NCJ Number
239117
Journal
Journal of Forensic Identification Volume: 62 Issue: 4 Dated: July/August 2012 Pages: 305-314
Date Published
August 2012
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This report offers another method of estimating the volume of blood that is based on Beer-Lambert's law.
Abstract
Crime-scene investigators are sometimes asked to estimate the blood volume spattered at the scene to assess the fatality of the incident for the victim or to assess the bloodstains' dynamics. Today, the recommended methods for the assessment of blood volume are based on empirical assumptions that may make them inaccurate or even erroneous. In this report, the authors offer another method of estimating the volume of blood that is based on Beer-Lambert's law, the physical law that correlates the absorption of light passing through liquid to the concentration of the absorbing substance in the liquid (at the wavelength where the absorption is maximal). This method is suited to a wide variety of surfaces and is accurate and specific for blood and might be an efficient method of solving the problem. (Published Abstract)