Case Study Analysis - Research Paper Example

Enrique Camarena Case Prof. A great deal of evidence was obtained in the Camarena case. Among the evidence were the following things: Two dead bodiesBurial sheetsHair and fibreA license plateCarsA residenceSoil samplesCarpet samplesA piece of ropeA piece of pillowcaseBedsheetsThe American crime scene investigators did their best to secure severely contaminated sites. They tried to act as quickly as possible and avoid being obstructed by the Mexican police. They methodically collected evidence and compared it with evidence already in their possession.

They worked diligently and tried to come up with a theory of the case. They used their eyes and senses to look everywhere—such as in the bathroom drain in the house. They refused to be intimidated by the Mexicans. The crime scene investigators worked quickly to survey each new scene. Even sites that were contaminated got their attention. They refused to give up. The Americans made few mistakes. The Mexicans made many mistakes. At times it seemed as though they were trying to obstruct justice.

They contaminated scenes and slowed down the process. They refused to cooperate in the interests of getting to the bottom of the case. Indeed, they did little investigating on their own. Most of the time they followed the Americans around trying to prevent them from finding new evidence. There was a serious air of complicity in their actions. The Americans had a hard time because they werent in their own country and had to obey the Mexican law enforcement agents. That made their situation especially difficult.

Under normal circumstances, the rule of law would have applied, and it would have been much easier to do their investigation in a timely and methodical fashion. In the United States those who obstruct the investigation of law enforcement agents face a criminal complaint. Unfortunately this case occurred before many modern methods of investigation were available. DNA profiling would have been useful. The best method of collecting a sample is through a “buccal swab.” Sometimes this requires a court order and police can’t get it.

In these cases, other methods can be used including taking samples of blood, saliva, semen, or other fluid or tissue from personal items (for example, toothbrush, razor, etc) or stored samples. Sometimes, samples taken from blood relatives may be used to catch bad guys. So far these methods have proven to be very successful. These processes could have been done on the bodies and the residence and the cars. The bottom line is that this would have been a lot easier to do in the United States.ReferencesOwen, D. (2000) Hidden Evidence; The Story of Forensic Science and how it Helped to Solve 40 of the Worlds Toughest Crimes Quintet Publishing, London.

Saferstein, R. (2007). Criminalistics (9th Ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc. ISBN: 0-13-221655-8 Saks, Michael J.; Faigman, David L. (2008). "Failed forensics: how forensic science lost its way and how it might yet find it". Annual Review of Law and Social Science 4: 149–171.