Trace Evidence — the Body Fluids

Abstract

Trace evidence is invariably small in quantity and scanty in distribution. Frequently it is difficult to detect. It consists, principally, of fluids (usually in the form of stains) and discrete particles or fibres that a criminal leaves at, or takes from, the scene of a crime. Also marks — some of them very faint — are often left to indicate ‘suspicious circumstances’. One Founding Father of forensic science firmly maintained that

“every contact leaves a trace” — a sobering thought!