Eyewitness
A person who saw the crime happen. They are usually interviewed to tell the police what they saw.
Suspect
A person who is believed to be involved in a crime. They are also sometimes called the perpetrator.
Victim
The person or people the crime happened to. Unlike on TV, this person do not always die.
Physical Evidence
Anything that can be collected at a crime scene and presented in court to prove that a person was present at a crime scene.
Crime Scene Investigator
A person who has been trained to record, collect, and test evidence from a crime scene.
Medical Examiner
A medical doctor who is trained to observe and document what happened to a person who has died.
Direct Evidence
First hand observations made by the witness or witnesses. They saw what happened.
Indirect Evidence
Evidence that can be used to make an inference about what happened at a crime scene. This is also sometimes called circumstantial evidence.
Trace Evidence
Tiny amounts of physical evidence that is transferred from place to place at a crime scene.
Alibi
Evidence or an excuse that shows that someone was not present at the crime scene during the crime.
Visible Prints
A print that can be seen due to a substance being left behind that carries that mark. The mark may be left in paint, blood, mud, lipstick, etc.
Latent Prints
Hidden prints left behind when sweat or oil is transferred from the ridges of the fingers to the surface of an object.
Forensic Science
The use of scientific knowledge and methods to answer questions legal questions.
Observing
Using one or more of your senses to gather information.
Evidence
In the legal system, something that can be presented in court to make a point during a trial.
Inferring
Offering a reasonable opinion based on observations and experience.
Predicting
Stating an opinion about what will happen in the future.
Autopsy
A detailed examination of a dead body to find evidence or cause of death.
Sketch
A rough drawing that is done of the scene of a crime.
Scale
A ratio of a model to the actual size of an object.
A mark that is left when an object is pressed against the surface of another object.
Impression
A pattern that is left when an object is pressed into a surface. This has three dimensions - length, width, and depth.
Skid Mark
The mark left when a vehicle with locked wheels slides along a road surface.
Cast
A replica of a crime scene object, like a footprint, made by filling the impression with a liquid that takes the shape of the impression as it changes into a solid.
Chromatography
A way to separate a mixture into its individual components.
Imprint
A print that is flat and has only two dimensions - length and width.
Ridge
A raised line on a fingerprint.
Plastic Print
An impression of a fingerprint left in a soft surface.
Motive
In law, it is the reason that a person does a certain action, or reason why someone commits a crime.
DNA
Found in saliva, blood or hair follicles, this is unique to each person, except twins. This gives a person their individual traits and is shaped is like a twisted ladder.
DNA Profile
A distinctive pattern of DNA fragments. In gel electrophoresis, the fragments are bands that can then be seen and then compared in an investigation.
Chain of Custody
A written record of all people who have had possession of an item of evidence.
What type of print?
Latent