A crime scene is a location where an
illegal act took place, and comprises the area from which most of the physical
evidence is retrieved by trained law enforcement personnel, crime scene
investigators (CSIs) or in rare circumstances, forensic scientists.
Evidence collection
Strictly
speaking, a crime scene is a location wherein evidence of a crime may be found.
It is not necessarily where the crime was committed. Indeed, there are primary,
secondary and often tertiary crime scenes. For instance, the police may use a
warrant to search a suspect's home. Even though the suspect did not commit the
crime at that location, evidence of the crime may be found there. In another
instance, an offender might kidnap at one location (primary crime scene),
transport the victim (the car being a secondary crime scene), commit another
crime at a distant location (murder, for instance) and then dispose of the body
at a fourth scene.
All locations
where in there is the potential for the recovery of evidence must be handled in
the same manner. They must be protected from interference of any kind so as to
preserve any trace evidence. It is usually achieved by taping a wide area around
the crime was committed to prevent access by any person other than the
investigators. The conditions at the crime scene must be carefully recorded in
great detail, as well as conserved. Only when recording has taken place can
items be removed for laboratory analysis.Legal concepts impacting the usefulness of evidence in court (Daubert, chain of custody,etc.), apply to the recovery of evidence whether or not a crime actually occurred at that location.
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