There are several different stages within a crime that have to be taken place.These stages are:
1. The initial response.
2. The preliminary.
3. The investigation plan.
4. The incident room.
5. Investigating leads.
6. Research and analysing intelligence.
7. Gathering and analysing facts.
8. Identifying patterns and links.
9. Process of elimination.
10. Ethical considerations.
11. Report writing.
Each of these stages take place from the minute that the police are alerted about a crime, right up to the crime being discussed in a court room. Each country has their own crime number in which they ring for emergencies, for example... the UK's emergency number is 999, whereas the USA's emergency number is 911. Depending on what the crime is that has taken place will depend on the type of action that the authorities will need to carry out.
Each of these Stages of the investigation is ordered to attempt to make the case as strong and reliable as possible and so that the police can gather as much evidence as they can about the crime which has occurred. When each of these stages is completed properly with appropriate and practiced police and forensic methods, it enables the police to build a reliable case which can lead to a successful conviction of a perpetrator. However, in some cases these stages are not carried out properly, and mistakes are made. This can lead to the wrongful conviction of an innocent person or even the acquittal of a guilty person.
Initial response to the crime:
The initial response is the way in which the crime is reported to the police. This results in the report of the crime. This is always known as the first step in any case, to help authorities become aware of what has happened. Without this step, the police wouldn't be aware of any crimes taking place, so therefore, an investigation would not go ahead. There are various ways in which a crime can be reported. For example, the victim can report it to the police and so can the witness. In some cases, the person who committed the crime may even come forward and hand themselves into the police.
The initial response is a crucial stage within every investigation. This stage is extremely important as it decides whether or not the crime is serious enough for the police to actually get involved with. This stage is beneficial because it is the start to people getting answers to crimes that have affected their lives. In this case, the initial response was the first step for justice for Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman. This stage contributed to the outcome of the O.J. Simpson case.
The initial response in the O.J. Simpson case was Nicole's dog barking. Due to the dog barking loudly for a period of time, it had drawn attention to two passers by, who saw and heard the dog barking. On June 12th 1994, the bodies of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman had been found lying in pools of their own blood. They had been found by the passers by who had heard the dog barking. The people who discovered the bodies immediately ran across the street, banging on the door of one of the neighbour's houses. Due to the banging, the terrified neighbour rang the police after thinking that somebody was trying to break into her house. Robert Riske and Miguel Terrazas were the first officers to arrive at the house. It was from then that the passer by's informed them of what they had found. As the officers went over, they had found Nicole lying in a pool of her own blood. After further inspection of the property, Ronald Goldman was found in the bushes,also lying in a pool of his own blood.
The preliminary is where an assessment of the crime takes place, to determine whether or not further action is needed.For example, in this particular case, the nature of the scene had to be known. Due to the crime being a murder, the police had to determine just how bad the scene was. After determining the nature of the scene, the police had to follow standard procedures. This is one of the most important stages as it is where all of the critical evidence is preserved. There are other processes that take place in the preliminary investigation. This involve cordoning off the scene, collecting evidence, and taking in witness statements and the premises being searched.
The preliminary stage is also crucial in every crime investigation. Because this stage assesses a crime, it makes it easier for the police to know whether further action should be taken in order to solve a crime, or whether no action is needed at all. It is a beneficial stage as it helps to solve a crime that can bring somebody to justice and help put away those who are a liability and are too dangerous to be roaming around the streets. This stage was beneficial in the O.J. Simpson case as it helped determine what exactly was needed to be done in order to carry on with the investigation.
Officers Riske and Terrazas began the preliminary investigation. Both officers decided to go onto the scene to work out what had taken place, This was to help them understand who they would need to contact in order for the investigation to go ahead properly. The officers walked away from the scene to go and speak to the witnesses to see if they knew anything, but after finding out that the dog had alerted the witnesses, they decided to go back to the crime scene to try and work it out themselves. Both officers walked towards Nicole's body, trying their hardest to stay away from the walkway which was covered by Nicole's blood. From then, they had assessed that both of the victims were dead and started to note down their findings of what they could see, and any clear evidence that had been found. They noted that the pathway was covered by pools of blood coming from Nicole's body, and that the dog's paws were also covered in blood. What they found next was very unexpected. They had found a large shoe print, very close to Nicole's body.
The officers then made notes on the evidence that they had found. This evidence included: one black leather glove, a shoe print, a white envelope and a cap. At this point of the investigation, none of the evidence had been handled. Officer Riske noticed that the door was still open, leading him to step over Nicole's body and walk straight into the house. The officers then searched the house to try and give them an idea as to what had happened, thinking that it may possibly have been an attempted robbery, but after not finding anything that related to a robbery, the officers were very confused. They then called for back up using the phone inside Nicole's house.
When it came to confiscating evidence, the police had messed up big time. None of the police who first attended the scene had worn any protective clothing, meaning that a lot of the evidence had been seriously damaged, due to police walking through it. Some officers were even caught smoking cigarettes and leaving the cigarette butts behind on the scene. This was then being picked up by the forensic team and taken into the laboratories to be examined. When a murder crime takes place and the suspect is nowhere to be found, the search needs to be very wide. In this case, O.J. was supposedly in Chicago at the time of the murder. After being the main suspect, Simpson was arrested shortly after he landed back in Los Angeles the day after the murder, and was in questioning for three hours. Simpson was charged with two counts of murder with special circumstances. After failing to surrender, Simpson lead the police on a 60-mile low-speed chase across freeways. This meant that the crime was stretched an extra 60 miles, to ensure that Simpson were to be arrested. Later that night, he was arrested with no bail.
When a crime has been committed, the next part of the investigation is always to come up with an investigation plan. This usually happens just after the police have reviewed the scene and is where they decide what action should take place. An investigation plan is put in place to keep the investigation under control and to keep it very organised so that things are done correctly, hoping to not do anything wrong in the investigation.
When the O.J. Simpson case took place, the investigation plan had been mixed in with the previous step: the preliminary. This is because after the body was found, the detectives began to do things straightaway, before an official plan was put in place. When the bodies had been found, O.J. Simpson had to be contacted immediately because his children (to his ex-wife Nicole Brown) were being held in the police station until the police could get in contact with a family member. Not only were his children at the station, Simpson was straight away questioned as a main suspect due to his past relationship with Brown, which was reported to be an abusive relationship. At this stage, the detectives decided they would go straight to Simpson's home to break the news to him about his ex-wife, and they also decided that the families of both victims should be contacted to tell them the devastating news about what had happened to Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman. After this, the story was then broke to the media.
Incident room:
The next step in an investigation is to set up an incident room. The room is used for the public to go to so they can give in witness statements, or if they need any support. It is also used for the police to be around the area of the crime at all times, especially in case any new leads come through. The incident room provides the public with reassurance throughout the ordeal, and allows the public to get involved with the investigation because as much help as possible is needed to solve the investigation.
With the O.J. Simpson case, there hadn't been an incident room set up. Seeing as there were two crimes committed on the same premises as each other, it would have made sense for an incident room to be set up. However, this was not the case. But if an incident room had have been set up, it would have been used for the public to talk to the police about any information that they may have about the investigation.
Investigating leads:
As each step in an investigation is performed in a logical order, the next step is the investigating leads. This is done to follow up on any information that may have been found through the use of the public in the incident room, or any information that has been found in the preliminary. This stage also involves various processes such as: forensic analysis and testing of the evidence, any pathology results of the deceased and house-to-house enquiries to find out if any of the local neighbours know of any information. This part of the investigation is very important as it is when profiles around the suspect can be built up, hopefully leading to a suspect emerging.
In the O.J. Simpson case, the leads to be investigated had came from the analysis that had been collected at the scene, and any information that had been given in the witness statements. One lead that had been found was in the witness statement of Simpson's limousine driver. The driver put in his statement that he had been waiting at the gates of Simpson's house from 22:25pm to 22:50pm. After buzzing the gates for a period of time he had no answer. After continuing to hang around, he said that he had noticed a figure dressed in dark clothing running across the lawn in the garden at around 22:50 that night. The description of the figure had perfectly matched up with OJ.J Simpson. This gave the police a lead to Simpson being the suspect in this case. Another lead that had been found was from the evidence. The piece of evidence was the glove found at the scene. Not only was a glove found at the scene which belonged to the left hand, the exact same glove, but for the right hand, was found in Simpson's home when the police began a search there for any evidence. Not only was a glove found, but after forensic testing, the DNA of Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman were found on the right handed glove. This gave the police an even stronger lead to O.J. Simpson being the suspect. However, further forensic testing had to take place on the glove.
Research and analysing intelligence:
The next step in an investigation is to research and analyse intelligence. This is when intelligence such as where a crime has happened, and who committed the crime can be researched and analysed thoroughly by the police. Intelligence may also come from any leads that the police have gathered while investigating the crime. At this stage, crimes that have occurred in one area of the neighbourhood are looked at as a whole. This helps police to narrow down the investigation, hopefully making it easier to find a suspect.
The research from the O.J. Simpson case was mainly focused around Simpson as he was the main suspect at the time of the investigation. To gather more information about the night of the double murder, the police used witness statements to attempt to build up a substantial amount of intelligence of Simpson's whereabouts of the night that the crime was committed. The police were very interested of the statement from Simpson's limousine driver, Allan Park (as mentioned in the previous section). Police also used the statement from Nicole's neighbour, Jill Shively, who told the police that she had seen a white Ford Bronco parked up outside Nicole's house, round about the time of the murder. The police were interested in this statement too as Simpson's car was a white Ford Bronco. Not only was it the same car, but the car was spotted speeding through a red light, almost colliding with another car. This interests the police because it shows that the car was in a rush to either go somewhere, or get away from somewhere, giving the police more evidence as to whether Simpson was the person who was driving the car. However, Shively's statement could no longer be used by the police, so it was dismissed. Shively told the police that she had only spoken to family about her statement, but the police soon found out that she had lied, and that she had told the media about it, which meant that the media were able to build up a story about the case, using possibly false information to give an inaccurate story of what had happened on the night of the double homicide.
Gathering and analysing facts:
This is the next step in the investigation. This is where all the facts about the crime are gathered and can be thoroughly analysed by the police. This stage is done for the investigators to organise all of the facts that they have, and to see which facts are more important and can actually be used in helping to solve the case, and build up any evidence around the suspect, or any potential suspects. The facts can come from various places such as: from witness statements, from any forensic evidence, and any convictions that the suspect may already have.
In the O.J. Simpson case, the police began to gather all the evidence and the facts that they had to point at Simpson being the murder suspect of Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman. Due to Simpson having previous convictions of abusing Nicole Brown, this gave the police another link to be sure of Simpson being the main suspect.
Identifying patters and links:
This is the next stage in the investigation. This involves the police looking at the intelligence and the facts, to see if any links can be made, and if any patterns can be spotted. This helps to connect a crime to the suspect, or any potential suspects. this always depends on what the crime is that has occurred. On the other hand, if the crime that has happened is a murder, then it is more than likely that the suspect probably has not left any links or patterns at the scene, meaning that the suspect will hope that the police will be unable to find any links or patterns that lead back to the suspect, making the suspect believe that he/she has gotten away with the crime.
O.J. Simpson was seen as the main suspect right from the beginning of the investigation. Due to this, the police decided that they didn't have much of a reason to look into the patterns and links in a much greater detail. But on the other hand, due to there being reports that Simpson was abusive to Nicole, the police decided to use this as a link to convict him of being the main suspect.
Process of elimination:
Process of elimination is the next logical step in an investigation.
This step happens when there is more than one suspect and a
lot of evidence. Suspects are eliminated and narrowed down to the ones who are
more likely to actually be the suspect, and the evidence that has been
collected can also be eliminated. This means that the most important evidence
will continue to be used, whereas the pieces without any links or patterns can
be thrown out.
In the case that I have investigated and researched, all of the witness statements that had been gathered, and all of the evidence that had been collected pointed towards Simpson being the murder of Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman. From the evidence that was collected, a lot of DNA from each victim was found on some of Simpson's belongings, such as the glove found in his house which matched the glove found at the scene, and there was also blood found on his white Ford Bronco. This blood came up to have matches to DNA of both of the victims. This gave the police the evidence that they needed to say that Simpson was guilty of the double homicide. Not only was DNA found on Simpson's belongings, but his blood was also found on the crime scene, which supposedly came from the cut on his middle finger of his left hand. Also, all of the witness statements that had been gathered allowed Simpson to be placed in areas that the police believed he was in during the time of the murders. The main witness statement for being able to place Simpson's whereabouts came from the limousine driver. Due to this evidence, alongside these facts, other lines of enquiry had been eliminated, and the police decided to charge Simpson with the murders of both Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman. From this point in the investigation, the case was taken to the high courts for sentencing.Ethical considerations:
In this case, the media were very quickly involved with the investigation from the minute people found out that Nicole Brown (Simpson's ex wife) had been murdered. They were involved so quickly that the media were there reporting and taking pictures of the scene before the rest of the police department had got there. Some photographers took pictures of both bodies lying in pools of blood, which resulted in the police covering the bodies with a blanket. This highly affected the evidence that was left on the bodies as the blanket would contaminate the evidence. The media were also heavily involved when Simpson handed himself in after his Bronco speed chase down the freeway, which was also recorded by the media, having people watch his every move.
The intrusion of the media very well effected this case. Due to Simpson being very well known, the whole of America's eyes were on him throughout the whole trial. The whole trial was seen as a national obsession.
When the car chase happened with Simpson's Bronco, there were dozens of news helicopters above, reporting live on what was going on. During this, a so called 'suicide note' was read out on the news. People were gossiping and believing in so many rumours which all later came to court, some possibly resulting in the outcome of the trial.
Another ethical concern during the trial was when the media found out about the death of Nicole Brown. As soon as the media found out, they were flooding the street of which the crime had taken place in. So many people were videoing and taking pictures of the bodies that the policed had to cover it up. If the media never turned up in the first place, the police wouldn't have had to use the blanket to cover up the bodies. This means that the bodies wouldn't have been contaminated, and more evidence would have been able to be found, which could have been used in court. This also means that the evidence that may have been found could have been used to help with the prosecution of O.J. Simpson.
The media being involved in the case only showed things what people wanted to see. Not everything had been shown the way it really was. News papers and magazine articles were coming up with stories that would change the way things would look in court. Due to this, the jury were hearing stories that hadn't been told in court. This could potentially affect the case, and also change the decisions that members of the jury came up with. This shows that the media had not been used in a correct or even useful way during the trial. The media's involvement can lead to somebody being wrongly accused, or even wrongly being let off if they were in fact the person who done the crime.
Not only does the media affect the case, but the media also affect a person's life. Due to Simpson already being extremely well known because of his career, the trial was constantly in the media. After the court hearing, many people's on O.J. Simpson had changed.
The media were also so involved throughout the whole trial, that members of the jury had heard stories relating to evidence and intelligence before they had even been mentioned in the court room. This meant that their view of the case could be affected, even turning their opinions bias just to what they've heard from the media, and automatically deciding whether or not they liked Simpson. From this, it shows that the media shouldn't be so involved with such extreme cases like a murder, because stories can be turned and twisted far from the truth, and can reach back to the court room, changing how the jury see's the case.
Report writing:
The next step in the investigation is report writing. This means all the evidence and intelligence that has been gathered is compiled into reports, which are then read out in the courts, ensuring that the jury and court team are fully aware of what has happened, and are able to build up the correct case against the crime. This report/case file contains any previous convictions that the suspect may have, and also contains witness statements, a list of evidence gathered, and also pictures that have been taking from the scene to be able to use as exhibits. All of this is then presented in court.
In this case, due to the poor procedures which took place when collecting evidence ready for forensic analysis, the blood of both victims had been placed in the exact same evidence bag as Simpson's blood, resulting in the evidence being contaminated, and not being able to be used in the courtroom. There was also suspicion of Simpson's blood being planted at the scene in order to frame him for the murders because the nurse had drawn out the wrong amount of blood to be used to compare Simpson's blood to the blood found at the crime scene.
The presentation of evidence in the Simpson case was a huge failure due to the “Glove Catastrophe”. A glove found at the crime scene, suspected to be OJ’s was presented in court and given to OJ to try on. The glove showed to be too small and was acquitted immediately. This gave the defense a huge chance to present Simpson’s innocence. Also, due to the contamination of evidence, a lot of it was unusable in court. This resulted in the defense being able to prove OJ Simpson’s innocence, resulting in the jury deciding that OJ Simpson was not guilty of the murder of Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman.
From this, Simpson was acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman. This was because the prosecution team couldn't convict Simpson because they never had a substantial amount of evidence to prove that it was actually him who committed the murders.
Overall, each of the stages in this case helped to determine whether or not O.J. Simpson was guilty of the murders of Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman. Each of the stages involved had helped the investigation team come to the conclusion that Simpson was guilty for the double murders. The team came to this conclusion after the amount of evidence that was found at the scene, Simpson's home and in his car.
Not only are the stages important, but they all play their own role in being beneficial in the investigation. Each role gives more and more information as to whether or not somebody is guilty or not guilty.
Although the team came to the conclusion that he was guilty, when it came to the court room, Simpson was acquitted of the murder of Nicole and Ronald. Although the evidence was there to say Simpson may have done it, there were so many things that had gone wrong throughout the investigation that the judge and the jury could not find Simpson guilty. The fact that so much evidence had been dismissed in court meant that the evidence let to Simpson being found not guilty. However, if the evidence had not been dismissed then the final verdict may have been different.
Conclusively, this shows the importance of the stages of the investigation process being carried out to such high standards in order to get the correct verdict at the end of the trial. Because these high standards had not been upheld during the Simpson case, O.J Simpson, who was the main guilty suspect, could have been found guilty, or even not guilty. All of this depends on the standard that has been worked at throughout the period of the trial.
thank you this helped a lot with my assignment
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