2023-2024 Kayleigh de Bruin
23053521Y – Criminalistiek en Bewijswaardering
Samenvatting Literatuur en Hoorcolleges
Semester 1 2023-2024
, 2023-2024 Kayleigh de Bruin
Literatuur week 1: 4 – 8 September
Boek Hoofdstuk 1: Introduction
Forensic evidence can help us to establish the following:
That a particular person was at a given place at a given time;
That a particular person carried out an activity, such as signing a cheque or breaking a
window;
That something was done with a particular instrument, for example, a door was forced
with a particular tool;
A relationship between two people, for example, a paternity disputes and incest or
immigration cases.
We propose to concentrate on how such evidence should be interpreted and incorporated
into the court process.
1.1 Three Principles.
() Locard’s principle: a perpetrator will either leave marks or traces on the crime scene or
carry traces from the crime scene. This is often misquoted as every contact leaves a trace.
() Principle of individuality: Two objects may be indistinguishable, but no two objects are
identical.
() Individualisation principle: if enough similarities are seen between two objects to
exclude the possibility of coincidence, then those objects must have come from the same
source.
The possibility of a coincidence can never be completely excluded. No general
criterion is possible for the number of coincidences needed to decide an individualisation.
How certain we could be would also depend on other evidence and information in the
case. Clearly, such issues and decisions are not up to the forensic scientist but rather the
23053521Y – Criminalistiek en Bewijswaardering
Samenvatting Literatuur en Hoorcolleges
Semester 1 2023-2024
, 2023-2024 Kayleigh de Bruin
Literatuur week 1: 4 – 8 September
Boek Hoofdstuk 1: Introduction
Forensic evidence can help us to establish the following:
That a particular person was at a given place at a given time;
That a particular person carried out an activity, such as signing a cheque or breaking a
window;
That something was done with a particular instrument, for example, a door was forced
with a particular tool;
A relationship between two people, for example, a paternity disputes and incest or
immigration cases.
We propose to concentrate on how such evidence should be interpreted and incorporated
into the court process.
1.1 Three Principles.
() Locard’s principle: a perpetrator will either leave marks or traces on the crime scene or
carry traces from the crime scene. This is often misquoted as every contact leaves a trace.
() Principle of individuality: Two objects may be indistinguishable, but no two objects are
identical.
() Individualisation principle: if enough similarities are seen between two objects to
exclude the possibility of coincidence, then those objects must have come from the same
source.
The possibility of a coincidence can never be completely excluded. No general
criterion is possible for the number of coincidences needed to decide an individualisation.
How certain we could be would also depend on other evidence and information in the
case. Clearly, such issues and decisions are not up to the forensic scientist but rather the
