forensics - FightWrite

Criminal Sketch Art

FightWrite — Mon, 09 Jun 2025 20:26:30 +0000

If your character has witnessed or been a victim of a crime, you might write them meeting with a criminal sketch artist. In this post with FightWrite®, we are going to look at what your character might encounter with a criminal sketch artist. And, it just so happens that I have the inside side scoop on this one. My son is training to be a forensic artist, also known as a composite or police artist. Not only is he training to sketch from witness accounts, but he often reconstructs photos of unidentified deceased persons so that they may be identified. …

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The Truth About the Polygraph Test

FightWrite — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 15:20:46 +0000

A character is murdered. All fingers point toward the hero who, in an effort to prove their innocence, quickly submits to a lie detector test. And why wouldn’t they? They are telling the truth; they are not guilty. The polygraph will prove that fact. Right? Not exactly. Unfortunately, despite its moniker, the lie detector test doesn’t actually test for lies or prove guilt and it may not even be allowed as evidence in criminal court. In this FightWrite® post, we will take a very honest look at the polygraph. We will look at what it does and doesn’t do and …

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Blood Pattern Evidence

FightWrite — Fri, 21 Jun 2024 21:09:19 +0000

The CSI Effect is the belief that TV crime shows are effecting the decisions of juries. Jurors have an expectation of what they will see brought into evidence because of the forensic evidence they see on CSI shows. In this series of posts, we will look at each type of evidence jurors expect to see. We will then look at issues associated with each type of evidence that you can add to your work to get your character off the hook. In this post, we will focus on blood pattern evidence. Blood Pattern Evidence Blood pattern analysis (BPA) seeks to …

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Where People Are Stabbed

FightWrite — Tue, 02 Jan 2024 17:53:57 +0000

Where People Are Stabbed If your character is wielding a knife or on the receiving end of a blade, you might be surprised where that blade is most likely to land – literally – in two ways. In this post, we will look at both where people are stabbed, both on the body and in the world . We will also consider some misleading stats regarding knife wounds. People Are Stabbed on the BodyWhere People Are StabbedWhere People Are Stabbed Blade Wounds (Not Assault) When you look at the stats of injuries by blades, you might see some that are seemingly …

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Collecting Evidence Step by Step

FightWrite — Fri, 27 Jan 2023 20:20:06 +0000

Collecting evidence is far more involved than what is shown on the screen. Any time evidence is collected from a crime scene, each piece must go through what is known as chain of custody. The term refers to the process of maintaining and documenting the handling of evidence. It involves keeping a detailed log showing who collected, handled, transferred, or analyzed evidence during an investigation(1). If a crime scene investigation is in your work, scoot up to the bar here. Also, check out my book Fight Write: Craft Chaos, Combat and Crime where I go into all this and more. …

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Types of Crime Scene Evidence

FightWrite — Wed, 08 Jun 2022 18:20:56 +0000

We’re continuing our series on CSI. In this post, we will look at different types of evidence you might write into a crime scene in your work. All of this information and more can be found in my book Fight Write, Round Two: Crafting Chaos, Combat and Crime. Give it a look-see! Types of Evidence There are five types of evidence: real, documentary, demonstrative, testimonial and digital. Real evidence is physical evidence, something you can physically inspect. All of the examples we will look at today are physical evidence. A Few Types of Physical Evidence Footprints Footprints fall under the …

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CSI Myths to Avoid in your Writing

FightWrite — Mon, 16 May 2022 19:55:11 +0000

If you are using CSI TV shows as reference for your work, you might want to reconsider. A lot of what you see are CSI myths. Sometimes, to keep the audience engaged, TV show creators take a bit of creative license. And, that’s par for the course in writing. We don’t want our work to be on hundred percent true to life. If we did, we’d write scenes with our characters using the restroom. (Am I the only one who thinks about that? Where were the porta-potties in the Hunger Games???) The problem with CSI shows is that, because everything …

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The CSI Effect – Evidence Readers Expect to See

FightWrite — Wed, 20 Apr 2022 18:43:08 +0000

When it comes to TV forensics, what you see is definitely fiction. And, there’s a reason for it. Like actual fights, true forensics isn’t so showy. And, just as watching fights has made many believe they are fighters without having to train, CSI shows have convinced a generation that they are forensic experts. The existence of these “couch scientists” has become so prevalent, they have a phenomenon named for them: The CSI Effect. I have all of the info in this post and MORE in my book Fight Write, Round Two: Crafting Chaos, Combat and Crime. Take a stab at …

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What Happens in an Autopsy – for Writers

FightWrite — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 14:15:39 +0000

In writing my most recent book Fight Write, Round Two: Crafting Chaos, Combat and Crime, I took a deep dive into autopsies. If an autopsy is your work, this post is for you! The word autopsy comes from the Greek word autopsia which means, “to see for one’s own eyes.” Auto – self, opsis – sight. In forensic speak, it may also just be called a post mortem, from the Latin “after death.” Before we get to what happens in an autopsy, let’s get a few things out of the way. Why an autopsy? Autopsies may be formed for …

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Crime Scenes: Call to Clean-Up, Pt 2 Dispatch, EMS, FD, PD

FightWrite — Wed, 25 Sep 2019 18:32:00 +0000

In our last post in this series we looked at how to dial emergency around the world. Today we will look at the process of dispatch to the crime scene and what happens right after. When a call is placed When a call is placed to 911, the first thing the dispatcher does is figure out what type of an emergency it is. For this post we are going to assume that we are writing a scene in which a character has found a person who has been shot. Crime Scene Cleaning If your work in progress requires your …

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