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Unit 3 1.1 notes criminology controlled assessment
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- Applied Criminology
- Institution
- Applied Criminology
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Casey jennings1.1 Evaluate the effectiveness of the roles of personnel involved in criminal
investigations.
Notes on the crime scene:
● The basic principle of forensic evidence is that every contact leaves a trace.
● Uniformed officers are usually first at the crime scene, they are trained to cordon off
anything that may be relevant. An outer corden excludes anyone but police officers and
an inner corden is where the main forensic evidence is expected to be found.
● A crime scene manager essentially has to preserve the scene and ensure as little
change as possible. They have to establish the area of the scene as well as a common
approach path. They also have to determine who has had access e.g police, ambulance
etc.
● A common approach path is a route set from the outer perimeter of tape to the victim/
key area of the crime. Often made up of metal stepping stones. This is to minimise
contamination. Anyone entering or leaving the crime scene and leaving must use these
and their presence is logged.
● Physical evidence is pictured or sketched then logged, bagged and labelled before being
sent off for forensic examination.
● In a murder case a body may stay at the scene for a very long time so all the appropriate
tests can be carried out. Pathologists may be asked to come to the scene to provide
Case study= adam scott (forensics)
1. Who was arrested wrongly and for what charge? Adam scott was wrongly arrested for
rape.
2. Was Adam Scott close to the crime scene? Adam had been hundreds of miles away
from the scene of the crime.
3. Is the Forensic Science Service run by the Government? No, the government closed its
‘loss- making’ forensic services that year so the lab was privatised.
4. Why did the forensic lab have a sample of Scott’s DNA? Mr Scott's DNA was retrieved
from a ‘spitting’ incident in Exeter.
5. How was Scott’s DNA mixed up with the rape case? A plastic tray containing a sample
of scott’s dna should have been disposed of however it was reused in the analysis of a
swab of the rape victim.
6. How long did Scott spend on remand? Scott spent 5 months on remand even though
phone records suggested he was 280 miles away in devon.
7. What was the major error made here by forensic scientists? A plastic tray with scots
DNA was reused in the analysis of the rape victims swab when it should have been
disposed of.
, 8. What implications does this incident have on other cases they may have investigated?
It could lead to people doubting the other people that they have identified using
forensics in other cases such as Stephen Lawrence's murderers.
Research task= analysing forensic evidence
1) List the main sorts of things that forensic scientists have to deal with: body fluids
2) and tissues with DNA, fingerprints, textile fibres, glass, paint, phones, digital media.
3) What does the clip tell us about textile fibre evidence? They come in a wide variety
of different types, good evidence, can lead you to specific items to focus your attention
on which can lead to DNA and other evidence.
4) What was shown from analysis of shorts in the clip? Can show through body fluids
on the shorts who wore them and confirm it definitely.
5) Why is blood pattern analysis important ? can tell you what went on somewhere, first
thing you do when blood has been shed. Must photograph it.
6) What 2 things do blood patterns tell us ? They tell us what happened, the sequence
of events and also where to go next, where to get a sample from.
7) What are the three basic elements of blood patterns ? blood that's just dripped from
wounds, spots and splashes, blood spatter where wet blood has been spit up by some
sort of force, contact with wet blood on it smears and swipes.
8) Why has DNA profiling transformed into forensic science ? transformed the link
between sample to person .
9) What are the main types of samples used for DNA profiling? Saliva, semen and
blood but also skin flakes.
10) What techniques do forensic scientists use to collect DNA samples ? swabbing to
cutting, removing surface material, using tape all sorts of ways depending on case and
item.
11) Why do forensic scientists have to be careful about the evidence they find? You
have to look at context, what is the relationship between the suspect and crime scene,
could there be an innocent explanation? They don’t want to wrongfully accuse someone
who didn't do it.
The trial and wrongful conviction of sally clarke
1. What was Sally Clark convicted of? Carke was convicted of killing her two sons.
2. How long did Sally Clark spend in prison? 3 years
3. What year did her son Christopher die? 1966
4. How many years later did Clark find her second son Harry dead? 2
5. Professor Roy Meadow (an expert witness at the trial) told the court that the ‘chance of
two children in an affluent family suffering cot death’ was what? ‘ one in 73 million’
6. After this the Royal Statistical Society wrote to the lord chancellor, what did they say?
They stated that there was no ‘statistical basis’ for the figure.
7. What do experts believe the actual chances are? It could be anywhere between 1 in 100
and 1 in 8500.
8. What infection did they find that proved Sally Clark did not kill Harry? staphylococcus
aureus infection
9. When was Clark eventually released? January 2003
10. Summarise the reason that Clark was originally convicted. She was originally convicted
for murdering her two children within a two year time frame of each other after an ‘expert’
said that the likelihood of the children dying of cot death was 1 in 73 million.
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