John C. Paolucci, Matthew Steiner, & Sophia DiCioccio
Abstract: Eyewitness identifications and eyewitness accounts of events are often introduced into criminal investigations and subsequently presented at trials. This study demonstrates a technique for recreating the spatial relationship between subjects, objects, and obstructions in the scene so that the person who is attempting to “stand in the shoes” of the eyewitness is provided with an accurate representation of what the eyewitness saw. When the CSI places a scale in the foreground of the image, the image can be calibrated to that scale and printed out in a one-to-one (1:1) format that will enable the viewer to see the incident location in a similar scale to that of the eyewitness’s perspective. This paper is intended to provide a guide for a CSI to capture information that can be used in a crime scene reconstruction to accurately represent how the scene appeared to an eyewitness. The methodology is designed to enable the CSI and reconstructionist to perform this task without access to specialized equipment. Some caveats exist and are delineated in this report for full clarity.