UNIT 2: FORENSIC CRIMINALISTICS:
THE SCENE OF THE CRIME AS A SOURCE OF INFORMATION:
, THE SCENE OF THE CRIME:
-Information must be gathered before it can be processed for the purposes of criminalistic
interpretation, application and individualization.
-Collection of evidence begins at the scene of the crime as this is the location of observable and
concealed information.
-This information (direct and indirect) is heterogeneous and comprises the actual sense-
experiences of individuals as well as physical information through which the circumstances of
the events are revealed and the associative relationship between the perpetrator, his weapons
and/or instruments and his actions amidst the unlawful situation are determined.
This information includes:
o The spoken and/or written account of actual individual sense-perceptions and
experiences.
o Information which (according to the Locard principle) is left behind by the criminal at
the scene of the crime in organic and/or inorganic form, which possesses the definite
class and individual properties and presents usable potentialities for individualization.
o Information in organic and/or inorganic form which, pursuant of the principles stated
here, is transferred from the scene to the criminal.
o The presence of all other cumulative, usable objective and subjective sources of
information at the scene, their mutual as well as their common associative relationships
and usable potentialities for individualization comprising of the following information;
Corpus Delicti = The objective material which represents the juridical criteria for
a crime
Modus Operandi = The distinctive method of operation and conduct of the
criminal
Identity Of The Offender & His Part In The Crime = Direction and ways in which
the transgressor approached and left the scene.
Identity Of The Victim.
THE SCENE OF THE CRIME AS A SOURCE OF INFORMATION:
, THE SCENE OF THE CRIME:
-Information must be gathered before it can be processed for the purposes of criminalistic
interpretation, application and individualization.
-Collection of evidence begins at the scene of the crime as this is the location of observable and
concealed information.
-This information (direct and indirect) is heterogeneous and comprises the actual sense-
experiences of individuals as well as physical information through which the circumstances of
the events are revealed and the associative relationship between the perpetrator, his weapons
and/or instruments and his actions amidst the unlawful situation are determined.
This information includes:
o The spoken and/or written account of actual individual sense-perceptions and
experiences.
o Information which (according to the Locard principle) is left behind by the criminal at
the scene of the crime in organic and/or inorganic form, which possesses the definite
class and individual properties and presents usable potentialities for individualization.
o Information in organic and/or inorganic form which, pursuant of the principles stated
here, is transferred from the scene to the criminal.
o The presence of all other cumulative, usable objective and subjective sources of
information at the scene, their mutual as well as their common associative relationships
and usable potentialities for individualization comprising of the following information;
Corpus Delicti = The objective material which represents the juridical criteria for
a crime
Modus Operandi = The distinctive method of operation and conduct of the
criminal
Identity Of The Offender & His Part In The Crime = Direction and ways in which
the transgressor approached and left the scene.
Identity Of The Victim.
