"Oh, how simple it would all have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo and wallowed all over it."
-A. Conan Doyle, The Boscombe Valley Mystery, 1892.
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Burglary defined Burglary is sometimes also known as Home Invasion, or Breaking and Entering. The unlawful entry into the premises of another with intent to commit a felony (usually larceny) therein. Introduction Burglaries represent one of the more common crimes to which patrol officers respond. Someone has returned home from an evening out and found the doors open and their property missing. The police are called, and an investigation is begun. Often there are no witnesses to these crimes which makes the collection of evidence from the scene even more crucial. It is possible to find a great variety of evidence at burglary scenes, this article will attempt to introduce some of the more common types.
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The Fire Arson investigation starts with the fire itself. To create and sustain a fire three factors must be present. The three factors are known as the fire triangle (Peige ed., 1977). The fire triangle consists of oxygen, a fuel source, and heat. In most cases the percentage of oxygen concentration must be above 16% (Peige, ed., 1977). The fuel may be any flammable substance. The heat source needs only to match the ignition temperature of the fuel. In a fire involving arson the arsonist will have tampered with one or more of the factors in the fire triangle. The arsonist may increase the fuel load by introducing flammable material or by adding accelerants such as kerosene, gasoline or alcohol (French, 1979) The arsonist may increase the oxygen content of a structure by opening windows or punching holes in ceilings and walls (French, 1979) Fire will follow the highest concentration of oxygen to its source. By ventilating a structure at the top and starting a fire at the bottom of the structure an arsonist can cause the fire to race upward through the structure. The fire will rapidly involve the whole structure rather than be confined to one room.
Last Updated on Saturday, 26 September 2009 20:40
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- Bell, W.P., "A Proposed Definition of Homicide Reconstruction," California Department of Justice Firearm/Toolmark Training Syllabus, reprinted Association of Firearm and Toolmark Examiners Journal, Vol. 23, No. 2, April 1991, pp. 740-744.
- Bergman, P. and Springer, E., "Bullet Hole Identification Kit: Case Report," Journal of Forensic Sciences, Vol. 32, No. 3, May 1987, pp. 802-805.
Last Updated on Saturday, 26 September 2009 20:42
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By Dean H. Garrison, Jr. This article originally appeared in the MAFS newsletter April 1996. "I tend not to try to determine why people do things at crime scenes."
-Criminalist Charles Morton
California v Menedez II
Trial transcript 12-5-95 Crime scene reconstruction may answer the question of where a victim was standing when an axe hit him or who stepped in the pool of blood by the door or what caused the revolver's hammer to fall or when the third shot hit the car window or how the knife ended up out on the patio, but the crime scene reconstructionist cannot answer the ultimate question, the final question that tugs at everyone's mind, the all-encompassing, all-seeing, all-knowing question of WHY did the crime happen? This may account for the fact that attorneys (for either side) very seldom ask "Why?" questions.
By D.H. Garrison, Jr. Originally published in the Association of Firearm and Toolmark Examiners Journal, April 1993. "This reconstruction appeared on the face of it to be not only highly ingenious but practically flawless; and it was conclusively proven to be completely wrong."
- Henry Rhodes Clues and Crime In a sense, all areas of criminalistics and investigation are geared to the reconstruction of the criminal act. The latent print examiner can "reconstruct" the position of a suspect's hand on a door; the serologist can sometimes "reconstruct" the stabbing victim's position from stain patterns on clothing; the medical examiner can "reconstruct" the wounding of a human body. A more precise look at reconstruction, however, requires that we distinguish between the terms reconstruction, re-creation, and reenactment.
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Crime Scene Investigation
