Crime Scene Investigation
The Biological Evidence Preservation Handbook: Best Practices for Evidence Handlers - this 2013 NIST handbook offers guidance for individuals involved in the collection, examination, tracking, packaging, storing and disposition of biological evidence.
A Guide for General Crime Scene Investigation - this National Institute of Justice website contains online crime scene investigation guides which are based on these previously published guides:
- Crime Scene Investigation: A Guide for Law Enforcement (2013) - This update to the 2000 and 2004 guide was developed by the National Forensic Science Technology Center and is available for free download.
- Crime Scene Investigation: A Reference for Law Enforcement Training (2004) - U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice. A guide designed to accompany the general crime scene guide. Provides step-by-step procedures for each phase of crime scene investigation. Provides more specific procedures than the general guide does for some topics.
- Crime Scene Investigation: A Guide for Law Enforcement (2000) - U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice. A best-practices guide for law enforcement produced by the Technical Working Group on Crime Scene Investigation (TWGCSI), a multidisciplinary group of content-area experts including law enforcement, prosecution, defense, and forensic scientists. Provides principles, policies and step-by-step procedures for each phase of crime scene investigation.
The Handbook of Forensic Service (revised 2013) - U.S. Department of Justice, FBI Laboratory Division. Provides guidance and procedures for methods of collecting, preserving, packaging, and shipping evidence and describes the forensic examinations performed by the FBI's Laboratory Division and Operational Technology Division.
Death Investigation: A Guide for the Scene Investigator (1999) - U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice. A best-practices guide for death scene investigators produced by the National Medicolegal Review Panel, an independent multidisciplinary group of both international and national organizations whose constituents are responsible for investigating death.
Articles
- Recent news articles - this page contains links to recent press coverage of local and national cases involving crime scene investigation and is updated regularly.
- Crime Scene Forensic Evidence Collection Guidelines for Defense Attorneys by John Louis Larsen and Daniel K. Harris, The Champion (NACDL) 28-35 (October 2011). A guide for defense attorneys for assessing whether law enforcement followed standardized evidence processing and collection guidelines, as per those promulgated by the FBI and DOJ.
- Shooting-Incident Reconstruction Within a Room by John Louis Larsen, 8 Evidence Tech. Mag. 14-17 (July-August 2010). Provides protocols for documenting a bullet-hole entry and for event reconstruction.
Crime Scene Investigation Experts
For information about potential crime scene investigation experts, see this online database.
Links
An online CLE on crime scene investigation and serology evidence by Marilyn Miller is available through the North Carolina Advocates for Justice.
BBC News has posted a series of narrated images that describe various crime scene investigation techniques and laboratory tests. See the 360 crime scene and the Crime scene forensics: How does it work? site.