2023-09-24 06:11:37
We feel intrigue and fascination every time a new episode of our favorite crime series begins, or when we hear witness accounts in a crime docuseries.
Forensic cases attract attention, whether out of curiosity or aberration, and are usually associated with other countries, although it is interesting to know that in Argentina there is a university degree that allows training researchers in this subject, the degree in Criminalistics.
But what exactly is criminology? It is a set of sciences applied to investigations of crimes, accidents or potentially criminal events. That is to say, a criminologist is not only interested in analyzing a crime but also those events in which it is not clear whether it is a crime or not.
A necessary clarification before continuing: criminology is not the same as criminology. Although it is not strange that they are used synonymously, they are two different disciplines.
A simple and direct way to explain it would be to say that criminology is interested in the elements related to a criminal act (or non-criminal, as we mentioned before), including, but not limited to the crime scene, the clues or evidence and even the victim. and victimizer. So, it focuses on the material elements that are used to carry out an event and those that are modified or created from it. As for criminology, it studies crime and its participants, but with the intention of determining the causes that led to its commission and possible forms of prevention.
With the clarification made, let’s continue with the work that experts do and the most common errors seen today in series and movies.
Real-life investigators are far from processing a crime scene wearing a designer suit and trampling evidence with their shoes. Protection is everything, so you should wear a white biosafety suit, shoe covers, safety glasses, face mask and head cap. But let’s not forget the gloves. There are several types, the important thing is to have them.
Not to mention the delimitation of perimeters, the famous yellow tape with the legend “Crime scene do not cross” that we see on the small screen is usually in reality a common and ordinary tape as long as it allows establishing the work area of the experts. .
After this separation and the protection of the scene, a visual inspection is carried out from which a general or global overview of what happened is obtained. It must be done methodically and adjusting to the conditions of the work space to give rise to the fixation of the scene, that is, the recording of what was observed, through a freehand sketch that will be raised to a scale plane, photography, video filming and written description. In forensic photography, a general shot is taken, a particular shot and another in detail of what is being observed. A metric witness must be included to know, when the photo is viewed, the dimensions of each object.
Fixation is one of the most important steps in the expert work because it allows us to capture the conditions in which each thing was found before examining it.
Subsequently, a coordinator uses his or her discretion to allow the experts to enter so that they can process each indication according to their specialty. Therefore, its entry order adapts to the context. At this point, the famous evidence markers with letters and numbers that we see in fictions are placed to establish the locations, the elements of interest are fixed, collected according to their nature (never with bare hands) and stored.
This last step leads us to talk about the star of police series: “the plastic bag.” The formula is simple: biological material + plastic bag = destruction of evidence. When, for example, a swab with blood is stored in such a container, oxygen does not circulate, humidity is favored and, as a consequence, bacterial growth, which culminates in the irremediable degradation of the evidence. But then, where should this type of evidence be stored? The ideal is a wooden paper envelope, a brown one, to achieve the flow of oxygen we are looking for and so that light does not shine directly on it, another factor that can harm it. Each envelope, box or jar used to store a clue must be properly labeled so you know what it is. This is particularly important in cases that have been unsolved for many years, the so-called “cold cases”, in which the evidence should be able to be used at any time to continue or complete an investigation. The expert tasks are finally recorded in a written record.
We must give an honorable mention to the technique of identifying substances such as cocaine by putting a pinch in your mouth and determining what it is by its taste. Common sense is valuable, so no, we should never put something present at the crime scene in our mouths, and even less so if we do not know what it is.
This is how the path of evidence that at some point will be presented as evidence in a trial begins. To ensure, then, that what is shown before a judge is the same as what was assessed in the laboratories and had previously been collected at the scene, there is the chain of custody, which is a record of the evidence and those who manipulated it. through time.
Continuing with fiction, DNA tests always seem to be the best resource, the most reliable and even the one that tells us who the culprit is. In reality, carrying out a genetic analysis means meeting a series of requirements regarding the good condition of the sample, its optimal conservation and what we are looking for.
In the series we see how a DNA sample is taken from under a victim’s fingernails, for example, in a case of sexual abuse and homicide (which makes sense if he performed defensive maneuvers) but, sometimes, also in any case. element present in the scene and the question would be: if mixed DNA is found from different people and in varied quantity and quality, is it advisable to do an examination? It’s not practical, it would use too many resources and end up being very expensive, not to mention the long time used, but it is possible.
Therefore, the criterion of choosing which elements to take from the crime scene is one of the most critical tasks that an expert faces, since a relationship with the event must be established that justifies collecting it to send it to the laboratory.
Another classic scene that is usually seen in fiction occurs in the context of the detectives going to a suspect’s home to ask him some questions and in a moment of distraction one of them takes a saliva sample from the glass or cup he had on his lap. table or, perhaps, asks to go to the bathroom and takes the opportunity to take hair from a brush. If we put this practice into reality, we find two big errors. Clearly, it is wrong to assume that the biological material collected belongs only to the suspect and not to other people, but the most serious thing is that evidence is being obtained illegally and about this there is a doctrine in Law, called “The fruit of the poisoned tree”, which indicates that the evidence presented at trial loses validity if it was obtained illegitimately.
We cannot deny that criminal or police entertainment content captures us and awakens all our investigative power. We enjoy making our own hypotheses, we analyze the facts as if we were working on the case and we get great satisfaction or frustration when we learn what really happened.
Let’s always continue to keep that curious and analytical instinct alive, it is something that takes us away from daily life and does us good to exercise our investigative skills.
*Bachelor in Criminalistics.
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