FORENSIC SCIENCE Final Project - Term Paper Example

When a person is struck with a lot of force and at high speed, the blood spatter droplets are smaller even though they may be numerous. Hitting an individual with a fist can result in blood forming over a larger surface than would be the case if a gun was used. The appearance of a drop of blood is also dependent on the surfaces at the crime scene. A horizontal and flat surface will create drops that are round in shape. Running victims will create a series of drops on the ground that have spaces between them.

In such cases, following the line of the blood drops could also indicate the direction in which the victim was running at the time of the assault. If drops of blood fall from a height, they could split, on hitting the ground, and form smaller drops. Blood spatter analysis is deeply interesting because it allows the law enforcement authorities to be able to prosecute the real criminals in society. In the past, people could be falsely accused of committing crimes and then imprisoned even though they were not guilty, but were merely near the scene of the crime.

In addition, blood spatter analysis allows for crimes to be solved even generations after the crime took place. There are still crimes which took place decades ago which are being re-examined today due to the existence of scientific procedures that may not have been recognized then, for example. Brief History Even though the importance of analyzing blood patterns in crime scenes was realized as early as the late 1890s, the first recognized examination of blood spatters was conducted by Dr. Eduard Piotrowski in Poland, in the Institute for Forensic Medicine (Millington, 2004).

He would subsequently record his findings in his new book which was titled, “Concerning the Origin, Shape, Direction and Distribution of the Bloodstains Following Head Wounds Caused by Blows” (Benecke and Barksdale, 2003). However, the use of blood patterns to assess crime scenes would only happen half a century after the publication of this book in the State of Ohio v. ­Samuel Sheppard. Dr. Herbert MacDonell also believed in the importance of studying blood patterns in crime scenes in order to establish the weapons used on a victim.

In 1971, after publishing his book, “Flight Characteristics of Human Blood and Stain Patterns”, MacDonell would train police officers in analyzing blood spatter in crime scenes (Benecke and Barksdale, 2003). Today, bloodstain analysis is considered as a serious part of normal investigation procedures in any crime scene. Present use of Blood Spatter Analysis Blood is the one solution that is always present in every scene of crime in which violence resulted in the death or injury of another human being.

This blood allows experts to be able to come up with additional information to in recreating the events that led to the murder or injury of the victim. Blood stain patterns can also be used to disqualify or corroborate the claims of any suspects of a crime about what took place and how it took place (Englert and Passero, 2010). Experts can also use blood stain patterns to demonstrate the various postured of the victim as the assault was effected. For example, blood stain patterns will be able to show if the victim was already unconscious at the time of the attack; or if he or she was struggling with the