ABSTRACT
The involvement of science in the investigation and resolution of criminal offences begins at the scene of incident-the crime scene. Without the correct identification of the scenes and their correct examination, all the tools of forensic science are useless. The authoritative international document published by the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC), Guidelines for Forensic Science Laboratories (referred to as ILAC G19), defines crime scene as a “scene of incident prior to establishing whether a criminal or illegal action has taken place or not.” The crime scene is not restricted to the location of the incident (primary crime scene), but also includes areas where relevant acts were carried out before or after the crime (secondary crime scenes). The crime scene is also relevant to incidents such as accident investigation, suspicious fires, terrorist attacks, and disaster victim identification, in addition to conventional criminal offences.
