• Forensic - Pertaining to matters at issue before a court of law.
• Photography - Literally, painting with light.
• Forensic Photography - Photographs intended to be used as evidence in a civil or criminal trial.

Demonstrative versus Substantive Evidence

Demonstrative evidence like photographs, models, charts and visual aids are generally presented to help a witness explain what he or she saw at the scene when the scene was in original, as found, condition.

Substantive evidence is physical evidence collected at the scene and brought into the courtroom where the item itself can be shown to the jury. A photo can become substantive evidence when the physical evidence cannot be brought into the courtroom for one reason or another.

Demonstrative or substantive, the prosecutor must lay a foundation before photos can be admitted into evidence. Before the photos can be shown to the jury, the defense has an opportunity to challenge their authenticity, relevance and probative value. The judge must decide whether the photo is relevant to the matter at issue and not unduly prejudicial before it can be shown to the jury.

Fair and Accurate

A photograph can be challenged on the grounds that it is not a fair and accurate representation of the thing or place that it is supposed to represent. See http://www.crime-scene-investigator.net/swgit-section17.pdf for a list of all the issues that can enter into arguments concerning "fair and accurate."

Adversarial System

A smart attorney never asks a question unless he or she already knows the answer. There are some fairly dumb attorneys but that's another story.

The prosecutor is an advocate for the victim, asking questions in a manner calculated to convince the jury that the defendant did the dirty deed and was caught fair and square.

The defense attorney is an advocate for the accused. It's his job to ask questions calculated to create an element of doubt, often by suggesting that the arrest was based on incompetence, stupidity, malfeasance and chicanery. The defense is entitled to a list of prosecution witnesses and copies of their reports and any photos that they might have taken.

Police officers, crime scene investigators, evidence technicians and medical personnel are supposed to be impartial witnesses without any interest in the proceedings beyond relating what they have seen and what has been related to them by credible individuals with first-hand knowledge.

Horrible miscarriages of justice have occurred when police and prosecutors ignore exculpatory evidence or rely on questionable identifications, often for reasons that defy rational explanation.

Prejudicial and Inflammatory

A judge will exclude photos likely to upset jurors. Dr. Patrick Besant-Matthews has hundreds of slides retrieved from morgue garbage cans so disgusting that they could not possibly be used in court.

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*Article submitted by the author