TY - JOUR
T1 - Forensic quest for age determination of bloodstains
AU - Bremmer, Rolf H.
AU - de Bruin, Karla G.
AU - van Gemert, Martin J. C.
AU - van Leeuwen, Ton G.
AU - Aalders, Maurice C. G.
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - Bloodstains at crime scenes are among the most important types of evidence for forensic investigators. They can be used for DNA-profiling for verifying the suspect's identity or for pattern analysis in order to reconstruct the crime. However, until now, using bloodstains to determine the time elapsed since the crime was committed is still not possible. From a criminalistic point of view, an accurate estimation of when the crime was committed enables to verify witnesses' statements, limits the number of suspects and assesses alibis. Despite several attempts and exploration of many technologies during a century, no method has been materialized into forensic practice. This review gives an overview of an extensive search in scientific literature of techniques that address the quest for age determination of bloodstains. We found that most techniques are complementary to each other, in short as well as long term age determination. Techniques are compared concerning their sensitivity for short and long term ageing of bloodstains and concerning their possible applicability to be used on a crime scene. In addition, experimental challenges like substrate variation, interdonor variation and environmental influences are addressed. Comparison of these techniques contributes to our knowledge of the physics and biochemistry in an ageing bloodstain. Further improvement and incorporation of environmental factors are necessary to enable age determination of bloodstains to be acceptable in court. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved
AB - Bloodstains at crime scenes are among the most important types of evidence for forensic investigators. They can be used for DNA-profiling for verifying the suspect's identity or for pattern analysis in order to reconstruct the crime. However, until now, using bloodstains to determine the time elapsed since the crime was committed is still not possible. From a criminalistic point of view, an accurate estimation of when the crime was committed enables to verify witnesses' statements, limits the number of suspects and assesses alibis. Despite several attempts and exploration of many technologies during a century, no method has been materialized into forensic practice. This review gives an overview of an extensive search in scientific literature of techniques that address the quest for age determination of bloodstains. We found that most techniques are complementary to each other, in short as well as long term age determination. Techniques are compared concerning their sensitivity for short and long term ageing of bloodstains and concerning their possible applicability to be used on a crime scene. In addition, experimental challenges like substrate variation, interdonor variation and environmental influences are addressed. Comparison of these techniques contributes to our knowledge of the physics and biochemistry in an ageing bloodstain. Further improvement and incorporation of environmental factors are necessary to enable age determination of bloodstains to be acceptable in court. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2011.07.027
DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2011.07.027
M3 - Review article
C2 - 21868178
SN - 0379-0738
VL - 216
SP - 1
EP - 11
JO - Forensic Science International
JF - Forensic Science International
IS - 1-3
ER -