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Distributed cognition at the crime scene

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Abstract

The examination of a scene of crime provides both an interesting case study and analogy for consideration of Distributed Cognition. In this paper, Distribution is defined by the number of agents involved in the criminal justice process, and in terms of the relationship between a Crime Scene Examiner and the environment being searched.

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Notes

  1. This example follows the legal system in England and Wales; while other countries will follow different processes, the point is that several people are involved in the interpretation of evidence.

  2. In order to prevent one drawer obscuring the contents of the next, and in order to prevent the need to close drawers, the experienced criminal is likely to open drawers from the bottom up–but in this scene, we had obviously opened them top down.

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Acknowledgments

The work reported in this paper was supported by a grant from EPSRC [GR/S85115 MsSAM (Methods to Support Shared Analysis for Mobile Investigators). I am grateful to all of the people who worked with me on this project, and to the Crime Scene Examiners who gave an insight into their work.

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  1. Electronic, Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK

    Chris Baber

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  1. Chris Baber
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Correspondence to Chris Baber.

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Baber, C. Distributed cognition at the crime scene. AI & Soc 25, 423–432 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-010-0274-6

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