LAUSR

Editor, I read the article, entitled "Automatic Classification of Bloodstain Patterns Caused by Gunshot and Blunt Impact at Various Distances," with interest (1). The aim of the letter was to emphasize the importance bloodstain pattern analysis: drying time. Bloodstain pattern analysis (BPA) is a discipline in which bloodstains are examined systematically in terms of form, size, place, and forms of distribution in order to provide an opportunity to predict and interpret physical actions resulting in bloodstains. In large proportions of scene of crime, bloodstain is faced. Those stains provide large amount of information when handled by well-educated practitioners and constitute a significant part of functional, medical, and scientific reconstruction of the event. In these analyses, it is of great significance to bring molecular genetic examinations, physicists, and other experts together as well as forensic science experts (2,3). When historical development of the issue is considered, it is found that the first systematic examination and distribution of blood forms was conducted in 1895 by Piotrowski. Blood stains were also included in Schmidtmann’s study related to the reconstruction of criminal actions in 1905, and a study conducted by Ziehmke et al. in 1914 carried the research on that topic a step further. Dr. Victor Balthazard et al. announced their studies in this field with an issue named “Research on Blood Stain” at 22nd Forensic Science Congress in 1939. I can state that consideration of bloodstain pattern analysis as a forensic science discipline has begun with Dr. Paul Kirk’s presenting his studies in the form of an affidavit in his lawsuit against Samuel Sheppard in Ohio in 1955. Additional studies related to its last date of use were conducted by Mueller and Schleyer (1975). In the following years, the studies conducted by Brinkmann, Rand, and Karger contributed to the field (2,4-6). The discipline has taken part in many Forensic Science and criminalistics books published after 1983 as well as being a subject for many academic articles. Those studies could be gathered under the roof of an association in 1983. By establishing IABPA—International Association of Bloodstain Pattern Analysts, educational activities and conferences have been organized to bring experts in the field together and educational materials have been developed. Moreover, a study group named “Deutsche Gesellschaft f€ur Rechtsmedizin” in Germany in 2005 with the aim of conducting research on bloodstain pattern analysis was formed (3). The bloodstain pattern analysis is of vital significance in criminal cases in which especially witnesses and other parameters are not available. It may even be the single evidence in reconstruction of the crime. However, the physical qualities of the blood are significant factors in bloodstain pattern analysis (BPA) (7,8). As the blood is a viscose liquid, the rate of viscosity is an important parameter in drying process. Drying of bloodstain is dependent upon external factors such as environmental and surface temperature, surface characteristics, humidity, air circulation and vapor pressure and on personal qualities such as clotting time, use of anticoagulant, and intradroplet liquid dynamics (9-11). The studies on this issue indicate that the bloodstain starts clotting in 10 sec and/or one and half minute, lose its liquidity in five or twenty minutes and the serum part breaks up between thirty minutes and one and half hour. In bloodstain pattern analysis, blood of pig is utilized in experimental setup. However, Bertnhay et al. put forward that the blood of horse showed a closer similarity to human blood (12). Additionally, the kind of fiber on which the bloodstains are present has a significant role as well (13). The bloodstain pattern analysis maintains its significance in terms of forensic science. For a healthy evaluation, it is of great importance for the doctor performing the autopsy process to be present during crime scene investigation and to evaluate the scene of crime containing bloodstains before it goes bad. Moreover, it is important to train those who are assigned in the scene of crime with the aim of crime scene investigation or with different aims. Especially the studies focusing upon prediction of drying time in different settings and grounds are essential. Extensive studies related to bloodstain pattern analysis are required to be conducted with experts from different scientific fields.