When clinically managing a person with history of torture, it is good practice to document the injuries at the earliest, before changes take place.
Any gadget can be used for immediate documentation and a better camera can be used later, if available. If not available, diagrams and illustrations can help.
Consent should be taken prior to photographs. These photographs can be shared with experts for their opinions.
The first photograph should show the individual clearly with, if possible, the lesions visible to allow identification in court if necessary.
The front page of a recent newspaper (or other object of verifiable age) can demonstrate that the photograph was not taken prior to that date.
If there are date and time settings on the camera, these should be used correctly. There should always be an indicator of scale for close-up images.
A tape measure is best but, if necessary, any well-known object of standard size can be used, such as a 35mm film canister or a coin. In photographs taken using the camera’s built-in flash, wounds tend to be obscured.
It is better to work in daylight or to use background lighting.
Digital cameras allow many photographs to be taken using different angles and lighting conditions and the best produced as evidence, although every image taken should be stored securely (for example, on a secure computer, with password protection).
Films can also be useful as courts have not generally agreed how digital images should be treated as evidence.
Digital images and scanned prints can be useful as they can be e-mailed to experts for an opinion. If necessary they can be cropped and enlarged, but the original version must always be retained. Further interference must be avoided as allegations of manipulation are difficult to refute.
Once the photographs have been taken, the chain of custody of the images must be ensured.
A ‘chain of custody’ is a detailed record showing the exact date, time and location in which a piece of evidence entered the possession of different individuals. A chain of custody aims to prevent outside interference with evidence
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