FSC100H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Cotton Swab, Forensic Pathology, Coroner
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Presumptive tests: establish possibility that certain tissue/fluid/substance present, generally cheap, quick and easy to use, use on large area/surface, careful of false positives, example, use a cotton swab with liquid a(cid:374)d s(cid:449)ipe o(cid:448)er (cid:449)hat (cid:455)ou thi(cid:374)k it"s (cid:271)lood. Identify a substance with greater confidence: more costly and equipment dependent, ex. Castlemire test, you put some blood in a machine, and it will tell you if its human or animal blood. Representations of certainty (comparison: class characteristics, evidence associated only with a group, shoe design, car model, blood type. Individual characteristics: evidence that can be associated to a common source with an extremely high degree of probability. Failure to e(cid:454)(cid:272)lude sa(cid:373)ples of (cid:271)ei(cid:374)g fro(cid:373) (cid:272)o(cid:373)(cid:373)o(cid:374) origi(cid:374). How many handwriting characteristics tie a person to a signature. Mass produced world, gather this data is difficult. Greater the number of different objects linking an individual to a crime scene. Weight of physical evidence is ultimately determined in the courtroom.
