The transparent witness: forensic examination of glass evidence at the Bundeskriminalamt

Glass tends to get broken as a result of criminal activity -- a perpetrator may break the glass of a window or a door in order to gain access to the place that will later be called a scene of crime, or a glass object, e.g. a broken bottle, may have been used as a weapon. A combination of properties subsequently allows forensic examiners to use glass traces as evidence to establish a connection, e.g. between a scene of crime and a suspect. The method that is most commonly used in forensic glass examinations is the determination of refractive index.