Exam Notes - Crime Scene to Courtroom (LACRIM) (Unit 3)
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Course
Crime Scene to Courtroom (LACRIM)
Institution
WJEC
The exam notes I took into my controlled assessment which allowed me to achieve a 95/100.
this is all combined topics 1-11.
these notes are carefully written to explain all 11 topics.
WARNING/DISCLAIMER -- copying these notes to pass as your own may get you disqualified from your exam or course ...
3.1 – 72 minutes – Topic 10
Evidence
• The CPS needs evidence to be admissible, reliable and credible to
proceed with prosecution.
• In a criminal trial, a jury or magistrate will decide how valid the evidence
is when they reach their verdict. The prosecution and defence team will
present this evidence.
• Evidence that reaches court is generally reliable, however there has
been occasions where it is not valid.
Case study – Sion Jenkins – Jeremy Banner
• a case study which shows a time were evidence was not credible is Sion
Jenkins. Jenkins was arrested for the murder of his adopted daughter,
but after appeal was found not guilty after two trials.
• This is because there were no motives, nobody heard any screams and
Jenkins should have had more blood on him because of the time of
attack.
• He only had droplets of blood on him.
• This all shows that the not guilty verdict is a valid verdict.
• However, the evidence against him were that his alibi was inconsistent,
his behaviour was odd throughout the day and his wife had accused him
of being violent.
• This is because the information given did not meet the validity criteria.
This is because expert opinion stated he should have had more blood on
him, and the fact his ex-wife accused him of being violent could have led
to bias.
• A case which demonstrates evidence could be valid or invalid is the case
of Jeremy Bamber.
• Bamber was convicted of murdering five family members in 1985.
• Evidence to prove the conviction is valid is that his girlfriend claimed
Bamber had talked about wanting to kill his family to receive
inheritance.
• Also, he silencer for the gun made it too long for his sister to shoot
herself, after Bamber suggested his sister killed their family in a
breakdown.
• Evidence which proves the conviction invalid is that the police officers
did not search the house properly, so lots of information could have
been missed.
, • Also, the police did not find the silencer in the cupboard- instead his
cousins found it days later. This is suspicious as they would have
received inheritance if Bamber went to jail.
• Also, many went through the house contaminating evidence and the
crime scene.
• The circumstances of the situation cause issues in validity, as protocols
were not followed correctly, as well as a lot of the evidence being
circumstantial.
• The accuracy of the investigation is low, as search procedures were not
followed correctly as well as evidence being contaminated.
• The currency of the case is low also, as the silencer was found days later
by the cousins.
Eyewitness
• this type of testimony is not always valid. This is because a lot of
convictions based on eyewitness testimony have been overturned by
DNA evidence.
• A witness's memory can be affected by many factors. Some of these are
time, discussion, how much of the crime they saw, if there was a
weapon involved and if there were leading questions used.
• This all suggests eyewitness evidence may lack validity as time between
the crime and the trial means the testimony may lack currency, meaning
it becomes less accurate overtime.
• It can also lack validity based on the circumstances in which the memory
was formed, such as an eyewitness may focus on a weapon more than
the crime.
• Even though this is known, Juries still give a lot fo weight to eyewitness
testimonies.
Case study – Ronald Cotton
• a case study where a verdict based on eyewitness testimony could be
seen valid and invalid is Ronald Cotton.
• In 1984, Victim Jennifer was assaulted. Cotton was arrested and spent
10 years in jail for a crime he didn’t commit.
• Evidence which made cottons original verdict valid was that his shoes
were consistent with the rubber found at the crime scene, he had a
similar flashlight to the one used by the offender and that one victim
picked Ronald from a photo lineup.
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