Forensic Submission
Definition
The formal package of exhibits, case notes, and legal authorities that moves from an investigating agency to a laboratory, establishing what examination is requested and under what legal authority it proceeds.
- Contents
- Exhibits, case notes, legal authorities
- Path
- Investigating agency to laboratory
- Function
- Establishes what examination is requested and its legal basis
- Related terms
- Form 65 BNSS forwarding, Form 21 viscera (India-specific submission forms)
Common questions
Why does a submission need to state the legal authority for examination?+
A laboratory must be able to show the examination was requested under valid legal process, such as a warrant or statutory power, otherwise the resulting evidence risks being challenged or excluded for lacking a proper chain of legal authorisation.
What happens if the submission paperwork is incomplete or inconsistent with the exhibits?+
Laboratories generally reject or query submissions where exhibit descriptions, seals or case references do not match, since discrepancies at this stage can later be used to challenge the integrity of the chain of custody in court.
Related terms
- Chain of Custody
- The documented chronological record of who collected, handled, transferred, and examined a piece of evidence. For digital evidence, chain of custody includes...
- Crime Scene Management
- The organised approach to protecting, documenting, and processing a crime scene to maximise the recovery of physical evidence without introducing contamination or...
- Expert Witness
- A person whose specialised knowledge is accepted by a court and who gives opinion evidence, not just factual evidence. Forensic auditors frequently...
- Locard's Exchange Principle
- The foundational idea that every contact between two surfaces moves material in both directions, giving the forensic process its starting premise: physical...
- Reconstruction
- The stage at which all analytical findings are assembled into a coherent account of how an event unfolded. Reconstruction draws on scene...