Art or Science?

Bloodstain pattern analysis is a very useful tool and can provide important information in a case, by providing insight into what type of weapon was used, how many blows, the size of the assailant, and more. There are many scientific aspects of it, and experts in this field are very skilled and go through much training. They use principles of science by looking at the cohesion of drops, angles, distance, and geometric shapes of the blood. 

However, bloodstain analysis can be subjective as different people can interpret the scene in different ways. In the documentary, The Staircase, two qualified bloodstain analysis doctors interpreted the scene differently. The first blood stain analyzer believed that the bloodstain patterns were consistent with that of a beating, however, when Henry Lee reexamined the scene he believed that the bloodstain patterns matched those of an accidental fall. As this type of forensic analysis is purely visual, and interpreted strictly by humans, it leaves room for error. 

It is also difficult to recreate the scene entirely, as there are other factors that cannot be accounted for. For example in the first analysis in the Micheal Peterson case, they tried to recreate the bloodstain pattern using a beating, however, this is difficult to do as there are some variables that cannot be accounted for. The methods are based on the opinion of the expert which can be subjective. 

While blood stain analyzers can provide insight into what may have happened they can also rule out many things they know did not happen which provides investigators with crucial information to narrow down the case. Overall it is inherently scientific, however, there is an area for subjectivity due to bias. Bloodstain pattern analysis is an important tool that should be used however, it should be used alongside other forensic evidence in order to uncover the full truth.

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