Chapter 8: Marks and Impressions Check Access

Marks and impression evidence is an aspect of forensic science which compares traces (marks) made by, for example, footwear, tyres or different tools recovered at a crime scene, with suspected sources of those marks. This chapter explores aspects of the manufacture of source materials and how manufacturing features, as well as features created through use, can be exploited in the comparison of scene marks and test marks created from seized items. The recovery of these types of marks from crime scenes and the creation of test marks for comparison is discussed and the manner in which forensic scientists subjectively evaluate marks and impression evidence to reach their conclusions is presented.