Criminal Investigation

by Brandl, Steven G.

• ISBN13: 9780205503704
• ISBN10: 0205503705
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-02-15
• Publisher: Prentice Hall

Summary

Criminal Investigation: An Analytical Perspectiveis based on the fundamental premise that an understanding of criminalevidenceis the foundation upon which all other knowledge of criminal investigation should be built. Other texts focus primarily on thetechniquesof evidence collection but in so doing, they miss other very important material namely, the value of evidence in establishing proof that may only be covered in college-level criminal investigation courses. Criminal Investigationexamines the problems, strengths, and weaknesses of various forms of evidence, and explainswhyproper evidence collection procedures are important. An understanding of these issues requires thorough analysis of them. It is in these ways thatCriminal Investigationprovides an analytical perspective.

Table of Contents

The Investigation of Crime

Criminal Investigation and Evidence Defined

Types of Criminal Investigations

Information Theory and the Criminal Investigation Process

The Role of Chance, Accident, and Discovery in Criminal Investigations

The Role of Logic, Analysis, and Inference in Criminal Investigations

Criminal Investigation in the Context of the Criminal Justice System

Levels of Investigations

The History of Criminal Investigation

The Importance of History in Understanding the Present and Future

The Evolution of the Investigative Task: English Developments

The Evolution of the Investigative Task: American Developments

What Comes Next?

The Structure and Content of Criminal Investigations

Forms of Police Action

Stages of the Reactive Criminal Investigation Process

Other Reactive Investigative Strategies

Outcomes of Reactive Investigations

Undercover Investigations

Outcomes of Undercover Investigations

Other Proactive Strategies

Outcomes of Other Proactive Strategies

The Role of Evidence in Criminal Investigations

The Meaning of Criminal Evidence

Standards of Proof

Types of Evidence

The Functions of Evidence

The Law and Criminal Investigations

Important U.S. Supreme Court Cases

Basic Legal Terminology

The Rules and Admissibility of Evidence

Constitutional Constraints on the Collection of Evidence

Physical Evidence

The Role of Physical Evidence in the Criminal Investigation Process

The Role of Physical Evidence in the Criminal Justice Process

The Crime Scene and Associated Procedures

Types of Physical Evidence

DNA Analysis and Its Impact on the Usefulness of Physical Evidence

The Role of Crime Laboratories in Criminal Investigations

Interviews

Interviews Defined

Types of Witnesses

Types of Information Obtained from Witnesses

Methods of Eyewitness Identification

Value of Eyewitness Identifications in Establishing Proof

The Memory Process and the Identification Task

Why Is Eyewitness Identification Evidence often Inaccurate? Guidelines for the Collection of Eyewitness Evidence

Investigative Tools in Interviewing

Interrogations

Interrogations Defined

The Psychology of Persuasion

The Role of Police Deception in Interrogations

The Ingredients of a Successful Interrogation

Steps in the Interrogation of Suspects

The Issue of False Confessions

In

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