Crime Scenes Revision
We're now at the point where we're ready to take on our second of three unit assessments. This one will cover the learning outcomes for the crime scenes unit, including the following:
Check...
Check the above to make sure you're familiar with each of the topics within this unit. Make a note of any that you specifically feel like you need to revise.
Read the SQA SPECIFICATION, particularly the 'Evidence requirements for this unit' because, unsurprisingly, that's what we'll be assessed on.
Assessment conditions
Assessments to be completed and submitted on Teams (not by email)
Assessment conditions: under normal circumstances, part of the assessment paper would be undertaken in closed-book conditions. However, in light of the current restrictions and the subsequent SQA guidance on assessments, this assessment will now be entirely open-book.
You are therefore encouraged to use any resources you may have collated over the course of the unit. Because it's now open-book and you all have access to more than enough information (either work you've completed or resources here and 3rd party), I'm limited in the amount of direct help I can give you. I can go over content but I cannot answer questions for you or give you guidance or detailed feedback on your answers.
Reassessment: as with our first assessment, if you fail to meet the learning requirements you will get 1 opportunity to resubmit (remediation). Failure to submit by the deadline will constitute 'no submission'. In this instance, you will still have an opportunity to submit the assessment but your first attempt will have already passed and therefore you've got to get it right first time.
Plagiarism: in the first unit assessment there were quite a few hand-ins which I would say were borderline for plagiarism - I don't know why people think I'm bluffing when I say the work is checked for plagiarism but this time round I'll be tightening the conditions - any work that comes in to me with more than 12% plagiarism will be returned without being marked and considered your first attempt. A second plagiarised submission ( > 12%, not including questions) will be considered a Fail. A plagiarised assessment shows you can copy and paste, it's not evidence of learning.
CRIME SCENE PROTOCOL AND THE ROLE OF THE FOA
YOUR PRIMARY RESOURCE FOR THIS SECTION OF THE UNIT IS LIKELY TO BE POLICE SCOTLAND'S CRIME INVESTIGATION STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE (SOP) : ACCESSIBLE HERE
IN PARTICULAR, SECTION 2 AND THE FIRST PART OF SECTION 4 (4.1 - 4.4) SUMMARISES CRIME SCENE PROTOCOL AND THE REMAINDER OF SECTION 4 GIVES MORE DETAIL ABOUT THE CATEGORIES OF ACTION AN FOA SHOULD TAKE AS WELL AS SPECIFIV ACTIONS WITHIN EACH CATEGORY.
Crime Scenes Investigation:
Slides covering the role of the first officer attending and crime scene protocol for the collection of evidence. The slides also cover fingerprints and biological evidence (blood), two of our main categories of physical evidence.
Dillinger & Ramirez case studies + Classification systems
The slides also have some psychological evidence and profiling bits but they're quite complex - simpler slides below
Do I know what I need to?
Can you summarise what crime scene protocol is concerned with and why it is important?
What are the categories of activity (and the order thereof) an FOA should undertake?
What specific actions does an FOA undertake to achieve these categories?
PHSYICAL EVIDENCE
OVER THE COURSE OF THE UNIT, WE'VE LOOKED AT A VARIETY OF TYPES OF PHYSICAL EVIDENCE INCLUDING HOW A FORENSIC CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATOR MIGHT IDENTIFY AND RECOVER SAID EVIDENCE FROM A CRIME SCENE, HOW IT IS THEN ANALYSED AND WHAT TYPE OF INFORMATION IT MIGHT REVEAL ABOUT THE PERPETRATOR OF A CRIME. WE'VE ALSO LOOKED AT SPECIFIC CASES IN WHICH EACH TYPE OF PHYSICAL EVIDENCE PLAYED A KEY ROLE.
The following slides alongside the work you may have already submitted on 'Physical Evidence' will likely be your key resources for this section of the assessment (slides for fingerprints and biological evidence are above).
Do I know what I need to?
What are the main categories of evidence which might be found at a crime scene?
Can you provide examples of multiple types within each category?
Can you explain how each type of physical evidence might have been left at a crime scene?
How might the evidence be collected from the crime scene and how is it analysed at the lab?
Do you know of any real-life cases which involved each class of evidence?
PSYCHOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
We've been learning online since the start of the 'psychological evidence' part of the crime scenes unit so the resources you need to revise for this section are likely to come from this website, the linked resources and embedded slides as well as potentially the work you've handed in up until this point.
Relying on the Locard's principle of exchange, physical evidence recovered from a crime scene helps us identify our perpetrators. However, the arrangement of that evidence may allude to more than just the physical, literal, aspects of the crime - for example the mindset, motivation and level of intent of a criminal. Psychological evidence goes beyond the physical elements of a crime, allowing us to infer characteristics of the perpetrator (aka generate a profile)
Think about it
Consider what the evidence indicates about the level of intent - that is, how premeditated was the act. Both crime scenes are virtually identical apart from the following key differences...
Crime scene one appears to have been broken into using a brick that was lying nearby - the lock was smashed off of the door.
Crime scene two appears to have been broken into using a lockpick to pick the lock.
Consider what the evidence indicates about the emotional context - that is, was this a controlled act or was it potentially fuelled by emotion...
At crime scene one, the victim has a single gunshot wound to the head which ballistics later reveals to have been caused by a shooter at least 100m away
At crime scene two, the victim has been stabbed to death - the stab wounds are deep and appear to have continued even after the victim died.
KEY POINT: PSYCHOLOGICAL EVIDENCE IS ANY EVIDENCE WHICH TELLS US MORE THAN JUST WHO THE PERPETRATOR OF A CRIME MIGHT BE. ALONGSIDE SUGGESTING THE LEVEL OF INTENT BY EVIDENCE OF PRE-PLANNING OR PREPAREDNESS, PSYCHOLOGICAL EVIDENCE CAN TELL US SO MUCH MORE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THINGS LIKE THE EMOTIONAL CONTEXT - WAS THIS A STRANGER ATTACK OR A CRIME OF PASSION FOR EXAMPLE - LEVEL OF FAMILIARITY (BETWEEN VICTIM AND PERPETRATOR(S)) AND EVEN MOTIVATING FACTORS FOR THE CRIME (SEE BELOW)
Intent and emotional context are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the psychological evidence on offer at a crime scene. Over time, profilers have established patterns of evidence which relate to specific characteristics of the perpetrators - for example, how someone is killed may give clues as to the motivation; is the goal to kill (act-focussed) or is to cause distress (process-focussed)?
Hazelwood (1987) Organised vs Disorganised
One of the most widely known profiling practices which remains in use by the FBI is that of categorising the crime scene as organised or disorganised. After introducing the terms in 'The Lust Murderer' in 1980, Hazelwood went on to flesh out the theory in their 1987 paper. By reviewing dozens of crime scenes, Hazelwood established a set of characteristics to go with each 'type'; organised or disorganised. These characteristics are both psychological and physical (demographics).
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Do I know what I need to?
What is psychological evidence and how is it different to physical evidence?
What examples of psychological evidence might be found at a crime scene and how do they allow us to infer characteristics of the offender or crime itself?
What are the features of organised and disorganised crime scenes?
What are the implied characteristics of organised and disorganised criminals?
UNIT ASSESSMENT
J48E45 - CRIME SCENES
Due date: 12th February 2021
Assignment is on TEAMS