Physical Evidence

Jennifer Juarez

Criminal Justice

CJ-2350

Law of Evidence

Salt Lake Community College

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When it comes to the basics of physical evidence, it’s important to consider all the

different types that there are. There is physical evidence, which is defined as “Material objects in

a criminal trial, for example, [a knife, a gun, a getaway car, fluid stained clothes that could

contain traces of blood, semen, hair follicles, skin, etc].” (Criminal Evidence, Garland, Page 412)

Real evidence is the item itself. And lastly, there is demonstrative evidence, which is defined as

“...a representation of the real [item].” (Criminal Evidence, Garland, Page 412). Though, it’s

important to also understand the meaning of relevant evidence, which entails that the evidence

must relate to the execution of the crime that was produced. Law enforcement officers must be

able to distinguish the difference as they go towards the next step necessary, which is

authenticating the item and laying the foundation. It is quite apparent that physical evidence is

the foundation of how most trials conduct their convictions for criminal activity. From real life

examples of cold cases that are solved thanks to Physical evidence, to experimental methodology

in obtaining evidence. To also exploring what the Federal Rules of Evidence considers to be

inadmissible and admissible in court. As well as transport of the evidence, the preservation of the

evidence, to the system of what is must go through in order to aid with conservation of the

evidence and the information it must carry when different people have custody of the evidence.

Even to real life scientific discoveries and new methods that I honestly had no idea about. These

are the reasons why physical evidence is so crucial, despite being so understated.

Joseph Deangelo is a primary example of such, not only because of his notorious, new

found infamy of being identified to be the Golden State Killer, who's also raped over 45 people.

Allegedly, at least. Yet, was also just apprehended not too long ago on the account of new found

technology with DNA that was finally able to pinpoint him. There are also cases such as Green

River Killer, who was not found until DNA was found on the body of a victim, though,
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surprisingly, even to the point that the Green River Killer was cooperating with law enforcement.

As the list of examples can easily go on, it’s apparent that physical evidence is the deciding

factor in a trial, between both the plaintiffs and defendants and to determine what is appropriate

when facing justice and punishment for breaking the law with their criminal actions and

decisions. However, not everyone is familiar with the actual basis of physical evidence, how the

evidence has to be recorded, in the sense of who was in possession of the evidence, and finally,

how it’s applied to law enforcement on a day to day basis, all while having to fit the criteria that

is enforced by the Federal Rules of Evidence (FRE).

Authentication requires that there must be a demonstration of verification to display what

the item is as claimed by the supporter, that either being the prosecutor or the defense attorney. It

directly must go through the “Laying the Foundation” process right after, ensuring that the item

truly is authentic. As the textbook, Criminal Evidence, 7th edition, states there are specific ways

to achieve authentication;

“Testimony of a witness who has firsthand knowledge; a nonexpert who was

familiar with a person’s handwriting and did not gain the knowledge of the

handwriting for the purpose of the litigation, such as a spouse or roommate;

allowing the jury or an expert to compare the object to an example and decide its

authenticity; distinctive characteristics and surrounding circumstances, such as

sending a bill to an address and receiving payment from the bill; or voice

identification that can be learned firsthand or through a mechanical or electronic

transmission, such as a television or digital answering device.” (Criminal

Evidence, Garland, Page 412)

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Though not every piece of evidence requires going through the process so they become

admissible. FRE 902 has a list of accredited public records and documents, that may be under an

official seal from national or international levels. These certain documents are able to self-

explanatory when it comes to authentication. It is still the responsibility of the law enforcement

expert to preserve and protect the evidence, as well as having to connect the dot between the item

itself to the accused person, their methodically prove their connection to the item, and how it

relates to a crime that was committed.

Evidence does still need to be documented as need be, specifically because law

enforcement must create a controlled process of who possess the evidence, and as explained

previously, to conserve and sustain the evidence as it was found at the scene of the crime or

acquire by a law enforcement expert. Which is why the chain of custody exists, it’s a controlled

system requiring documenting every single person who has or had custody of the evidence, as

well as conserving the consistency and characteristics of the evidence, the system itself in order

to keep up with recordings, the information that the records hold, and particularly containing

information such as;

“(1) the case number; (2) the name of the defendant; (3) the name of the victim;

(4) the name of the law enforcement professional who found the object; (5) the

date, time, and place where the object was found; (6) a brief description of the

article (this is important in case the tag becomes detached from the object and

because some objects cannot be recognized from appearance alone); (7) the

signature of the person finding the object; (8) the person to whom the object was

released and the reason for the release; (9) the date and time of release; and (10)
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the ultimate disposition of the object—what will be done with the object if it is not

used as evidence.” (Criminal Evidence, Garland, Page 423)

