Evidence
A process that tracks the movement of evidence through its collection, safeguarding, and analysis.
What is chain of custody?
A branch of forensic science that focuses on analyzing evidence stored digitally.
What is computer forensics or computer analysis?
Specialized law enforcement who analyze criminal patterns and assign relevant characteristics to a perpetrator in order to narrow the number of suspects.
Who is a criminal profiler?
A national database used for fingerprint comparison.
What is AFIS?
Used by law enforcement to record several physiological processes simultaneously (pulse, blood pressure, respiration, perspiration, etc.)
What is a polygraph?
The physical alteration of a crime scene in order to reduce its evidentiary value or deceive investigators.
What is crime scene staging?
A branch of forensics that uses profiling to help determine the motives and mental states of suspects. It also resolves issues such as one's competency to stand trial, testimony, and mental health issues.
What is forensic psychology?
A person who researches and studies crime to prevent and reduce it from occurring.
Who is a criminologist?
A temperature and humidity controlled chamber that allows superglue to adhere to the water in latent fingerprints.
What is a superglue fuming chamber?
The genetic material contained in cells.
What is DNA or deoxyribonucleic acid?
Any foreign material that is introduced in the aftermath of a crime scene. Can be brought in by witnesses, suspects, victims, emergency responders, fire fighters, police officers and investigators.
What is contaminated evidence?
A branch of forensic science that focuses on the detection and interpretation of drugs and other potentially toxic compounds in bodily tissues and fluids.
What is forensic toxicology?
A person with specialized knowledge of a certain field that can assist in the understanding of complicated information or offer an expert opinion.
Who is an expert witness?
A computer software program that operates local, state, and national databases of DNA profiles.
What is CODIS or Combined DNA Index System?
A sketch composed of a suspect produced from one or more eyewitness descriptions.
What is a composite drawing?
A type of evidence that implies (but does not prove) that a person committed a crime.
What is circumstantial evidence?
A branch of forensic science that focuses on the study of insects and other arthropod biology in relation to criminal matters.
What is forensic entomology?
A person who studies human bones, culture, and skeletal structures in a criminal investigation.
Who is a forensic anthropologist?
A testing device that allows light to pass through an unknown substance to measure how it absorbs light at different confirmed wavelengths.
What is an ultraviolet visual spectrometer?
The legal term for a mental disease or defect that may absolve a criminal person of responsibility.
What is insanity?
Evidence that is created when two objects make contact with one another.
What is trace evidence?
A branch of forensic science that focuses on the detection and identification of biological material (blood, sweat, tears, etc.)
What is forensic serology?
A person who analyzes the written and spoken language of a perpetrator to draw inferences about their identity.
Who is a forensic linguist?
A testing device that heats an unknown substance until it turns into a gas and then measures its compositional makeup.
What is a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer?
A crime scene searching pattern. The scene is segmented into smaller areas, each of which is individually searched for evidence.
What is a grid search?
Evidence provided by witnesses either for the prosecution and the defense in a trial.
What is testimonial evidence?
A branch of forensic science that focuses on the forensic examination of deceased person to help determine the cause of death in a criminal case.
What is forensic pathology?
A person who examines and evaluates dental evidence in a criminal investigation.
Who is an odonatologist?
A testing device that propels a laser through an unknown substance to measure the amount of light it absorbs.
What is a Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR)?
A system of collection, organization, and analysis of information.
What is scientific method?