AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT: CASE STUDY

Authentic Assessment: Case Study

Authentic Assessment: Case Study

A general overview of homicide investigation requires consideration of three basic concepts: coordination, technical services, and investigation. Coordination refers to the need to have one person assigned to coordinate all of the activities. That person directs the activities of all the services applied to the investigation and makes all of the final decisions. Those decisions may include when to close the crime scene, what additional technical services are required, how far a neighborhood canvass should extend, or when witness interviews are complete. The coordinator is the liaison between the medical examiner, pathologist, media and prosecutor. The coordinator also directs the focus of the ongoing investigation, and is the person who pulls the case together for presentation to the prosecutor.(Becker, 2000)

Technical services refers to the use of crime laboratory personnel for crime scene searches, the location and identification of evidence, and the proper marking, collection, transportation of evidence for later laboratory examination and analysis.(Wilson, 2003) Typically, technical services would also include crime scene sketching, photography, measurements, and latent print activities.

The investigation includes locating and interviewing witnesses, conducting area canvassing, and interrogation of suspects. Investigation activities also include the coordination and investigatory follow-up on all leads.

Importance Of Thorough Homicide Investigation

It is patently unethical for the police to conduct a homicide investigation that is less than thorough. Police investigators are required by law and ethics to search for and report exculpatory as well as inculpatory evidence. In states that utilize capital punishment, persons wrongly convicted of murder are particularly vulnerable because executions cannot be recalled.(Lyman, 2003)

Contemporary advances in DNA technology indicate that some people have been wrongfully convicted. Some anti-capital punishment interest groups in the United States have formed organizations to assist convicted murderers in obtaining new trials based on potential DNA evidence. The number of cases of miscarriage of justice involving wrongful convictions for homicide is not known with any certainty. The reasons for such wrongful convictions are equally as elusive. One case revealed that the prosecuting attorney withheld exculpatory fingerprint evidence that would have provided reasonable doubt for a jury. Other cases reveal that eyewitness testimony has frequently been shown to be erroneous and sometimes self-serving. Other reasons include perjured testimony, or testimony from forensic specialists who have testified beyond the scope of what the evidence scientifically indicated.

Sources Of Information

Quite simply, people and things are sources of information. They differ dramatically from each other, and the investigations dealing with them differ as well. Particular skills and abilities are needed to competently interview people, and other skills are needed to locate and examine trace evidence. Investigators deal almost exclusively with people in emotionally charged situations.(Wilson, 2003) They must deal with the problems of human weakness, such as perception and communication issues. A lab examiner, on the other hand, deals with things that cannot lie, fight, or flee. Although the investigator deals primarily with people as sources of information, he or she must also be well-informed and talented in ...