Forensic Evidence - Free Essay Sample for You

Often, paint evidence is usually required for the collection of evidence in hit-and-run cases. However, in the instances of burglaries and other separate incidences, it can also be used. As a result, there is a procedure depending on the jurisdiction in which this kind of evidence can be collected and adduced before a court.

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In the collection of this kind of evidence, it is important to note that paint is transferrable, and as such requires the investigating officer to collect samples on other related surfaces such as clothes, tears, glazes of pressure and other points of contact. If such is found, then it is not advisable to remove it but rather to wrap the entire clothe and send it to the lab. The paint that has been discovered will represent the paint of the car that has been used. However, with the modern trend of cars having several colors of paint, then that sample will only represent the color of the part of the car that hit them (Ryland, 1995). It is not possible to conclude on the make and model of the car based on the evidence from the paint since it is only fragments of the paint layer that are transferred onto the clothes of the victim. In the case where there are multiple layers of paint that are deposited on the victim, it is possible that the car has been repainted. As a result, it is going to be very helpful to determine the suspected car when it is located.

When the suspect car is located, it is important to ensure that the parts of the car that show fresh damage be inspected. Where paint appears to have come out, analyze these parts for the sample that was collected on the clothes of the victim for the presence of the sample in question. It is possible that despite the similarity of the paint color, the determination of the specific area where the car hit the victim is determined. Where more than two cars have hit each other, there may be instances of cross-transfer of paint. Ensure that such samples are separated.

The CODIS is a unit with the Federal Bureau of Investigations that combines the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). This is a system that contains a database necessary for supporting the criminal justice system by providing a database for the verification of DNA samples. Participating laboratories often have samples of DNA from the federal, state and local levels submitted in this database for comparison with samples that pop up within the criminal justice system (Butler, 1998). The database is as a result of the thinking of scientists for an ease of identification of organic and inorganic substances with ease through the running of these samples through a test for properties and comparison to an item on the database.

As a result, there has been ease of identification of substances since the inception of this idea. Government offices can also easily identify someone from the blood sample that they obtain by cross-referencing their DNA to the CODIS system. The result is that there has been ease of access to personal information in the field of criminal justice. CODIS is employed as soon as a person gets to the clinic and their samples are obtained. This has helped forensic science in the easy identification of substances.

References

Butler, J. (1998). Genetics and Genomics of Core Short Tandem Repeat Loci Used in Human Identity Testing. Journal of Forensic Science .

Ryland, S. (1995). Infrared microspectroscopy of forensic paint evidence. In H. Humecki, Practical Guide to Infrared Microspectroscopy. New York: Marcell Decker.