Forensic Science International
Volume 161, Issue 1 , Pages 47-51, 10 August 2006

Errors in the determination of the point of origin of bloodstains

Department of Forensic Sciences, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA

Received 22 April 2005; received in revised form 25 October 2005; accepted 25 October 2005. published online 05 December 2005.

Abstract 

Bloodstain pattern analysts are sometimes called upon to determine the point of origin of a pattern of bloodstains. A derivation of expressions for the uncertainties δX and δY in the coordinates of the point of origin P(X, Y) of two bloodstains on a surface has recently been published. These uncertainties were expressed in terms of the uncertainties in the measured distance between the bloodstains and the uncertainties in the angles of impact of the bloodstains. This paper extends the derivations in the previous work by expressing the uncertainties in the coordinates of the point of origin of two bloodstains in terms of the uncertainties in the length and width measurements from which the angles of impact of the bloodstains are calculated.

Keywords: Forensic science, Crime scene reconstruction, Bloodstrain pattern analysis

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PII: S0379-0738(05)00596-7

doi:10.1016/j.forsciint.2005.10.023

Forensic Science International
Volume 161, Issue 1 , Pages 47-51, 10 August 2006

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