8127/frame/fm

 
Transfer
(
 
Locard exchange principle
) — The exchange of material
between two objects (Locard, 1928; 1930)
2.
 
Identification
— Defining the physicochemical nature of the evi-
dence (Saferstein, 1998)
3.
 
Classification
/
 
Individualization
— Attempting to determine the
source of the evidence (Kirk, 1963; DeForest, 1983)
4.
 
Association
— Linking a person with a crime scene (Osterburg,
1968)
5.
 
Reconstruction
— Understanding the sequence of past events
(DeForest et al., 1983)
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Overview — A Unifying Paradigm of Forensic Science
77
number of principles that we feel are necessary to understand and practice
the science of criminalistics. For purposes of this section, we will incorporate
all six into the paradigm, leaving it to the reader to return after finishing the
section on divisible matter for a better understanding of the interdependence
of these six principles.
In attempting to relate them to each other, we conclude that only two,
divisible matter and transfer, define scientific principles that relate to the gen-
eration of evidence; the other concepts, 
 
identification
, 
 
association
through 
 
class
and 
 
individualizing
characteristics, and 
 
reconstruction
, are integral to the 
 
prac-
tice
of forensic science, and are 
 
processes
we use in our attempt to answer the
various investigative questions, “who? what? where? why? when? and how?”
Figure 3.1 is a pictorial representation of the paradigm as we understand
it. All of the ideas we have discussed are arranged around a physical and
temporal focus, the 
 
crime
. The interactive elements of a scene, a victim, a
suspect, and witnesses are not novel. However, they are usually depicted as
a triangle with the victim, suspect, and witnesses as apices surrounding the
physical scene. We prefer to think of these elements as overlapping domains.
Regardless, the crime defines the border between the generation of evidence
and the recognition and subsequent analysis and interpretation of evidence.