Crime Detection

7 Pages 1756 Words

Crime Detection is the discovery, identification, and analysis of criminal evidence as a means of law enforcement. The responsibility of law enforcement agencies is to detect crimes, apprehend the perpetrators, and provide evidence that will convince judges and juries that the perpetrators are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. To accomplish these aims a variety of methods are used, including reconstructing the crime, collecting physical clues, and interrogating suspects and witnesses.
The methods of detection employed are dictated by the nature of the crime and the procedures permitted by the legal system. Most investigations begin with careful, objective observations that are then assembled, collated, and matched against applicable law. If there is reason to assume that a crime has indeed been committed, further investigation is undertaken using scientific methods and techniques. Technological advances have been incorporated into criminal investigation as well; for example, analyzing trace clues such as dust, paint, glass, and other microscopic evidence is now possible.
Early criminal investigation was a crude process, relying on eyewitnesses, inferences, and confessions extracted under torture. In early 19th-century France, for instance, the principal technique for catching thieves was obtaining evidence from informers who were also engaged in crime. The first major step in modern crime detection took place in Great Britain. In 1829 the Metropolitan Police Act established the basis for the world-famous Scotland Yard detective department which investigated crimes in London and, occasionally, throughout the British Empire. The British example influenced the development of criminal investigation in the United States, where large cities patterned their police efforts after the successful model in England.
Criminal investigations are now conducted in the U.S. at municipal, state, and federal levels in accordance with the dictates of th...