Process of Elimination

This stage involves excluding any individuals who are not considered suspects of the crime anymore. This stage is continually ongoing throughout the investigation, and does not happen at just one time. This is because it depends upon the information they currently have, as there may be several initial suspects but when interviewed they may have a solid alibi that places them in a different location at the crime of the event; therefore there is no possibility of them carrying out the lawful act. Also forensic evidence may eliminate an individual. For example if the crime consisted of sexual assault, bodily fluid will be collected from the victim or crime scene and tested against the potential suspect. If the results come back positive, they would then investigate the individual further however if it came back as negative the individual could be eliminated. 

This is a vital stage within any criminal investigation, as eliminating the wrong suspect’s means that they have potentially let perpetrator into the society where they may be a threat into the public. Or if they don’t eliminate a suspect who is not guilty of the crime, tunnel vision may occur. This meaning that because the police force may have only one suspect they may unconsciously manipulate the evidence such as witnesses’ statements to point the blame to that individual.  Therefore they would concentrate their whole investigation around him, to try and point out flaws in their behaviour or statements etc. 

In the Paul Morin case, the police officers acted quickly to eliminate potential suspects and solely focused on Paul Morin. This is because of the behaviour he displayed when officers were interviewing his family; as a result of this they highlighted him as very suspicious even though he had an alibi for the time the abduction was suspected to have taken place.