Deck 5: Physical Evidence and the Crime Scene

Question 1

Forensic evidence is most often used to ______.

A) establish the elements of a crime
B) identify a culprit
C) establish associations between offenders, victims, and instruments
D) identify a victim

Answer 1

establish associations between offenders, victims, and instruments

Question 2

In a burglary, pry or tool marks on a window may NOT act as ______.

A) corpus delicti evidence
B) evidence to identify a culprit
C) associative evidence
D) biological evidence

Answer 2

biological evidence

Question 3

At crime scenes, officers and investigators should NOT ______.

A) protect the boundaries of the crimes scene
B) let witnesses and victims have interactions with each other
C) maintain the chain of custody for physical evidence
D) take precautions to avoid accidentally transferring evidence

Answer 3

let witnesses and victims have interactions with each other

Question 4

According to Locard's exchange principle, ______.

A) investigators should expect to find evidence at crime scenes
B) perpetrators rarely leave evidence at crime scenes
C) the most evidence is usually left by the victims
D) investigators should rarely expect to find evidence at crime scenes

Question 5

Hit-and-run incidents may likely provide ______.

A) soil evidence
B) paint evidence
C) ballistic evidence
D) show print evidence

Question 6

Scientific analysis of hair cannot reveal ______.

A) the race of an individual from which it came
B) how it was removed
C) the presence of contaminates in the hair
D) the age of the person

Question 7

Which of the following is NOT a class characteristic type of evidence?

A) soil
B) glass
C) fingerprints
D) fibers

Question 8

With regard to fingerprints, which is FALSE?

A) Each fingerprint on each finger is unique.
B) Fingerprint patterns include loops, whorls, and arches.
C) The pattern of the ridges is separated by the depressions.
D) DNA analysis can be conducted on them.

Question 9

One of the drawbacks of AFIS is NOT the ______.

A) expense associated with colleting fingerprints from crime scenes
B) cost of the system
C) possibility that the perpetrator's prints may not be in the system
D) possibility that people's fingerprints change over time

Question 10

With regard to DNA analysis, which is/are FALSE?

A) The DNA in a person's blood is the same as in his/her hair.
B) Except for identical twins, no two people have the same DNA.
C) Mitochondrial DNA is more limited than nuclear DNA.
D) DNA was first used in a criminal investigation in the 1950s.

Question 11

DNA printing ______.

A) is used typically on fiber, glass, or firearm evidence
B) often blurs the distinction between an individual and class characteristic evidence
C) enhances latent prints so they can be of greater value
D) is still considered by most courts to be experimental science

Question 12

A(n) ______ is the area within the immediate vicinity in which the criminal incident occurred or was believed to have occurred.

A) crime scene
B) secondary crime scene
C) class characteristic
D) individual characteristic

Question 13

The first and one of the most important steps in a crime scene operation is ______.

A) determining the legality of entering and searching the crime scene
B) securing the crime scene
C) determining officer safety
D) neutralizing dangerous person or threats

Question 14

______ characteristic evidence has characteristics that can be identified as originating with a particular person or source.

A) Class
B) Individual
C) Unique
D) Group

Question 15

______ characteristic evidence has characteristics that are common to a group.

A) Class
B) Individual
C) Unique
D) Group

Question 16

______ bite marks would be left on a victim by a perpetrator.

A) Offensive
B) Defensive
C) Malicious
D) Justifiable

Question 17

______ bite marks would be left on a perpetrator by a victim.

A) Offensive
B) Defensive
C) Malicious
D) Justifiable

Question 18

______ are made when the oil and perspiration present on fingertips are transferred to another surface but are invisible.

A) Visible transferred prints
B) Visible impression prints
C) Latent prints
D) Invisible transferred prints

Question 19

Arguably, the most significant advance in the technology of criminal investigation ever is ______.

A) fingerprint analysis
B) bite mark analysis
C) DNA printing
D) video analysis

Question 20

______ is an electronic database that allows federal, state, and local crime laboratories to electronically exchange and share DNA prints.

A) PCR
B) CODIS
C) MtDNA
D) AFIS

Question 21

How should wet evidence NOT be handled?

A) placed in a sealed plastic bag
B) absorbed with a clean cloth and air-dried
C) stored in a refrigerator
D) placed in a sealed paper envelope

Question 22

What limitation does MtDNA have compared to nuclear DNA for the use in criminal investigations?

A) There are no technologies to analyze MtDNA.
B) It can only be found in hair.
C) It cannot differentiate between individuals with the same maternal lineage.
D) It can only be found in someone's bones.

Question 23

What is not a limitation of surveillance videos?

A) The videos are often of poor quality and therefore not useful.
B) They might not be placed correctly to capture the crime.
C) The camera might not be working.
D) Investigators are not allowed to publicize surveillance video images of potential perpetrators to ask the public for help.

Question 24

Which field is NOT directly part of the specialty fields of forensic science?

A) criminalistics
B) forensic pathology
C) biology
D) forensic entomology

Question 25

What is NOT a precaution that should be taken to collect and handle hair as evidence?

A) It should be packed in an envelope with sealed corners.
B) Two hairs are enough for a comparison sample.
C) Hair should be combed and pulled out.
D) When it is mixed with other bodily fluid it should be air dried before putting it in a paper bag.

Question 26

Pry or tool marks on a window prove that a burglary occurred.

Question 27

Physical evidence can act as direct or circumstantial evidence.

Question 28

DNA analysis was first used in a criminal investigation in 1987 in England.

Question 29

The most common types of biological evidence encountered are blood, semen, saliva, and hair

Question 30

Striations on a bullet are caused by the bullet moving through the barrel of the gun. Bullets fired from different guns leave different patterns.

Question 31

When blood dries, it is always brown.

Question 32

Elimination prints are fingerprints of all persons who are known to have had legal access to the scene.

Question 33

If lifted properly, fingerprints can always accurately indicate the source's age.

Question 34

Luminol solution can be used to identify blood that is otherwise invisible to the naked eye.

Question 35

Criminalistics refers specifically to the science of physical evidence.

Question 36

CODIS is to DNA what IFIS is to fingerprints.

Question 37

Forensic anthropology refers to the science of dead bodies and autopsies.

Question 38

Forensic entomology refers to the science of insects in answering legal questions.

Question 39

Explain the value of crime scenes in criminal investigations. What makes some crime scenes more useful than others?

Question 40

Discuss fingerprints as evidence. How are they classified? How can they be collected? How can they be analyzed? Identify the potential contributions and drawbacks of AFIS.

Question 41

Discuss DNA evidence. What are the two types of DNA?

Question 42

Identify and discuss the four roles of evidence in criminal investigations.

Question 43

Explain what CODIS is. Analyze how CODIS has increased the value of DNA analysis? Give an example.