Individual vs Class Evidence

Individual vs Class Evidence


Physical Evidence
Physical Evidence is any item that establishes a link between a crime and a victim or perpetrator.
Examples: a document, hair, fibers, fingerprints, soil, and blood.


Class Evidence Characteristics
Class Evidence Characteristics- physical evidence that can be associated only with a group (not a single source).
Goal is to reduce the number of suspects, but it cannot pinpoint one person or source.
Examples: blood type, fibers, and paint.



Individual Evidence Characteristics
Individual Evidence Characteristics- physical evidence that can be connected to a common source with a high degree of certainty.
Examples: anything that contains nuclear DNA, tool marks, and fingerprints.


Hair is Class Evidence
Since hair varies in texture from one region of the body to another it can only be used to determine similarities and not a single source connection.
Example:
Round/oval in cross-section in Caucasians
Oval /flat in cross-section in African Americans




Link to Lecture Slides: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1onV_...

*Due to the description character limit the full work cited for "Individual vs Class Evidence" can be viewed at... https://drive.google.com/file/d/19_vB...

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