Despite the huge emphasis on conserving the evidence is, it’s also still important for the

evidence to be stored properly. Because to possibly let the evidence become compromised due to

lack of care and storage will definitely bring problems. Not only the officers and custodians in

charge of storage will be deemed incompetent, but the entire police department will be

scrutinized by the judge and the city, possibly having to face severe consequences due to their

neglect and incompetence. It’s also preferable that the least amount of people have custody of the

evidence, that way it reduces the risks of compromising evidence. However, dependence on the

evidence and all its contents is quite crucial, notably physical, even more so when it has skin

particles, hair follicles, blood, semen, basically any type of DNA so the scientific and

technological discovery may be deemed useful for law enforcement, the prosecutor, or the

defense attorney. Then there is the way to keep the pieces of evidence from being compromised

by outside factors that make it inadmissible. Separate rooms are created for the evidence to be

accurately gathered in, depends where you go, but usually there’s some kind of keys or

combination in order to gain access to the area that only a “property control officer and his or her

supervisor” (Criminal Evidence, Garland, Page 424) have clearance for entry. Obviously, must

be organized by the type of evidence it is, as well as having a refrigerator to contain

decomposable pieces. The evidence must also be put away properly by placing the evidence in a

sterile bag, marking it with the case number, the officer who found the item, their information,

where it was found, etc. It’s intriguing to see how much of a process physical evidence needs to

go through before going to court, but then again, there’s how police officers utilize evidence

outside of the crime scene and the courtroom, both experimental and reality.
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There was a study done one Texas law enforcement officers a while ago, they were all

gathered from agencies from Round Rock, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, and Laredo police

departments. Their responses are classified, as their responses may insulate that they’re only

responding to their own though versus following their own protocol from their own agencies and

doesn’t reflect as such. There was a total of 18 law enforcement officers, 11 of them were

detectives and 7 of them were sergeants. Additionally, out of 18 of the law enforcement officers,

one was a female. Half of them took care of property crimes, while the other half took care of

crimes against people. They all had to conduct interviews and interrogations, which all relatively

took about half an hour to execute. Furthermore, they have revealed a list of 12 interrogation

procedures and were inquired whether or no said procedures were effective or ineffective. One of

the methods that were listed was to confront the suspect with existing evidence of guilt, which

there were six of the law enforcement utilized and said it was an effective method of

interrogation. It also leads to an experiment of how likely suspects were to administer convicting

evidence before and after given their Miranda warnings and also seeing if a custodial or

noncustodial statements/interrogations made a difference. Oddly enough, suspects are more

susceptible to providing that kind of information before having their Miranda warnings told,

especially when the ones who were involved also disclosed that they would rather operate

noncustodial interrogations.

Lastly, there are cases such as sexual assault. It has become a rising crime, or at least in

accusations. However, just because there’s become a higher risk of accusations, it’s even more

crucial than ever to verify the claims and acquire all the appropriate physical evidence in order to

bring the criminals their punishment and give justice to the poor people that go through such a

heinous crime. Quite obviously, the physical evidence can be anything such as hair, fingerprints,
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skin, saliva, blood, and semen. They’re all a part of DNA, which individualizes the culprit, that

is if they have committed a crime before and their biological and basic information has been

entered in the police department's system.According to the academic journal, Use of Forensic

Science in Investigating Crimes of Sexual Violence: Contrasting Its Theoretical Potential With

Empirical Realities, “DNA technology has significantly advanced the analysis of sexual assault

evidence, including semen, saliva, blood, and hairs but has expanded the types of samples

available for analysis, including urine, fecal matter, perspiration, and abortion products

associated with rape-related pregnancies.” (Johnson, Peterson, Sommers, and Baskin) Which is

astounding that physical evidence is commencing to transcend beyond the most utilized physical

evidence that police department usually looks for. If anything, it also broadens the spectrum of

apprehension. Thanks to CODIS (Combined DNA Index System) and PCR (Polymerase Chain

Reaction) is why forensic scientists, law enforcement officers, and criminologists are able to

obtain the necessary pieces of the puzzle to be able to apprehend the suspect and take them into

police custody.

This is how physical evidence is such a huge part of the criminal justice system. Not only

because of the prerequisites it has to go through before even going into court, but also the way

how it’s preserved, how much the criminal justice system depends on physical evidence. As well

as how the FRE is applicable in determination of what is considered to be admissible and

inadmissible in the court of law, to how the evidence is transported from the scene of the crime

to the police department storage, to the information that it contains once someone has had

custody of the evidence. Including scientific leaps that lead to cold cases like the Green River

Killer and the Golden State Killer to be found. As well as law enforcement still improving their

skills and trying new methods to possibly apply to the real world. It’s information like this I
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could hope one day people would be able to see, to recognize all the hard work and the rigorous

process that physical evidence goes through.

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References

Dolak, K. (n.d.). Green River Killer Claims He Murdered Dozens More Women. Retrieved April

02, 2018, from

http://abcnews.go.com/US/green-river-killer-claims-murdered-dozens-women/story?id=

0282652

Frantzen, D. (2010). Interrogation strategies, evidence, and the need for Miranda: a study of

police ideologies. Police Practice & Research, 11(3), 227-239.

doi:10.1080/15614260902830005

Garland, N. M. (2015). Criminal evidence (7th ed.). New York City, NY: McGraw-Hill

Education.

Haag, M. (2018, April 26). What We Know About Joseph DeAngelo, the Golden State Killer

Suspect. Retrieved April 29, 2018, from

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/26/us/joseph-james-deangelo.html

Johnson, D., Peterson, J., Sommers, I., & Baskin, D. (2012). Use of Forensic Science in

Investigating Crimes of Sexual Violence: Contrasting Its Theoretical Potential With

Empirical Realities. Violence Against Women, 18(2), 193-222.

doi:10.1177/1077801212440157