Bloodstain Pattern Analysis Essay

Words: 455
Pages: 2

When a crime occurs, it is the analyst, or the crime scene investigator’s job, to collect, preserve, and analyze any evidence found or left behind. This includes blood. In some crimes, this red liquid that circulates in our bodies falls on the ground or some type of surface, leaving behind bloodstains. Then, bloodstain pattern analysts come in and examine the patterns at the scene. I decided to conduct an investigation that involves the study of bloodstain pattern and how their size correlates with the distance from which the blood fell from. This is important because when working on a crime scene, blood spatters can give us a lot of information on the victim, the weapon used, and the suspect. It helps crime scene investigators gain more …show more content…
Those blood spots turn into blood stains. Bloodstain pattern analysis (BPA) is the inspection of the shapes, locations, and dispersion of patterns of bloodstains, in order to get clarification of the physical events that occurred. When scientists talk about blood spatter, they are referring to the way blood is dispersed, the form of a blood drop once it hits a surface, and the angle of impact. When blood droplets are distributed and hit a surface, the shape of the stain these droplets leave will change depending on the angle of impact, velocity, distance traveled, and the surface it hit. ( The angle of impact is the angle at which a blood droplet strikes a surface. For example, a blood droplet fallen at a 90 degree angle will create a more circular shape than a blood drop fallen at a 60 degree angle, which will create a more elongated shape. Velocity refers to the amount of force used on the blood that caused it to spatter. There can be a low, medium, or high velocity spatter, which all give you an idea of what was caused the blood in general, such as a stab or a gunshot. The distance traveled means the distance between where the stain landed and where it fell from, or the height.. The surface it hit can affect the shape of the droplet, depending on the texture of the surface, such as if it is smooth, rough, bumpy, made of wood, etc. (Blood Spatter Analysis,