crime scence

There was a little confusion on the different crime scene types, so this post serves to explain them a bit more. 

It is important to acknowledge that there may be more crime scenes than just where the crime actually occurred. The multiple crime scenes are broken down in to various categories: primary, secondary, and tertiary.

The primary crime scene is where the actual offense took place. It is the location that typically has the most physical evidence present. It is possible to have multiple primary crime scenes; this occurs when the offender commits multiple types of offenses within his spree or if the offender has multiple victims.

The secondary crime scene is a location that is related to the commission of the offense, but not the actual location of the majority of the offending. This could be when an individual uses a getaway vehicle, hides out somewhere to evade police, and the location where a body was dumped. Often this is where investigators locate fibers, DNA, or other key pieces of evidence that can lead them back to the suspect and to the primary crime scene if that is not known yet – think body was found in a location it was moved to and dumped, but that location wasn’t where the murder actually happened (which would be the primary crime scene).

The tertiary crime scene is a location where evidence is present, but no evidence that the offender and the victim interacted. When offenders attempt to throw away or hide evidence, say by throwing a gun in the trash, the trash barrel the gun is in would be the tertiary crime scene. If there is evidence that a victim has been there, for example a trail of droplets of blood, but nothing representing the offender – this would be a tertiary crime scene. This would happen if the victim were able to get away from the offender.

There was a question pertaining to what interaction consists of; interaction in this case doesn’t mean just talking, but it means contact of any sort between the offender and victim, which includes the pushing of the victim or the picking up and moving of the body.

Think about it this way… often times police search a home of a suspect, despite the fact that the crime likely did not occur there. Why would they do that? They are looking for any other forms of evidence linking the suspect to the crime. What type of crime scene would this be? The answer is, it depends! It could be a primary or secondary location. If the offense did not take place there, but the offender brought the victim there to lay low before bringing the victim elsewhere to dispose of the body and/or commit the offense elsewhere. Can you think of an example of what a tertiary crime scene would look like in this scenario? Perhaps the victim was able to run away, anyone or place she came in contact with would be the tertiary crime scene.

1. This assignment requires you to reconstruct a crime scene. You can either create your own crime scene or locate one online (fictional or real). I do not necessarily need to see or read about the crime scene itself, just what you decide to share about it. To find some online, I recommend Google searching “Crime scene photographs”. Be aware that you may come across some gruesome photos; thus, if that is something you want to avoid, I recommend searching “crime scene scenarios” or “mock crime scenes” to find fictional ones.

Tips for the Paper

· You should introduce your paper by discussing the importance of a crime scene reconstruction. Why/how do we use crime scene reconstruction?

· Discuss the evidence at the scene. What is found, what type of evidence is it, how does it contribute to the crime scene reconstruction, are there multiple crime scenes, etc. Refer to the lecture and/or chapter eleven.

· What characteristics are evident at the crime scene? Refer to the lecture and/or chapter twelve.

· From the crime scene, conclude your paper by inferring what you think happened and why you think

that based on the information provided above.

There is no page requirement for this assignment. Be sure to write in proper paper format, i.e. introduction, minimum of three supporting paragraphs, and a conclusion.