Relationship between pedagogical practices and outcome of scientific training on biological evidence management in Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

Crime scene Investigations is a crucial aspect in the judicial process. To ensure that justice prevails, all the crime scenes need to be well managed by the Crime Scene Investigators. Failure to manage the crime scenes properly, some citizens fall victims of wrongful convictions and at other times the suspects are acquitted by the court due to lack of substantive evidence. For purpose of proper management of crime scene, the Crime Scene Investigators require to undergo a scientific training which acquits them with knowledge and skills. Such knowledge and skills enable them to handle various types of evidence and especially the biological evidence. Majority of studies have been on scientific training at primary, secondary schools and colleges. However, Minimal research has been conducted on the scientific training on biological evidence management for the crime scene investigators at police training institutions. This study therefore, sought to address the existing knowledge gap by establishing the relationship between content and outcome of scientific training on biological evidence management in Nairobi County, Kenya. To achieve the objective descriptive research design was adopted. A sample of 132 respondents was obtained from a target of 198 by use of Krejcie and Morgan sample determination table. Data was collected using questionnaires and interview schedule. Prior to data analysis, common themes were noted. The data was analyzed quantitatively using descriptive and inferential statistics with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25.0. The research hypotheses were tested at 95% level of confidence. The findings indicated that content for scientific training on biological evidence management was inadequately covered due to allocation of a few lessons. It was therefore, recommended that there should be more lessons allocated for biological evidence management scientific training to enable adequate coverage of the diverse content areas.