The principles of criminology are a series of procedures carried out by investigators or experts, with the aim of establishing the way in which the facts of an event were perpetrated.
Criminalistics is the science that applies scientific methods and processes to solve crimes. Its central focus is to recognize, identify and evaluate physical evidence. In addition, it conducts studies on the evidence and instruments, or vulnerable agents, linked to crime.
In this way, by presenting conclusive evidence both on the way in which the crime was committed, as well as the identification of the violating agents or instruments that participated in it, irrefutable data about him or those responsible for the criminal act can be delivered to the sector. judicial.
The principle of use refers to the material that has been used to perpetrate the crime that is being investigated, since most criminal acts are carried out using some type of instrument or violating agent..
This vulnerable agent can be of different types:
Mechanical agents refer to physical materials, which through the use of force produce harm to the victim.
These can be, for example, projectiles from firearms, a hammer, a rope, the hands or a sharp element, among others..
These refer to electric shock, frostbite or fire.
Chemical agents have to do with toxic substances, narcotics, radioactivity or poisons, among others.
These types of agents have to do with viruses, microbes or fluids.
A clear example in identifying the principle of use at a crime scene can be to identify on the body a series of wounds, of similar magnitude, perpetrated through the use of a sharp element..
The production principle has to do with the analysis of the traces that remain of the vulnerable materials or agents used in the perpetration of a crime, both in the place where it occurred, as well as in the victim's body..
This principle tries to determine in what way the offending agent was used, in order to obtain more information about it, and to be able to identify it..
In a homicide, where the violating agent is a knife, and the wounds were made using pistoning mechanics, it is possible to determine if the knife has a double edge, or a single edge..
In this way, it is possible to obtain certainty regarding the violating agent used in the case..
The exchange principle, also known as the Locard exchange principle, named after its creator, the French Edmund Locard, is one of the most important principles of criminology.
This principle says that every time two objects come into contact with each other, there is an exchange or transfer of material between them..
In this way, both the victim and the perpetrator of the crime, and even in the place where the act takes place, there will be material traces of the participants.
In a murder where the victim struggled with her perpetrator, a DNA study was performed on the particles found under the victim's fingernails. As a result of this examination, it was possible to identify that the DNA extracted from the victim's body coincided with that of one of the suspects in the crime..
This principle refers to the fact that when two solid bodies impact each other, the characteristics or shapes of the body with greater hardness will be printed on the body with less hardness..
In this way, subjecting the vulnerability agents obtained as evidence to micro and macro comparative studies, and, for example, comparing them with the marks on the victim's body, it is possible to determine whether or not they were the ones used in the act..
In the same way, footprints or vehicle tracks can be identified at the crime scene, among others.
In a homicide carried out with a firearm, a comparative micro and macro study was carried out on the casing of the bullet found in the victim's body to determine if the bullet was fired from the weapon found at one of the suspects in the case..
This principle is based on the compilation of all the information obtained, using the aforementioned principles, in order to be able to carry out a reconstruction of the facts and phenomena that occurred in a case..
In this way, it will be possible to determine, with a degree of probability, how the events of the case unfolded. Thus being able to obtain a clearer idea as to the facts.
In the case of a murder with a firearm inside a home, the investigator, knowing in which part of the body the bullet hit, having identified the patterns of the bloodstains and knowing the final position of the body, can establish from where and how high was the murder weapon.
It is impossible to ensure how the facts of an event where there are no witnesses to confirm it happened. Therefore, in criminology, probability calculations are used.
In carrying out these calculations, all the data previously collected at the crime scene is involved. And, depending on the quantity and quality of these, it can be established with a degree of probability (high, medium, low or null) how the event happened..
In a case involving a firearm, where the weapon that caused the shot is identified and where the projectiles hit, the degree of probability of the reconstruction of the case is high.
On the other hand, in a case where a contusion was generated with a mechanical agent, which is not taken as evidence, the degree of probability of the reconstruction of the case may be medium or low..
The principle of certainty has to do with the analysis of all the elements, or vulnerable agents, involved in the investigation of a case. Said analysis is carried out in order to establish that each of these vulnerable agents belongs to the case under investigation..
By checking the fingerprints found on the murder weapon and comparing them with those of the alleged perpetrator of the act, it is possible to certify whether the person was the one who used said weapon or not..
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