1 Crime scene to court
Look at the crime scene to courtroom process diagram. Click on the tiles labelled with the different roles to find out what each person does.
Diagram: Crime to Court Booklet 2.2 [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] (use pp 3-6 or pp 3 and 5).
From ana: maybe we could convert this into a nice 5hp? requested access on 10/12/25 for ppThe victim, Dave, was found unconscious in the gym locker room by Rob, a member of the cleaning team. The police arrived to secure and preserve the scene, gather materials of potential evidence, follow all lines of enquiry and coordinate between Dave, the forensic scientists and the eyewitness. Dave was taken to the hospital. Rob reported to the police that he found a baseball bat hidden in a locker near where Dave was found.
Audio to be recorded[Video]Dave: I don’t remember much. One minute I was getting stuff from my locker to head home, then Rob was kneeling above me. I was taken to the hospital and the doctor said I had a mild concussion and could go home.
Rob and the hospital were great, but the police felt a bit pushy – they kept asking me to remember things I couldn't. I know they are doing their job, but it feels like they’re pressuring me to give them information I just don't have.
Activity 1
a.
1) I’d trust them
b.
2) I wouldn’t trust them.
c.
3) I don’t know.
The correct answers are a, b and c.
Discussion
Research shows that public trust in the police has been declining (Cotter, 2015). Recent surveys indicate confidence fell from 58 % in 2019 to 49 % in 2022 (YouGov, 2019; 2022). Dave’s feelings about the police might be representative of the general public’s view. It can be difficult to distinguish between trust in the police and trust in forensic science evidence, since the two are often connected. For marginalised communities, such as ethnic minorities or those with prior negative experiences of law enforcement, this distinction can be even more blurred — people may trust the science but distrust the system delivering it (Trust interviews, 2025).
An eyewitness has come forward; he was walking past the gym entrance and has provided evidence on what he saw. Below is what the witness says:
Audio to be recorded: Eyewitness: “I was walking past the gym entrance at 1:45am. I’m sure that was the time because I had just come from the off license and my receipt was time stamped at 1:40am. I saw a guy running out of the gym with what looked like a large bag, but it didn’t look heavy. He looked athletic, had dark hair, and moving quickly so I think he couldn’t have been over 35 years old. I was about 30 metres away and it was dark but I saw him clearly. I described him to the police but they seemed sceptical of my description”.Activity 2
a.
highly trusted
b.
trusted
c.
not trusted
d.
definitely not trusted
e.
I don’t know
The correct answers are a, b, c, d and e.
Discussion
Research shows that 97% of the public are familiar with forensic science, but mainly from TV shows (Trust general survey, 2025). Eyewitnesses can be useful but they can also wrongly identify people. Since its formation in 1992, the US Innocence Project has overturned numerous wrongful convictions, many based on faulty eyewitness testimony later disproved by DNA evidence. DNA and other forensic science evidence can be more reliable than eyewitness evidence.
Crime Scene Investigators (CSIs) are requested to attend the gym scene by the responding police officer to search for and recover items which may be relevant to the alleged assault and might generate forensic evidence relating to the alleged offence. Other CSIs may also later be asked to examine any additional scenes and recover other potentially relevant items such as the bag the witness saw or clothing from a potential suspect.
Activity 3
Investigating the scene: If you were the police investigator in Dave’s case, what would you ask the Crime Scene Investigator (CSI) to look for at the crime scene (the gym locker room) to help identify a culprit or assist in determining whether a crime had been committed?
Discussion
The CSI focuses on identifying, recording, retrieving and packaging traces that could be related to the alleged offence. These traces may be physical (weapons, fibres, hairs, shoeprints, fingerprints, DNA etc) or digital (phones, computers, routers, IoT devices, access logs etc). The CSI must collect all relevant evidential items that can progress the investigation. In this scenario the CSI might swab items for DNA, such as the bat, locker, door handles and bags – recognising that many people use items daily, and their DNA could be present on surfaces for innocent reasons. Digital evidence, such as electronic gym access and mobile phone activity could help reconstruct movements and link individuals to the scene.
The CSI identified and recovered the baseball bat at the crime scene. Pictures of the blood spatter at the scene were taken for later analysis and interpretation by a blood pattern analyst. The main items of evidence in this case involve potential DNA from blood and the baseball bat, fingerprints, and digital evidence, and any subsequent items that may be recovered, such as Dave’s clothing which will be documented, recovered, packaged and submitted to the laboratory.
Here you can see what a forensic science laboratory looks like, this is where a forensic scientist might examine items of potential evidential value in detail.
Now that you’ve seen the laboratory, listen to what the forensic biologist says about Dave’s case.