100% satisfaction guarantee Immediately available after payment Both online and in PDF No strings attached
logo-home
Previously searched by you
Previously searched by you
logo
Summary Unit 3 - AC1.1 Notes - WJEC Applied Diploma in Criminology £5.48
Add to cart
Quickly navigate to
Preview
  2.  
  3. WJEC
  4.  
  5. Criminology
  6.  
  7. Criminology Unit 3 Controlled Assessment

Exam (elaborations)

Summary Unit 3 - AC1.1 Notes - WJEC Applied Diploma in Criminology

1 review
 0 purchase

These notes cover the entirety of AC1.1 for Unit 3. For use in the Crime Scene to Court Room Controlled Assessment (WJEC Applied Diploma in Criminology). Include sufficient detail and relevant case examples. Achieved top grade A using these notes.

Preview 2 out of 6  pages

Document information

  • October 24, 2022
  • 6
  • 2021/2022
  • Exam (elaborations)
  • Questions & answers

Subjects

  • ac11 unit 3 controlled assessment criminology

Connected book

book image

Book Title:

Author(s):

  • Edition:
  • ISBN:
  • Edition:

More summaries for

All for this textbook (144)

Written for

All documents for this subject (10)

1  review

review-writer-avatar

By: nevewilsoff • 1 year ago

very good, however the set is missing 1.1

Seller

avatar-seller
phoebegx

Reviews received

Content preview

AC1.2 Assess the usefulness of investigative techniques in criminal investigations

Police and other investigators use a variety of methods and techniques to investigate crime.
Such as forensics, profiling, intelligence databases and interview techniques.

Intelligence databases
To help in solving crimes police have intelligence databases which can provide them with
information obtained from many sources, often confidential sources. This information has
been recorded and evaluated which is then stored in a variety of different databases that
police use. An example of an intelligence database is The Police National Computer (PNC),
originally established in 1974, which contains several separate databases. This database
stores over 12 million people’s arrests, convictions and police cautions with links to biometric
databases for fingerprints and the National DNA databases. PNC also holds information on
missing and wanted persons, as well as vehicle registration data on 48 million people who
hold a driving licence, and on those who are disqualified.

Another important intelligence database is the national DNA database, the world's first ever
DNA database created in 1995 for England and Wales. Every profile in the DNA database is
made up from a sample of human material, such as saliva or hair and if a match is made
between a crime scene profile and a profile on the database it can help police to identify a
possible suspect. A study showed that searching the data to find a match helps identify a
suspect in around 60% of cases. A strength is that between 1st April and 30th June 2013 the
National DNA database produced 37 matched to murder, 103 to rape, and 6141 to other
crime scenes sich as car theft and burglary. Another strength is that DNA can match multiple
pieces in different crimes. This can lead to a quicker prosecution and complete unsolved
cases.

In the case of 18 year old SallyAnn Bowman, brutally raped and beaten to death in 2005.
Her murderer Mark Dixie was arrested by chance the following year after having a fight in a
pub and was linked to Bowmans murder though his DNA that was taken. It has taken two
weeks for Dixie's profile to be added to the national DNA database but once it was he was
arrested five hours later.

However, due to all DNA being kept on databases, this led to a miscarriage of justice for taxi
driver David Butler who was wrongly imprisoned for murder of Liverpool sex worker Anne
Marie Foy. Years prior Butler willingly gave a DNA sample to police as part of an
investigation into a burglary at his mothers home which was logged into the national
database. This DNA sample was a partial match to the DNA found on Foy’s fingernail
clippings and cardigan buttons, but Butler had a rare skin condition which leaves skin flakes
wherever he goes, as he worked as a taxi driver, his DNA may have been passed on this
way to the victim before the murder so there was not enough sutantical evidence to prove he
committed the crime. Another weakness for DNA databases is that not all families are on
there, meaning that not everyone can be identified which can result in no leads and police
not being able to find a suspect.

