The Role of Evidence in Forensic Science: Paper Example

Introduction

The evidence collected at a crime scene is a vital tool in the uncovering of the exact happenings before, during and after the crime had taken place, and finally bring those incriminated to books. However, the very evidence granted the powers to bring about justice could be a source of the denial of justice to a deserving party. This could be through the corruption, tampering, loss, and misrepresentation of the evidence to the court. Two decades ago, Nicole Brown Simpson and her alleged boyfriend Ronald Goldman were brutally murdered outside her condominium in Brentwood, California. The blood trail from where the two bodies lied, the bloody footprints leading away from the scene and the several sharp-forced wounds on their bodies all pointed at the brutality employed. Simpson's throat was slashed so deep, that her head could almost fall off, while Goldman, apart from a slashed throat, had nineteen stabs on his body.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

The physical evidence collected at the crime scene were an XL Aris gloves, size 12 Bruno Magli shoes, and a bronco car owned by O. J. Simpson. An after-crime investigation also revealed a fresh cut wound on O.J's hand, a blood stain on his socks matching that of Nicole and a hair strand as well matching Nicole's. The two had been having issues with domestic violence which led to Nicole filling for divorce, but before her death, they seemed to make efforts to reconcile. This history also placed Simpson on the spot as the most probable suspect. The evidence retrieved from the case enabled the police department as well as the court to narrow down their scope to O. J. Simpson. However, the mishandling, inaccurate recording and improper presentation of this evidence might have caused the perpetrator to walk away from a free man.

The first detective on the crime scene was Detective Mark Fuhrman. He noted a bloody fingerprint at the gateway, and recorded it in his notes, but did not secure the print, and once he left the scene, the fingerprint was destroyed by other officers and was never collected. Photos of critical evidence from the scene were taken but lacked a scale of measurement, while others were not labeled and it was hard to link them to the scene of the crime. Multiple pieces of evidence were stored and sealed together instead of separately leading to cross-contamination. Some wet pieces of evidence were stored before allowing them to dry up, causing an alteration in form while in storage (crime museum, 2017). The police officers even used a blanket from Mrs. Simpson's home to cover her body, thereby contaminating the scene as well as the body. The LAPD officers also left blood trails on the crime scene due to their maneuvers on the scene, making it hard to distinguish between the footprints of the perpetrator. The securing of the evidence also raise issues, as it was believed that 1.5ml of O. J's blood was missing, and it was not turned over immediately after extraction, giving room for speculations on how the blood could have been lost. Other pieces of evidence were tampered with, for instance, the missing lens on brown's specs and the moving of the Bronco from its original place. There were also claims of planted evidence due to the poor collection and documentation.

Conclusion

The crime scene is a complex setting surrounded by logic, science, and law, and anything and everything within it must be guided within these three dimensions. The crime scene must be secured. In most cases, this is done by the police tapes. All the evidence within the perimeter must be recorded continuously and documented while describing it with sensual parameters rather than perceptions. The introduction of new items within the crime scene can as well be regarded as planting evidence. Evidence must in itself prove beyond reasonable doubt that it is a depiction of what happened. The chain of evidence must never be broken from it to be admissible to court. From the preservation, collection, transportation, and analysis, all facts must add up. Inadmissibility of evidence in court might seem an unfair course of action, but given the irregularities, especially in the collection and preservation of the evidence from Nicole's murder, the court had only one root of action to take; declare O.J innocent.

References

Crime Museum (2017). Forensics at the OJ Simpson trial. https://www.crimemuseum.org/crime-library/famous-murders/forensic-investigation-of-the-oj-simpson-trial/