With the emergent of computers and other electronic in many sections of many people, there is a formidable influence on the juridical system. Digital evidence is information stored on or transmitted by a computer. Digital evidence such as videos, photos, measured values are being accepted in courts. Electronic evidence should be taken care of because it is exceptionally fragile, and it can be modified, damaged or destroyed.
There are many cases where digital evidence has not been protected and has impacted on the cases. The failure of such cases results from the fact that vital digital evidence is ignored, destroyed or compromised, and inappropriate handling of the crime scene and suspects.
A case example of United states V. Benedict
The case was against Lawrence Benedict where he was accused of being in possession of child pornography material. It was said that Benedict had exchanged a tape with another person who had been convicted with same charges. Initially Benedict pleaded guilty of the crime he changed his stand after he realized that there was problems with electronic evidence against him. The defense claimed they had an a computer and disk that contained electronic evidence against the suspect. The defense had stored the computer in a basement office that had flood problems. The computer was damaged by water, and the disk caught rust. Additionally, the police examined the computer of the other suspected who had exchanged the child pornography material with Benedict. While running software into the electronic evidence, it was established that the evidence seemed altered, added and deleted while it was under police watch.
References
Casey, E. (2011). Handling a Digital Crime Scene. In Digital Evidence & Computer Crime: Forensic Science, Computers, and the Internet (3rd ed.) (pp. 227-253). London, England: Academic Press.
Taylor, R. W. (2006). Digital Crime and Digital Terrorism. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
