CSS Solved Criminology Past Papers | What is meant by criminal forensic investigation? What are the hurdles in streamlining the criminal forensic investigation in Pakistan?
The following question of Criminology is attempted on the same pattern, taught by Sir to his students, scoring the highest marks in compulsory subjects for years. This solved past paper question is uploaded to help aspirants understand how to crack a topic or question, how to write relevantly, what coherence is, and how to include and connect ideas, opinions, and suggestions to score the maximum.
Keywords
Outline
1-Introduction
2-Understanding the concept of Forensic Criminal Investigation
3-Hurdles in streamlining the criminal forensic investigation in Pakistan
- There is no forensic training
- Fewer DNA labs present in Pakistan
- Lack of cooperation between state institutes like NADRA
- Few crime scene mobile vans
- No availability of crime scene forensic experts in police stations
- Modern and technical tools are not available for the police
- People disturbing crime scenes before the investigation
4- Case in Point: United States’ best model of forensic criminal investigation
5- Conclusion
Answer to the Question
Introduction
The core objective of the criminal investigation is to bring every single even minor possibility to prove the crime against the offender. It is the way to protect innocents and bring real culprits to court. Therefore, forensic investigation refers to the use of science and technology to investigate a crime scene. It is a very broad field that deals with physical evidence and scientific evidence. Forensic investigation helps police identify criminals when there is no other possibility to know about the offender. Similarly, if police find out a dead body of a person that is unrecognizable and has been dead for a long time. It can be recognized through forensic investigation. The DNA of a person tells everything about the dead person. By, using fingerprints and blood samples of the person. It becomes easy to know about even killers. However, in Pakistan police face a lot of hurdles during a criminal forensic investigation. In Pakistan, there is very few trained police personnel to conduct forensic investigations similarly, they do not have proper labs to conduct tests. People in Pakistan do not understand the sensitivity of crime scenes. They disturb the natural attire of the scene. Therefore, it gets difficult for law and enforcement agencies to collect pieces of evidence in the right form. Meanwhile, in Pakistan police stations do not have any trained forensic investigation officers and they also lack a forensic mobile van to transport and keep pieces of evidence in a proper environment. In Pakistan, all the state institutions are not well equipped to keep records and technology to bring true forensic investigation. Even there are very few DNA labs to trace those reports.
“Never theorize before you have data. Invariably, you end up twisting facts to suit theories instead of theories to suit facts.”
Sherlock Holmes
Understanding the Concept of Forensic Investigation
The concept of forensic investigation is to investigate crimes with the help of science and technology.
All the evidence collected from the crime scenes goes to forensics to check more about links between people who commit crimes. Similarly, tracing people through phone calls is an example of forensic investigation. When there is no evidence of a person against crime. Forensic investigation helps law and enforcement agencies to trace criminals with the help of blood clots and fingerprints. The most common form of forensic investigation is the tracing of sex offenders or rapists. Through DNA testing law and enforcement agencies can easily trace the linkage of a person back to his generation. Meanwhile, if a person is killed and declared as a case of suicide through forensic investigation the cause of death can be known.
Example in Hand:
“In old times people used to kill their wives and used to declare suicide as a cause of death. After advancements in science and technology. Through forensic investigation, the thing got in control to know the actual cause of the death.”
Hurdles in streamlining the criminal forensic investigation in Pakistan
There are many hurdles to streamlining forensic investigation in Pakistan.
- There is no forensic training
For forensic investigation, there is special training that is taken to perform particular functions. Every normal person from a law and enforcement agency cannot perform a forensic investigation. Similarly, in Pakistan, there is no strong culture of training police officials for forensic investigation. However, when a crime happens first police reach that crime scene. Therefore, because of less training, they cannot keep scientific evidence in a safe way. They disturb crime scene and criminals get their way to get out from the trails.
- Fewer DNA labs present in Pakistan
In Pakistan, there are very few DNA labs and they are even not present in all cities of Pakistan. Therefore, to get DNA sampling law and enforcement agencies send samples to check from those labs. Most of the time results from those labs never come in actual form. This is just because of the presence of few labs and all the samples cannot reach to the labs safely. It is a great hurdle for the police to acquire DNA tests and match with their investigation reports.
