ABSTRACT
NATURE OF EVIDENCE Evidence can be de”ned as anything legally submitted to a tribunal or trier of fact (judge or jury) that tends to prove or disprove a fact in question. In a very practical sense, the two fundamental questions to be answered in any criminal investigation are what happened and who did it? Many speci”cs must absolutely be deduced to ultimately answer these questions with a reasonable degree of certainty, but anything that assists the investigator
CHAPTER OBJECTIVES
A’er reading this chapter, you should be able to do the following:
1. De”ne the term evidence. 2. List and describe the general categories of evidence. 3. Discuss the linkage theory and Locard’s theory of exchange. 4. List and describe the major types of physical evidence. 5. Discuss the generalist concept and its application to forensic ”eld
investigation. 6. Describe the methods of identi”cation, collection, and preservation pre-
scribed for the major types of physical evidence.
