After reading chapter five and listening to this lecture students should be able to:
• Explain the requisite steps involved in processing physical evidence correctly, from its discovery through to final disposition.
• Identify the common errors in collecting evidence.
• Understand the criteria required to ensure admissibility of evidence in court.
• List the types of evidence most commonly found in criminal investigations.
• Compare and contrast the determinations that can and cannot be made from fingerprint, DNA, blood, and hair evidence.
• Describe special collection and processing considerations for the following types of evidence: shoe and tire prints and impressions, tools and tool marks, firearms and ammunition, glass, soils and minerals, safe insulation, ropes, strings, tapes, drugs, documents, laundry and dry-cleaning marks, paint, and skeletal remains.