The Science of Crime Scenes

The Science of Crime Scenes addresses the science of crime scene investigation and processing, including the latest methods and technologies. This book covers the philosophy of crime scenes as historical events, the personnel involved at a scene (including the media), the detection of criminal traces and their reconstruction, and special crime scenes, such as mass disasters and terrorist events. Written by an international trio of authors with decades of crime scene experience, it is the next generation of crime scene textbooks. The book provides in-depth coverage of disasters and mass murder, terror crime scenes, and CBRN (chemical, biological, radioactive and nuclear) - topics not covered in any other text. It includes an instructor website with lecture slides, test bank, outlines, definitions, and activities, along with a student companion site with an image collection. This text will be of interest to advanced undergraduate and graduate students in forensic science programs, as well as to forensic practitioners and crime scene technicians.

SECTION 1: THE SCIENCE OF CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION 1.0 The "forensic mindset" 1.1 From scene to laboratory to court 2.0 What is a crime scene? 2.1 Crime scene intelligence: Connecting people, places, and things SECTION 2: PERSONNEL AND PROCEDURES 3.0 Personnel 3.1 First responder on the scene 3.2 The investigator in charge 3.3 The forensic team: Officers, scientists and specialists 3.4 Non-forensic personnel: Superiors, officials, and the media 4.0 General crime scene procedure 4.1 "Freezing" the scene and the 3R's (Recognize, Record and Recover) 4.2 The chain of custody 4.3 Recording the scene: Sketching, photography, and video SECTION 3: DETECTION AND RECONSTRUCTION 5.0 Searching for evidence: Recovery 5.1 Detecting 5.2 Collection 5.3 Preserving 5.4 Submitting evidence to the laboratory 6.0 Evidence types and enhancement 6.1 Chemical evidence 6.2 Biological evidence 6.3 Impression evidence 6.4 Other evidence types 7.0 Crime scene reconstruction 7.1 An archaeological approach 7.2 Bloodstain pattern analysis 7.3 Photogrammetry and 3D reconstruction SECTION 4: SPECIAL CRIME SCENES 8.0 Special crime scenes 8.1 Disaster and mass fatalities 8.2 Terrorist crime scenes 8.3 CBRN crime scenes 8.4 Underwater and underground crime scenes