Reading and speaking

What is a crime scene?

Warming-up.

In your own words try to explain the following terms:

a crime scene

physical evidence

crime scene investigators

crime scene examination

forensic or scientific techniques

the initial responder

witnesses

victims

possible suspects

biological evidence

latent print evidence

digital evidence

DNA expert

Read the following text and check if your ideas of the notions mentioned above were right.

Make sure you understand the meaning of the following words and word-combinations:

to be associated with

a committed crime

to provide potential evidence

vehicles

to perform tests on the physical evidence

to be responsible for

to be contaminated

to secure the scene

the forensic laboratory

a comprehensive educational program

regardless of the degree

to possess extensive knowledge

What is a crime scene?

A crime scene is any location that may be associated with a committed crime. Crime scenes contain physical evidence that is pertinent to a criminal investigation. This evidence is collected by crime scene investigators (CSIs) and law enforcement. The location of a crime scene can be the place where the crime took place, or can be any area that contains evidence from the crime itself. Scenes are not only limited to a location, but can be any person, place, or object associated with the criminal behaviors that occurred.

A crime scene is any physical scene, anywhere, that may provide potential evidence to an investigator. It may include a person’s body, any type of building, vehicles, places in the open air or objects found at those locations. “Crime scene examination” therefore refers to an examination where forensic or scientific techniques are used to preserve and gather physical evidence of a crime.

After a crime scene has been discovered, it is important that measures are taken to secure and protect the scene from contamination. In order to maintain the integrity of the scene, law enforcement must take action to block off the surrounding area as well as keep track of who comes in and goes out. By taking these precautions, officers can ensure that evidence that is collected can be used in court. Evidence that has become contaminated, tampered with, or mistreated can pollute the scene and cause a case to be thrown out of court.

It is important that everything that occurs during the analysis of a crime scene is documented. It is the job of the initial responding officer to make sure that the scene has an extremely coherent and summarized documentation. The documentation should include the officers observations and actions while at the scene. The initial responder is in charge of documenting the appearance and condition of the scene upon arrival. The initial responder will also gather statements and comments from witnesses, victims, and possible suspects. Several other documents are also generated so that a crime scene's integrity is kept intact. These documents include a list of who has been in contact with evidence, as well as a log of what evidence has been collected.

A wide variety of physical evidence can be collected at a scene that is deemed valuable (“probative”) for collection and investigation: biological evidence (e.g., blood, body fluids, hair and other tissues), latent print evidence (e.g., fingerprints, palm prints, foot prints), footwear and tire track evidence, trace evidence (e.g., fibers, soil, vegetation, glass fragments), digital evidence (e.g., cell phone records, Internet logs, email messages), tool and tool mark evidence, drug evidence, firearm evidence.

A crime scene investigator is, more often than not, a member of law enforcement who is responsible for identifying, collecting, preserving, and packaging physical evidence at the scene of a crime. Although it is often believed that crime scene investigators are the professionals performing tests on the physical evidence, those jobs, in fact, are reserved for forensic scientists and other forensic professionals.

A crime scene investigator is a rather broad title, as this professional may be: a crime scene leader, a crime scene technician, a forensic photographer, a forensic sketch artist, a ballistics expert, a fingerprint expert, a DNA expert.

Depending on the crime scene investigators job scope, activities and duties may vary significantly. Some crime scene investigators perform standard physical evidence collection and preservation duties, while other CSIs perform more specialized tasks, such as DNA and latent print recovery. However, in general, a CSI may be responsible for:

working with law enforcement to secure the scene as to prevent the contamination of evidence;
identifying and marking the areas of the crime scene;
collecting, preserving, and packaging the physical evidence;
maintaining detailed reports, logs and other tracking data;
using scientific equipment to collect and analyze evidence;
maintaining and repairing scientific equipment;
testifying in court with regard to collected evidence;
transporting physical evidence to the forensic laboratory.

One of the most common paths to a career in crime scene investigation is through a comprehensive educational program, which is usually in the form of a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice or forensic science, although some employers accept candidates with associate’s degrees or certificate programs. As such, a CSI is a professional has a thorough knowledge and a keen understanding of scientific observation and methods, the criminal justice system, and how crime scene investigation merges science with law.

A crime scene investigator, regardless of the degree earned, needs to possess extensive knowledge in the natural sciences, as well as law enforcement and crime scene processing. Professional CSIs who want to concentrate their careers in a forensic science specialty, such as ballistics or DNA, for example, also often need to acquire additional education.

Finally, CSI professionals must be prepared to work in less-than-ideal work environments, and they must be prepared to arrive at the scene of a crime, regardless of the time of day or night.

Questions to discuss.

What is a crime scene?
What are the responsibilities of a crime scene investigator?
What can be collected at the crime scene?
What does crime scene examination refer to?
What is the initial responder in charge of?
A crime scene investigator is a rather broad title, isn’t it?
How can one become a professional crime scene investigator?

Feedback

Activities.

Using special literature on the other subjects you study make a list of rules that a crime scene investigator should follow.
Read the following text. What evidence helped to define the criminal?

In mid-November 1993, Derek Severs (68) and his wife Eileen (69) of Hambleton, Leicestershire disappeared without word. Their neighbours and friends soon became suspicious and contacted the police.

After a week, on 18th November, police visited the bungalow in which the couple resided, only to find the previously tidy house was now messy, with the kitchen and bathroom carpets removed. When police spoke to their son, Roger, he insisted that his parents were simply on holiday, however there was no evidence of this apparent trip, and Roger was soon arrested on suspicion of murder.

A thorough forensic investigation was conducted. Although attempts at a clean-up had obviously been made, blood was found in the bathroom and garage of the bungalow, the bloodstain patterns suggesting a vicious attack. Trails of blood and yellow fibres led outside to the car, which was suspiciously filthy with mud. Investigators collected samples from inside the car and from the wheel arches.

The samples taken from the vehicle were analysed and confirmed to contain mud composed of various constituents, namely quartz, calcite and ironstone. Furthermore, an interesting combination of plant material was found in the vehicle. Whereas the grasses, alder, oak and hawthorn traces were standard for English woodland, 2% of the sample was found to consist of the fairly rare horse chestnut.

With the composition of mud and pollen known, experts were able to narrow down the likely origin of the samples to a few specific areas. Upon search of the areas, an officer searching Armley Wood discovered a disturbed patch of soil littered with broken branches. It was here that the buried bodies of Derek and Eileen were discovered. The couple had been brutally attacked and Eileen wrapped in a yellow blanket before being driven to the site and buried. The earth piled on top of the bodies was analysed and confirmed to be from the Severs’ garden.

It was established that on 13th November, upon returning to his parents’ house after drinking, Roger battered his mother to death when she refused to give him money. He then proceeded to beat his father when he returned home. Roger Severs admitted to killing his parents but claimed diminished responsibility. He was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.