Bloodstain analysis (BPA), known in the criminal justice field as blood spatter analysis, has been studied since the 1890s. Blood spatter, or readings Constructive blood stain patterning is a technique that attempts to reconstruct the accident that caused an individual to bleed. Understanding blood spatter on a wall or various surfaces can be instrumental in determining whether a crime has been committed and whether blood discovered at the crime scene can be used as evidence. The first documentation of blood spatter research occurred at the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Poland, by Dr. Eduard Piotrowski. During Dr. Piotrowski's period of research and documentation, in which he used live rabbits to look for blood spatter from head wounds, he went unnoticed in the legal profession and was overshadowed by his major work in mathematics. Dr. Piotrowski's research was first used in 1954, when a criminologist named Dr. Herbert MacDonell began training law enforcement in blood spatter analysis and developed a curriculum to continue to educate analysts in 1971. In 1983 MacDonell founded the International Association of Bloodstain Patterns. Analysts (IABPA). Dr. MacDonell's extensive work in blood spatter analysis has now become a valuable resource used in crime scene investigations. The pattern of blood spatters left at the crime scene can tell a trained examiner a lot about what crime may have been committed and even establish a rule. other types of crimes. Along with other clues, blood spatter can be very helpful in piecing together what happened, identifying the victim, and attempting to identify who was at fault. The first task a forensic scientist must perform when investigating a bloodstain... middle of paper... in liaising with the medical examiner, lawyers and blood spatter experts regarding the findings and resolution of a case. Blood spatter analysis can not only explain which events occurred, but in what sequence they occurred, who was or was not present, and even which events did not occur. Although blood spatter analysis has come a long way since it arrived in the field of criminal investigations, it is still under study and development. Blood spatter analysis will most likely always be an evolving study and will continue to be a useful tool in crime scene investigations. Work CitedHeather Brooke, Megan Baranowski, Jessica McCutcheon. Multimodal thermal infrared imaging for chemical contrast enhancement. Part 1: Methodology, Journal Analytical Chemistry, September 23, 2010 http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ac101109w?journalCode=ancham