Glass is a hard, amorphous solid. Glass fragments may be evidence of great value encountered in the investigation of various types of offenses. At the scene of occurrence, the glass may be fractured either as an intentional act or due to an accident. Glass fractures are of paramount importance in shooting cases where the firearm is used as it can provide significant information related to the occurrence and facilitates a variety of evaluations. In fact, fractography i.e. analysis of fracture patterns is the means and method for characterization of fractured units or fragments in order to study or identify the mechanism of such fractures. The study of fracture patterns of glass has been of long interest to the forensic community. The glass fracture pattern analysis is very useful to establish the sequence of events and link together items of evidence and it is of paramount importance in such cases where the firearm is used.
April 2022