Although for many this discipline is new, the history of publications
concerning Bloodstain Pattern Analysis is shows it is not. For example, in 1895
Edward Piotrowski wrote Ueber Entstehung, Form, Richtung und Ausbreitung der
Blutspuren nach Hiebwunden des Kopfes, which translates to "Concerning Origin,
Shape, Direction and Distribution of Bloodstains Following Blow Injuries to the
Head". In his analysis, he used rabbits to understand how blood moved and
reacted to impact.
Bloodstain collection, documentation and evaluation
was addressed by Hans Gross of Germany in the 1904, Handbuch fur
Untersuchungsrichter Richter Als System Der Kriminalistik, translated as Manual
For Examining Magistrate Judges, System Of The Criminalists.
The first
time geometric principles were used to determine angles of impact and
convergence was in 1939. V. Balthazard, of Paris, presented (4) a lengthy
Treatise (5) titled, "Etude des Gouttes de Sang Projete", which translates to
"Study of the Drops of Blood Project".
The earliest reference to testimony
using blood spatter evidence was a trial in London conducted in 1514 (6).
Beginning in 1951, Dr. Paul Leland Kirk promoted bloodstain pattern
interpretation as a scientific discipline in the United States, and in 1956 this
investigative tool was used in the high profile Sam Sheppard case
(7).
Then followed publications such as A.S Wiener, and E.B. Gordon,
"Examination of Bloodstains in Forensic Science", Journal of Forensic Science,
1956; "Forensic Examination of Physical Evidence" by A.K. Tumanov, Government
Editors of Legal Literature, Moscow, Russia, 1961: Charles C. Thomas and Lemoyne
Snyder issued Homicide Investigation in 1967. These publications, coupled with
the sensational Sheppard trial, brought bloodstain pattern analysis to the
forefront.
In the years 1969 to 1971,Herbert L MacDonnell did research for the
government under the Department of Justice. In 1971, the U.S. Department of
Justice published his work as Flight Characteristics and Stain Patterns of Human
Blood. Shortly after that publication, MacDonnell began teaching this
investigative tool to law enforcement officers, prompting a renewal in the
interest in the characteristics of shed blood and how it related to crime
scenes.
Today, several books are available to those interested in blood
stain pattern analysis, including Bloodstain Pattern Analysis: With an
Introduction to Crime Scene Reconstruction, Second Edition by Tom Bevel and Ross
Gardner 2001; Interpretation of Bloodstain Evidence at Crime Scenes, Second
Edition by Stuart H James and William G Eckert. 1998; and Scientific and Legal
Applications of Bloodstain Pattern Interpretation by Stuart H. James
1998.
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