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Summary Criminology unit 3 AC 1.1 - CSI/SOCO, forensic specialist/ scientists, police officers/ detectives, CPS, pathologists, national crime agency.Evaluate the effectiveness of the roles of personnel involved in criminal cases - can you use cases to support you$11.71
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Summary Criminology unit 3 AC 1.1 - CSI/SOCO, forensic specialist/ scientists, police officers/ detectives, CPS, pathologists, national crime agency.Evaluate the effectiveness of the roles of personnel involved in criminal cases - can you use cases to support you
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Course
Criminology
Institution
AQA
the effectiveness of the roles of personnel involved in criminal cases - can you use cases to support your work for each type of personnel….
AC 1.1 - CSI/SOCO, forensic specialist/ scientists, police officers/ detectives, CPS, pathologists, national
crime agency.
Evaluate the effectiveness of the roles of personnel involved in criminal cases - can you use cases to
support your work for each type of personnel….
The role of SOCO’s is to work closely with the police, forensic scientists and organisations such as the
National Crime Agency. They play a major role when conducting a criminal investigation because they're
experts trained to take photographs of evidence and identity traces left at the scene of the crime. SOCO’s
can do things like collect blood samples from drivers who are unconscious after a car crash, to check for
any drugs in their system. All while preserving the crime scene and recovering evidence they also operate
on a call system, meaning at any point of the day they can be called to a crime scene. However, a
massive downfall with SOCO’s is that if they contaminate crucial evidence it becomes inadmissible in
court, which is what happened in the Stephen Lawerance case. Investigations themselves cost a great
deal of time and money, if they are not being investigated correctly it wastes a lot of money and time and
fails to bring justice to victims and or their families. Due to the budget cuts handed from the government,
there is no training budget, no essential courses for staff development, which is what leads to misplaced
evidence, which can be seen in the case of Damilola Taylor. The job alone is physically demanding and
with such jobs everyday is a risk, SOCOs may be exposed to hazardous substances in the course of their
role, such as contaminants contacting the skin or airborne substances that could enter the mouth. These
aspects are unpleasant and distressing which limits the amount of people willing to do the job. It also
requires years of training, skill and patience as well as care and attention to detail, so it is not so simple to
get the job and this may limit the amount of people at a time who do this job. Failure to collect evidence
correctly can lead to a guilty person going free, so it is mandatory they have a high level of experience.
Forensic specialist/ scientists - The role of forensics specialists/scientists is to examine and analyse the
breakdown of evidence, for example hair and body liquids that are analyzed in a laboratory and
interpreted to produce the information to the court. Forensic scientists analyse DNA to find out who is
responsible for the crime whereas forensic specialists have expert level knowledge which helps them
identify victims, offenders and work out what actually happened. This information can assist a court in
making a decision on producing a just result. Forensics include many specialist areas with expertise such
as computers - white collar crimes/technological crimes, fire - how it started and burn time, toxicology
(drugs) - were victims under the influence or could have drugs caused their death and dentistry.
The disadvantages of forensic scientists/specialists include contamination, hereby evidence can be
tampered with which may end up in an unrighteous verdict of either an innocent or guilty individual,
leading to no justice. Stephen Lawerances case had a series of mistakes regarding the handling of
evidence. Being able to control the quality of evidence is critical to reducing the risk of miscarriages of
justice and criminal trials collapsing, as well as maintaining public confidence in the system. In the randox
investigation, evidence manipulation was found in the forensic testing process which meant that over
10,000 test results needed to be reviewed costing the firm £2.5m. Re testing takes longer due to the
chronic shortage of scientific expertise and accredited laboratories again delaying the course of justice.
Police spending on forensics in England and Wales has fallen by more than half over the past decade
from £120m in 2008 to an estimated £50m, which means there is simply not enough money to even start
forensic investigation in the private sector. An investigation alone is expensive and time consuming and
not all police forces have the funding, which is what leads to delayed investigations and potentially the
suspects getting away. Both forensic scientists and specialists have physically demanding jobs with long
hours which means that mistakes could potentially be made because of their impact on judgment. The
difficulty of this job may also have an effect on how many people wish to do this role, limiting their
availability.
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