Hair as Vital Evidence - Research Paper Example

Other types of trace evidence are as follows: glass fragments, food stains, feathers, metal filings, lubricants, building materials, pollens and spores, fingernail scrapings, cosmetics, gunshot residue, plastic fragments, chemicals, saw dust and paper fibers, plant and vegetable fibers, asphalt or tar, dust and other airborne particles, blood and other body fluids, vegetable oils and fats, textile fibers, insulation, soot, explosive residues, and soils and mineral grains among others. Nevertheless, forensic experts regularly meet relatively a few of them.

These include: hair, paint, fibers, glass, flammable liquids, and fingerprints. Hair has the potential of associating an individual with a crime or giving a clue to what transpired (Byrd, 2012). For instance, in a crime involving persons the paint of car can chip off and stick on the victim, an indication of a hit and run. Simultaneously or alternatively, the hair of the victim discovered in the suspect’s car trunk indicating what happened during the time of the crime. This paper examines how hair becomes a vital piece of evidence in nearly any crime.

Next the nature of hair as evidence, the techniques of collection, and its value will also be pursued. Finally, its effectiveness in pointing to a suspect and appropriateness in identifying the suspect as perpetrator will be analyzed. A French scientist, believed to be amongst the early pioneers in the field forensic science, Edward Locard, believed strongly that persons could not enter a place and leaves the scene without taking dust particles with them. This was later referred to as the ‘Locard’s exchange principle’ (Byrd, 2012).

According to the principle, when two objects touch or collide with each other, particles of each of them will be left with the other. The basis of trace evidence’s forensic study emanates from this principle. Forensic investigation involves the