Biomedical Engineering and Physics, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box 22700, 1100 DE Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Forensic Sci Int. 2012 Mar 10;216(1-3):1-11. doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2011.07.027. Epub 2011 Aug 25.
Bloodstains at crime scenes are among the most important types of evidence for forensic investigators. They can be used for DNA-profiling for verifying the suspect's identity or for pattern analysis in order to reconstruct the crime. However, until now, using bloodstains to determine the time elapsed since the crime was committed is still not possible. From a criminalistic point of view, an accurate estimation of when the crime was committed enables to verify witnesses' statements, limits the number of suspects and assesses alibis. Despite several attempts and exploration of many technologies during a century, no method has been materialized into forensic practice. This review gives an overview of an extensive search in scientific literature of techniques that address the quest for age determination of bloodstains. We found that most techniques are complementary to each other, in short as well as long term age determination. Techniques are compared concerning their sensitivity for short and long term ageing of bloodstains and concerning their possible applicability to be used on a crime scene. In addition, experimental challenges like substrate variation, interdonor variation and environmental influences are addressed. Comparison of these techniques contributes to our knowledge of the physics and biochemistry in an ageing bloodstain. Further improvement and incorporation of environmental factors are necessary to enable age determination of bloodstains to be acceptable in court.
刑事案件中的血迹是法医调查人员最重要的证据类型之一。它们可用于 DNA 分析以验证嫌疑人的身份，或用于模式分析以重建犯罪。然而，直到现在，利用血迹来确定犯罪发生的时间仍然是不可能的。从犯罪学的角度来看，准确估计犯罪发生的时间可以验证证人的陈述，限制嫌疑人的数量，并评估不在场证明。尽管一个世纪以来已经进行了多次尝试和探索了许多技术，但没有一种方法已经在法医学实践中得到实现。这篇综述概述了对科学文献中涉及血液痕迹年龄确定技术的广泛搜索。我们发现，大多数技术在短期和长期的年龄确定方面相互补充。比较了这些技术在血液痕迹的短期和长期老化方面的敏感性，以及它们在犯罪现场应用的可能性。此外，还解决了实验挑战，如基质变化、供体间变化和环境影响。对这些技术的比较有助于我们了解老化血液痕迹中的物理和生物化学。进一步改进并纳入环境因素是必要的，以使法庭上可以接受血迹年龄的确定。
