The Importance of the Crime Scene

For this assignment, students will begin by reading on pp. 27 and 28, the Introduction, and pp. 53 and 54 in the textbook the section titled Criminal Investigation in Practice. This reading refers to the infamous O.J Simpson case. The Criminal Investigation in Practice identifies areas in the OJ case that investigators left opportunity for the Defense to create doubt in the guilt of Simpson. To many, doubt was not in question; however, the questionable nature of evidence located, identified and collected at the scene left room for accumulated doubt, and the Jury felt this was enough to acquit. Make notes on what points of contention were raised as to the actions of the investigators, and the evidence lost as a result.

After reading this, the student will do a little online searching for cases that have been lost due to the loss of evidence from poorly processed initial investigations. You will find three cases of your choice to gather information on. Read about the case, and identify the issues of evidence that were brought up during the trial. For each case, you will create a chart (your choice on style) to record the information). Record the following information from the case:

1. The name of the case (State Name vs Defendant’s Name)
2. Type of offense and Location of offense
3. Date and Time of case
4. Basic Summary of the case

Once this background information has been gathered, you will then list piece(s) of evidence that were challenged in court or not admissible in court, and cost the Prosecution a guilty verdict. Once identified, explain why each piece of evidence, in your opinion, was not admissible, and what the investigating officer could have done differently to have the evidence successfully admitted in court. This will take some time to read cases to see these issues. You can use ANY case you choose except for the Simpson case (use it as a sample for what to look for).

Finally, you will write a one-two page paper discussing what you have discovered, and the value of conducting a proper and legal crime scene investigation (based on what you have learned in Chapter Two). This paper must have a Cover page (which includes a Title, Your name, the Course Name, and the Date in that ) and a Reference page in APA format (review APA resources for proper APA formatting). Three references minimum are required. Spelling and grammar will be graded.

Grading:

Title page—————————————————-5 points

Reference page———————————————-5 points

Spelling, grammar, punctuation————————–5 points

Correct use of citation(s)references———————-5 points

Topic thoroughness and presentation——————-30 points