- Lack of cooperation between state institutes like NADRA
To trace criminals it is important for the police to check their previous records. This is not possible without the cooperation of all the state institutes. Forensic investigation works with the collaboration of hospitals and institutes like NADRA. Most of the time, when police investigate criminals or search for them they do not find any registered records. It gets impossible to find any linkage and trace their homes. Therefore, in Pakistan, the concept of digitalization is very bleak. Most of the time people do not register for national cards even. Later on, these things become challenging for the police to figure out criminals during trials.
- Few crime scene mobile vans
Forensic investigation is not possible without the preservation of evidence and samples from the crime scene. In Pakistan, police normally you their patrolling vans to investigate crime scenes. They lack in having all the required tools and equipment to preserve blood clots and Siemens from crime scenes to check in labs. Therefore, many times tests from labs come all the way wrong. It is important to keep special vans that can take and save all the things taken from crime scenes. Most of the time police just simply put things in simple bags and keep them in their normal vans to bring to police stations. It is mandatory to have special crime scene mobile vans to keep forensic investigations very accurate.
- No availability of crime scene forensic experts in police stations
Forensic experts are those people who know all insights and sensitivities of forensic investigations. They actually know how to handle shreds of evidence and remains collected from the crime scene. Meanwhile, in Pakistan people cannot find any expert in the police station to just look at crime scenes in meantime. Making a better forensic investigation time frame is very important because after passing sometimes all the evidence collected from crime scenes can change the accuracy of their tests.
- Modern and technical tools are not available for the police
Forensic investigation always demands modern and technical tools to investigate crime scenes. However, in Pakistan, it is difficult for police to streamline forensic investigations because they do not have modern tools and technical equipment to monitor things at crime scenes. During normal patrolling at night when police do snap checking they do not get anything to trace numbers of the cars and cards of the people to know about them. Therefore it becomes impossible for police to find out actual criminals moving on roads.
- People disturbing crime scenes before the investigation
In Pakistan, the most prominent issue faced during forensic investigation is common people reaching the crime when it happens. Most of the time people disturb the actual scenario of the crime scene. They can remove pieces of evidence even from the crime scene. Many people touching different objects can disturb fingerprints and it gets difficult for investigators to locate many people and identify the actual person who committed a crime. Therefore, for forensic investigation, it is important for people to understand that the help they try to provide can ease the ways of the criminals too.
“Physical evidence cannot be intimidated. It does not forget. It sits there and waits to be detected, preserved, evaluated, and explained.”
Tim Newburn
Case in Point: United States’ best model of forensic criminal investigation
Forensic science is a critical element of the criminal justice system. Forensic scientists examine and analyze evidence from crime scenes and elsewhere to develop objective findings that can assist in the investigation and prosecution of perpetrators of crime or absolve an innocent person from suspicion.
Common forensic science laboratory disciplines include forensic molecular biology (DNA), forensic chemistry, trace evidence examination (hairs and fibers, paints and polymers, glass, soil, etc.), latent fingerprint examination, firearms and tool marks examination, handwriting analysis, fire and explosives examinations, forensic toxicology, and digital evidence. Some forensic disciplines practiced outside forensic laboratories include forensic pathology, forensic nursing, forensic psychiatry, forensic entomology, and forensic engineering. Practitioners of these disciplines are most often found in medical examiner or coroner offices, in universities, or in private practices.
The Department of Justice maintains forensic laboratories at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Department, through the National Institute of Justice, is a sponsor of cutting-edge research. Its labs serve as a model for government forensic agencies at the federal, state, and local levels. The Department strives to set the global standard for excellence in forensic science and to advance the practice and use of forensic science by the broader community.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, forensic investigation is a type of investigation that is done through the use of science and technology. It is the establishment of facts or evidence to be used in criminal justice or other proceedings. Two of the most common crimes that are determined in the forensic science lab are drug-related crimes and sex crimes. Forensic toxicology can determine if a person was drunk or high behind the wheel of a car after a fatal accident, or if someone was poisoned to death. DNA evidence recovered from a victim’s body can help determine who was responsible for a physical or sexual assault. Similarly, during forensic investigation police face many hurdles in Pakistan. They do not have proper forensic vans. Pakistan has no proper DNA labs and police stations do not have forensic experts to look into crime scenes. The other difficult thing faced by police is a disturbance at the crime scenes. People present at the crime scenes disturb the actual sittings of the crime scene before police reach a particular place. For the best forensic investigations countries like the United States has particular different forensic departments to deal with such cases.
“Fingerprints are not just for grabbing things, but they leave their mark on them”
Archana Singh
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