FIS 201 Study Guide - Final Guide: Admissible Evidence, Body Bag, Detection Limit
30 Apr 2018
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Outcomes: Guilty, not guilty by reason of insanity,
guilty but insane, demised capacity. Less than 1% of
insanity pleas are successful.
Modus operandi- particular method by which a crime
is committed. Time, location, entry, tools, objects
stolen, assault committed, use of confederates,
transportation, trademark, signature.
Signature- unique aspects of the criminal act derived
from the psyche. victim characteristics, overkill, trophy
collection, body disposal, mutilation or staging.
Profiling:
Geographical- timing and location of crime scene show
where offender lives and works
Investigative- psychological analysis of mo. shows the
offenders characteristics
Typological- categorizes offender based on specific
characteristics of the mo. vs typical characteristics of
other offenders.
Clinical- determines whether the offender is suffering
from mental illness.
Antecedent: What fantasy or plan, or both, did the
murderer have in place before the act? What triggered
the murderer to act some days and not others?
Method and manner: What type of victim or victims
did the murderer select? What was the method and
manner of murder: shooting, stabbing, strangulation or
something else?
Body disposal: Did the murder and body disposal take
place all at one scene, or multiple scenes?
Post-offense behavior: Is the murderer trying to inject
himself into the investigation by reacting to media
reports or contacting investigators?
EXAM 1 NOTES
Evidence Analysis- detection,
preservation, comparison, association,
reconstruction.
Prima Facie- shows a fact to be true
unless disproven.
Circumstantial- could have arisen for
non-criminal reasons.
Corroborating- evidence that strengthens
or confirms evidence
Exculpatory- shows innocence of suspect
Incriminating- shows guilt of a suspect.
Real Admissible evidence: collected at
scene, processed and presented as
authentic, allows jury to draw their own
conclusions.
Demonstrative: scene documentation,
created after analysis, explains the scene
or explains analysis.
Secure scene without contamination-
approach and enter scene, check for
threats, provide emergency care, control
people at scene, establish boundaries,
document actions, turn over to lead
investigator.
Chain of custody- timeline
documentation showing seizure, control,
analysis, disposition of evidence.
Men’s Reas- Guilty Mind, crime on
purpose, result of recklessness, genuine
accident?
Actus Reas- guilty act, commission,
omission, possession.
Possible results:
True positive- actual truth says yes
True negative- actual truth both no
False positive- test says yes, actual truth is
no
False negative- test says no, actual truth
says yes
Simplicity- simple, fast methods are
performed first. Low false negative rate
but could have false positives. Justify
more expensive and difficult.
Simple- color test, immunoassay, light
producing reaction.
Cost- available budget for undertaking an
enterprise depends on important of the
case, type of evidence, more powerful the
test the more money.
Sensitivity- ability to reliably detect the
presence of a substance. Detection limit of
a technique, smallest amount of a
substance that can be distinguished from
the absence, in some tests, the amount of
the material needed to reach a conclusion.
Selectivity- ability to separate a group of
objects and individual. Prioritized when
evidence has many common features
identifying an unknown chemical,
determining a people identify.
Selectivity test- chromatography and
spectro.
Precision- reproducibility of
measurements, reduced by error,
prioritized when small differences have
large meaning.
Accuracy- closeness of test value to true
value, reduced by bias, prioritized when
we need to know an accurate value of
something
EXAM 2
External Examination- physical features: gender,
ethnicity, hair, eye color. Identifying features: scars,
tattoos, prosethics, and take photos.
Internal Examination: open body, remove organs,
visually inspect, weigh organs, section.
Closure: Organs may be replaced, skin is folded
back, stitched, body bag.
Microscopy and Toxicology- looks for cells like
cancer or drugs in system.
Livor Mortis- settling blood under gravity, areas
under pressure remain white. 20 mins-2 hours after
death. Becomes fixed after 8-12 hours.
Rigor Mortis- fusion of actin and myosin filaments,
unusual onset- 10 to 12 hours. Temperature and per
mortem activity level and releases as decomposing
sets in.
Estimate Shooting Distance- less than 6 inches-
seared or burned wound, powder deeply embedded. 6-
12 inches- gas fouling, powder. 12-36 inches-
stippling only.
Burns- 1st degree- reddened of skin. 2nd degree- red
and moist lesion. Superficial- blisters below
epidermis if deep epidermis is destroyed. 3rd degree-
dermis is destroyed and black.
Stages of decomposition- Fresh, bloat, active decay,
dry remains.
Kastle-Meyer- phenolphthalein in an alkaline
solution. Add peroxide plus the iron from hemoglobin
it will turn purple.
Leucomalalachite- McPhail’s reagent. Mix an acid
with hydrogen peroxide.
Hemastix- uses tetramethylbenzidine as the reactive
agent. Touch the pad to a moistened stain.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Outcomes: guilty, not guilty by reason of insanity, guilty but insane, demised capacity. Less than 1% of insanity pleas are successful. Modus operandi- particular method by which a crime is committed. Time, location, entry, tools, objects stolen, assault committed, use of confederates, transportation, trademark, signature. Signature- unique aspects of the criminal act derived from the psyche. victim characteristics, overkill, trophy collection, body disposal, mutilation or staging. Geographical- timing and location of crime scene show where offender lives and works. Investigative- psychological analysis of mo. shows the offenders characteristics. Typological- categorizes offender based on specific characteristics of the mo. vs typical characteristics of other offenders. Clinical- determines whether the offender is suffering from mental illness. Prima facie- shows a fact to be true unless disproven. Real admissible evidence: collected at scene, processed and presented as authentic, allows jury to draw their own conclusions. Demonstrative: scene documentation, created after analysis, explains the scene or explains analysis.
