Essay Plan – Briefly outline the crime scene procedures performed by forensic personnel

and explain how each procedure contributes to maintaining the continuity of recovered
evidence. Using relevant literature and case studies, argue that this continuity is essential to
ensuring that this evidence can be accepted by a court of law.

Introduction:
• Proper crime scene procedures are essential; they ensure that the evidence has been
accounted for at every stage and has not been tampered with.
• Potentially tampered evidence can lead to the wrong people being prosecuted, cases left
unresolved, and criminals unpunished.
• The continuity of evidence decreases the chances of evidence being tampered with and
proof of it.
• Argument – crime scene procedures uphold the continuity of evidence which is vital to it
being admissible at a court of law.

Main Paragraph 1: What procedures are carried out at the scene of a crime?
 Personal protective equipment (PPE)
 Securing the crime scene (both the primary and possible secondary)
 Searching the area for any possible evidence
 Documentation of scene and evidence as originally found.
 Collection of evidence
 Chain of custody

Main Paragraph 2: How do these crime scene procedures support continuity?

 PPE prevents evidence from being accidently tampered with by investigators.
 Securing the crime scene/s stops evidence from being damaged by the civilians.
 By searching any potential evidence should be identified to prevent it going missing.
 Proper documentation proves to the court the how and where the evidence was found.
 Collecting evidence and sealing with tamper evident tape will ensure to the court that it
has not been altered.
 The chain of custody ensures accountability for the evidence at every point of the
investigation.

Main Paragraph 3: Why is continuity needed for evidence to be accepted by the courts?
• Without continuity the case cannot sustain that the evidence was untampered, and it
may be ruled inadmissible.
• Annie Dookhan case study: A crucial step in procedures is the documentation and chain
of custody, Annie Dookhan altered evidence logbooks and the chain of custody
documentation was also problematic.
• This eventually led to Dookhan being sentenced to prison, and her actions caused 34,000
cases to be compromised due to both her incorrect testing of samples and forgery of
documents.

Main Paragraph 4: What happened when proper crime scene procedures weren’t followed?
 People are prosecuted for crimes they did not commit, and cases are left unresolved.
 Azaria Chamberlain case study: Azaria’s mother Lindy was accused of killing her daughter
till 2012.
 Searching was not done properly (there were limited resources), which led to evidence
like the Matinee jacket found several weeks after. And a knit jacket worn by Azaria was
found 4 years after, when a dingo lair was investigated.

Conclusion:
 All crime scene procedures are vital to ensuring the continuity of evidence.
 The six steps in crime scene procedure and how they hold up the continuity of evidence
briefly.
 How lack of continuity of evidence led to serious repercussions, chain of custody and
other pieces of documentation were either unused or altered in Dookhan case. This
caused close to 34,000 criminal cases to be potentially compromised.
 The Azaria Chamberlain case caused Azaria’s mother and family to suffer and be unjustly
accused off highly circumstantial evidence. Azaria’s case was left unresolved until 2012
and Lindy Chamberlain was in prison for 4 years for a crime she did commit.

References:
 Heavey AL. Collection and chain of evidence. In: Siegel JA, Saukko PJ, Houck MM, eds.
Encyclopedia of Forensic Sciences. 3rd ed. Elsevier; 2023:333-336. Accessed April 16,
2023. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-382165-2.00200-2.
 Redo
 Ayers K, Roberts M, Pettolina M. Crime scene overview. In: Siegel JA, Saukko PJ, Houck
MM, eds. Encyclopedia of Forensic Sciences. 3rd ed. Elsevier; 2023:689-695. Accessed
April 16, 2023. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-823677-2.00118-5.
 Ayers K, Roberts M, Pettolina M. Crime scene documentation. In: Siegel JA, Saukko PJ,
Houck MM, eds. Encyclopedia of Forensic Sciences. 3rd ed. Elsevier; 2023:680-688.
Accessed April 16, 2023. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-823677-2.00116-1.
 R.D. Lewis, “Chapter 1: Lawyers, scientists and the prosecution of offenders: A personal
view” in “A Forensic Science Casebook", compiled by S.W. Lewis, Curtin University 2021.
 R.D. Lewis, Forensic Science and the Law, Curtin University 2021, page 18-19
 WJ Chisum. Crime scene analysis and reconstruction. In: Siegel JA, Saukko PJ, Houck MM,
eds. Encyclopedia of Forensic Sciences. 2nd ed. Academic Press; 2013:378-382. Accessed
April 16, 2023. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-382165-2.00209-9.
 Azaria Chamberlain inquest. National Museum Australia. Updated March 6, 2023.
Accessed April 16, 2023. [Link]
chamberlain-inquest.

New structure:
 Paragraph 1:
o Definition of continuity
o Without continuity the case cannot sustain that the evidence was untampered, and it
may be ruled inadmissible.
o Case Study:

 Paragraph 2:
o Personal protective equipment (PPE)
o PPE prevents evidence from being accidently tampered with by investigators.
 o Case Study:

 Paragraph 3:
o Securing the crime scene (both the primary and possible secondary)
o Securing the crime scene/s stops evidence from being damaged by the civilians.
o Case Study:

 Paragraph 4:
o Searching the area for any possible evidence.
o By searching any potential evidence should be identified to prevent it going missing.
o Case Study:

 Paragraph 5:
o Documentation of scene and evidence as originally found.
o Proper documentation proves to the court the how and where the evidence was
found.
o Case Study:

 Paragraph 6:
o Collection of evidence
o Collecting evidence and sealing with tamper evident tape will ensure to the court
that it has not been altered.
o Case Study:

 Paragraph 7:
o Chain of custody
o The chain of custody ensures accountability for the evidence at every point of the
investigation.
o Case Study: