Memories through Photography

When thinking of photography we often think about capturing a moment that we can always share with others and are able to reflect on the memories we built with friends and family. However, in the world of criminal justice photography has a different meaning but, it still captures those exact moments. Forensic photography is the capturing of a crime scene or any physical evidence in its natural state and being able to record those images for the purpose of using them in court. When imaging is being used regarding law enforcement questions about admissibility begin to rise due to the fact that pictures can be altered from its original state which causes the courts to become hesitant upon what is admissible and what is not.

In order to submit a photograph whether its digital or film based as part of evidence in the court are their relevance and authentication, unless the photograph is submitted by both parties and they agree that the picture submitted is an exact illustration of the crime scene and nothing was altered from its original state. Relevance requires that the picture evidence must be able to make more of an impact on the case by revealing any and all facts than it would without the picture as evidence but, sometimes relevant evidence can get excluded when its value is outweighed by the fear of unfair prejudice and other factors. Also in regards to relevance a photograph must depict an accurate representation of the scene as viewed by the witness which leads to its relevance with the case being tried. After the photo has passed the relevance test it’s still not able to be admitted until it get pass the authentication test, which means that the photo has to accurately represent the subject as I mentioned before. The authentication of photo evidence raises issues regarding whether it actually depicts the subject or is there any flaws within the picture that has altered it from its original state. In other words the photo has to be able to prove that what the witness is seeing is true, genuine and valid.

From my experience in the correctional world photographs were only used in the event that a weapon was found or if a fight happened and a weapon was used to attack another person. The pictures that were taken were from the exact same spot in which the event took place, we would normally guard the place until the camera was retrieved to take pictures so that we could ensure that the evidence wasn’t tampered with; those pictures were then printed as evidence and also saved in a file if anything were to happen to them. Forensic photography is very important in capturing key evidence and painting a picture in court to make sure that justice is served and that the evidence provided was well enough to take a person to trial.

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