Trace Transfer
Definition
Material moved from the handler to the snare (fingerprints, DNA, fibres) or from the environment to the snare (soil, plant material) during manufacture, transport, or setting. Locard's exchange principle applied to a snare.
- Handler-to-snare transfer
- Fingerprints, DNA, fibres
- Environment-to-snare transfer
- Soil, plant material
- Underlying principle
- Locard's exchange principle applied to a snare
- Context
- Wildlife poaching and snare casework
Common questions
Why is trace transfer especially significant in snare evidence?+
Snares are often set and left unattended for weeks, so trace material recovered from the device may be the only link connecting a suspect to it, since there is rarely a witness to the setting itself.
What complicates recovering trace evidence from an outdoor snare?+
Prolonged environmental exposure to rain and soil, plus handling by whoever discovered the snare, can degrade original trace material or add confounding material before an examiner ever processes it.
Related terms
- Anchor Peg
- The stake, branch, or root to which a snare is fixed at the ground end, allowing the loop to stay open at...
- Circumferential Groove
- The band of compressed skin and tissue left around a limb or neck by a taut wire snare. Groove depth and width...
- Spring-Set Snare
- A snare in which a bent sapling or tensioned wire provides a spring that lifts the caught animal off the ground when...
- Tool Marks
- Impressions or striations left on an object (here, a wire cut end) by a tool (here, wire cutters). Class characteristics reflect tool...
- Wire Gauge
- The diameter of a wire strand, typically expressed in millimetres or as a standard wire gauge number. Gauge is a class characteristic...