Unit 6: Trace Evidences
6.1 Hair: Importance, Types and Examination
The importance: the frequent transfer (the Locard’s classic); the survival (the hair’s durability — the decades-old evidence); the information (the person’s-and-species’ narrowing). The types: the human-vs-animal (the cuticle’s-and-medulla’s structure); the body’s sites (the head, the pubic — the offence’s locations); the growth’s phases; the root’s presence (the torn-vs-shed — the forced-removal’s inference; the root’s DNA — the nuclear source) vs the shaft (the mtDNA only). The examination: the microscopy (the colour, the diameter, the pigment, the medulla’s index — the class comparison); the DNA (the root’s nuclear; the shaft’s mitochondrial); the conclusion’s honesty (the hair’s class-character — the microscopic match never the individualisation; the FBI’s later-review lessons).
6.2 Fibres: Nature, Types and Importance
The nature: the textile’s traces — the fabric contacts’ transfer. The types: the natural (the cotton, wool, silk) vs the synthetic (the polyester, nylon, acrylic); the manufactured’s generic-and-brand faces. The importance: the contact’s proof (the fibre from the suspect’s clothes at the scene — and the reverse); the reconstruction (the struggle’s-and-transport’s fibres). The examination: the microscopy (the morphology, the cross-section, the delustrant); the chemical (the solubility, the melting point); the colour’s comparison (the microspectrophotometry — the dye’s match); the class-evidence’s character (the fibres’ population-frequency questions).
6.3 Paint: Nature and Importance
The nature: the coating’s chips-and-smears (the vehicles’ paints — the layer structures; the architectural; the artistic). The importance: the vehicle cases’ classic (the hit-and-run’s paint transfer — the victim’s clothes’ chips vs the vehicle’s layers); the burglary’s tools (the forced-entry’s paint); the art’s forensics (the forgery’s layers). The examination: the microscopy (the layer’s count-and-sequence — the layer-structure’s individuality); the chemistry (the infrared, the elemental — the composition); the physical matches (the jigsaw fit — the chip’s-and-source’s edge match — the individualisation’s rare case).
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