CRJS406 DB5

CRJS406-DB5

Name

Class

Date

Professor

Crime Scene Reconstruction

Crime scene reconstruction is necessary for determining what happened at the crime scene. The more information that is gathered about what occurred at the scene the more equipped police will be to locate cues and identify the responsible party. Crime scene reconstruction provides juries with visual aids assisting them in understanding how a crime was committed and how the criminal defendant is at fault. This is a valuable investigative tool and a valuable tool for court. Crime scene reconstruction will provide the data needed to give police an avenue to investigate or a way to show police what occurred.

Crime scene investigators with the skills and knowledge of a crime scene should be responsible for the reconstruction. If the reconstruction is not done properly it can be misleading and cause doubt in a jury. The forensic investigator must have the skills and knowledge to reconstruct the crime scene in order to ensure clues can be found that lead to the capture of the criminal or in order to lay out what happened for a jury. If someone without forensic knowledge or knowledge about a crime scene attempts to reconstruct the crime scene the information could be invalid.

A crime scene should only be reconstructed when there is sufficient evidence to show what really happened. If the crime scene reconstruction is made up of guesses and conjecture then it is not truly what happened at the scene. The more evidence that is available the more clearly the crime scene will resemble what really happened. Crime scenes may be reconstructed through the study and interpretation of scene patterns and the examination of physical evidence (O’Connor, 2010). The more information that is available the better the crime scene reconstruction he more accurate it will be.

The first element that is important in the reconstruction is locating all available evidence in order to ensure an accurate reconstruction can be made. If the crime reconstruction is inaccurate then it will mislead a jury. The second element is documenting all evidence at the scene so the crime scene reconstruction can be proven true. If the crime scene reconstruction is not valid it will not be allowed in the court as evidence. Documenting the evidence can strengthen the crime scene reconstruction and its validity in court. When evidence is not properly documented crime scene investigators have no way of proving the evidence was actually located at the crime scene.

Crime scene reconstruction is a fairly new science which could call into question the admissibility of the evidence. In order for forensic evidence to be admissible it must be widely accepted by the scientific community. Crime scene reconstruction is a tool for proving guilt or innocence but in order to be accepted by the court there must be proof of its validity.

References

O’Conner, T. (2010). Crime Scene Reconstruction Logic. Retrieved November 6, 2013 from

http://www.drtomoconnor.com/3210/3210lect02.htm