Forensics
Forensics is the use of scientific methods within a criminal investigation. Forensic evidence
can include biological materials, such as blood, semen, skin flakes and hair, along with

, fingerprints, shoe prints, fibres and threads from clothing. Forensics are useful in crime
scenes and labs as they are to collect forensics and analyse them. They are useful for
property crimes and violent crimes as they can find DNA evidence such as fingerprints to
help find a suspect. In the case of Collette Arams, murdered in 1983, digital forensics were
used and DNA technology that became available in 2008 helped develop a DNA profile of a
suspect of Paul Hutchinson. This finally led to Hutchinson being sentenced with life
imprisonment in 2010. Forensics can help police rule out possible suspects as it can prove if
someone is guilty or not guilty of a crime. This can help police prosecute the suspects who
are guilty, meaning that they can’t commit anymore crime.

The first criminal conviction using DNA evidence was Colin Pitchfork in 1986. Pitchfork was
found guilty of the 1983 murder of Lynda Mann and 1986 murder of Dawn Ashworth. In
1986, during the time of the second murder, Alec Jefferys, a British geneticist and referred
as ‘the godfather of genetic fingerprinting’ was able to use his work to prove that the two girls
had been killed by the same man. Jefferys was also able to prove that Robert Buckland,
who had confessed to Ashworth’s murder, was not the murderer of Mann. 5,000 men in
three villages were asked to volunteer blood or saliva samples, but no matches were found.
Not until a bakery worker was overheard boasting about how he was set to receive £200 to
pose as his colleague Pitchfork and give a sample. The conversation was reported to the
police and Pitchfork was arrested. Pitchfork was jailed for life in 1988 for both murders.
However, in 2009 his 30 year minimum term was cut by two years, and Pitchfork was
released from detention in September 2021.

Forensics wouldn’t be useful at a police station as they can’t be analysed there. They aren’t
useful in e-crime as they aren’t able to obtain any forensic evidence from a computer. A
weakness for forensics is that evidence can be cross contaminated. This means that
evidence can become inadmissible and not reliable in court and there can be a miscarriage
of justice. This can result in a person who is guilty getting a lesser sentence or not being
prosecuted and an innocent person being charged. In the case of Adam Scott he was
wrongly charged with rape and spent five months in prison on remand on the basis of a
contaminated DNA sample. Another weakness is that there have been civil liberties
concerns about the police taking DNA from people who have not been convicted of a crime
and are innocent. This is unethical for their data to be on a database when they haven’t
done anything and it invades their privacy. This led to a change in the law in 2012 requiring
most profiles taken from people not convicted to be eventually destroyed.

Surveillance techniques (CCTV)
CCTV is a form of evidence that can be used by police as it can capture criminal activity or
determine where a suspect or victim was at the time of an incident. CCTV is useful for
violent crimes and property crimes as it can be used to view what happened and see the
individuals involved. A strength for CCTV is that it can give 24 hour coverage of a location.
This can be used at trials as it can give a visual record of a crime which helps identify the
perpetrator. CCTV can be released to the media so the public can help police in their
investigations as they may be able to identify any individuals on the tape. This can save time
with a case and could potentially get an arrest quicker keeping one less criminal off the
streets. In the 2011 London riots, Prime Minister at the time David Cameron made police go
through 100,000 hours of CCTV footage to identify and arrest anyone involved in the riots.
Police released CCTV images of suspects and in the first week more than 1,000 people

The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:

Guaranteed quality through customer reviews

Guaranteed quality through customer reviews

Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.

Quick and easy check-out

Quick and easy check-out

You can quickly pay through credit card for the summaries. There is no membership needed.

Focus on what matters

Focus on what matters

Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!

Frequently asked questions

What do I get when I buy this document?

You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.

Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?

Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.

Who am I buying these notes from?

Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller phoebegx. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.

Will I be stuck with a subscription?

No, you only buy these notes for £5.48. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.

Can Stuvia be trusted?

4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)

66184 documents were sold in the last 30 days

Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy revision notes and other study material for 15 years now

Start selling
£5.48
  • (1)
Add to cart
Added