#Custody change form trial#

To avoid tampering, evidence must be handled with care. Otherwise, the evidence may be ruled inadmissible in court, raising severe concerns about its validity, integrity, and the examination conducted on it. When submitting evidence as an exhibit, a record of the chain of custody must be kept and established in court.

#Custody change form trial#

A paper trail is kept so that the people in charge of the evidence at any one moment may be identified quickly and effectively and called to testify during the trial if necessary. The chain of custody establishes the authenticity of a piece of evidence. The sequence and manner in which physical or electronic evidence in criminal and civil investigations has been handled, maintained and processed is referred to as the chain of custody. To avoid all of these, an item of evidence must always be in the physical possession of an identified, legally-authorized person from the time it is collected until it presents in court. In order to demonstrate a reasonable doubt of guilt, the defence searches for loopholes or violations in the chain of custody, for example, to indicate that the object was fraudulently РІР‚СљplacedРІР‚Сњ to make the accused person appear guilty. The prosecution presents the chain of custody documentation in court to establish that the item of evidence is, in fact, linked to the alleged crime and that it was in the defendantРІР‚в„ўs possession. The chain of custody or chain of evidence refers to the continuity of possession or custody of evidence, as well as its movement and location from the moment of discovery and retrieval through its transit to the laboratory for inspection and until it is authorised, acknowledged and admitted in court. It is necessary for proof to be admissible as evidence in court. It was always in the possession of a person assigned to manage it, and it was never unaccounted for. It is essential to demonstrate to the court that the evidence is genuine, i.e., that it is the same evidence obtained at the crime scene. The most important aspect of evidence documentation is the chain of custody.