Case Records and Reports
As is the case when collecting and handling evidence, documentation of the source, transfer, and state of said entomological evidence is crucial to a criminal investigation. An accurate record facilitates the tracking of individual pieces of evidence even if the item has been modified after the initial collection; modification can result by means of natural biological processes, like metamorphosis, or the manipulation of the insects by the lab during analysis. Accurate documentation also helps preserve the chain of custody for the evidence collected; it accounts for a detailed record of who has had access to the evidence, and the exact times and locations of when the evidence was moved and for what reason. It basically provides a step-by-step ranging from the time of collection to the court hearings.
Forensic entomologist (FE) records relating to a death scene investigation can be divided into eight categories: initial contact notes, evidence submitted, Death Scene Case Study Form, autopsy report, local weather records, Specimen Disposition and Identification Record, chain of custody record and receipts, and finally, the Case Study Final Report.
Read more about this topic: Forensic Entomology And The Law
Famous quotes containing the words case, records and/or reports:
“A woman’s whole life is a history of the affections. The heart is her world: it is there her ambition strives for empire; it is there her avarice seeks for hidden treasures. She sends forth her sympathies on adventure; she embarks her whole soul on the traffic of affection; and if shipwrecked, her case is hopeless—for it is a bankruptcy of the heart.”
—Washington Irving (1783–1859)
“My confessions are shameless. I confess, but do not repent. The fact is, my confessions are prompted, not by ethical motives, but intellectual. The confessions are to me the interesting records of a self-investigator.”
—W.N.P. Barbellion (1889–1919)
“He who is only a traveler learns things at second-hand and by the halves, and is poor authority. We are most interested when science reports what those men already know practically or instinctively, for that alone is a true humanity, or account of human experience.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)