. To work in the forensics field, you must be able to give your opinion on the evidence at hand and use this opinion to dissect the crime. Different types of forensic evidence can be blood tests, death investigation/crime scene, forensic pathology, DNA, ballistics, fingerprints, or digital forensics.
Forensic evidence isn't always in a case, it may not be found, there may not be enough to test, there truly is none, or the evidence could have been destroyed.
What is Digital Forensics?
Digital forensics can be anything from computers to banking or vehicles. All social media sites can be used as digital forensics, everything a suspect posts, likes, or comments can be found with the proper warrant. Nothing is ever truly deleted.
The Job
To be a good Forensic investigator, you must keep up with the common news, religion, and internet trends. You also must have attention to detail and to be able to think outside the box. When thinking, you must be able to see the forest for the trees and think as the detective, prosecutor, suspect, and attorney. When you look at a crime scene, look at the details. Start at the top of the image and work your way in to ensure you see every detail.
Traffic Homicide VS a "Regular" Homicide
In a traffic homicide, you should look at the evidence you would normally look for; DNA, fingerprints, eyewitnesses, etc. You should also look into crash patterns, EDR, pattern injuries, cell phone triangulation, and vehicle GPS. An EDR (event data recorder) can tell you every event that took place in the five seconds before the crash occurred. The crash patterns can be seat belt bruises, the front of a car, car symbols/identifying features, airbag burns, or objects struck by objection.
Pedestrian homicides are more difficult to solve. It is difficult to determine driver error or pedestrian error. Many drivers drive away after hitting someone and tell their insurance company that they hit a dog or a deer. You can tell if a car hit a person because when a car low to the ground impacts a person, their legs snap and they are thrown over the hood of a car. As shown below.
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