Glass Analysis

Glass evidence can be encountered in offenses against property, hit and runs, or assaults. To help the judicial system in the issue of whether or not the person of interest carried out the alleged activities (e.g., the person broke the window or had nothing to do with the incident), forensic scientists need to evaluate extrinsic (i.e., number of recovered glass fragments, where they were found) as well as intrinsic characteristics (i.e., analytical characteristics). This article focuses on the later and presents the different methods of analysis that have been applied for the comparison of recovered fragments and control glass. However, extrinsic characteristics are as important when assessing the value of glass evidence.