Key Bloodstain Pattern Analysis Terms

The large pattern of blood that is created when blood escapes an artery under pressure; the increase and decrease in blood pressure is apparent.

The angle at which a blood droplet strikes a surface.

Large patters created under pressure, but with less volume and usually more distributive evidence of blood pressure rising and falling.

A mass of blood and other contaminants caused through clotting mechanisms

Blood that has been thrown from a secondary object ( weapon or hand ) into a target other than the impact site

Characteristic patterns present when blood drips into standing, wet blood

Blood which is spattered onto a target, as a result of breathing; typically, this occurs when an injury is sustained to the throat, mouth, or airway

Usually the point on the body that received the blow or applied force, from which the blood was shed

The point in space where the blood spatter come from

The droplet from which waterline spatter originated

Blood under pressure that strikes a target

Small drop of blood that break off from the parent spatter when the parent droplet strikes a target surface

A pattern that helps to place an object or body in the scene; normally, the area in question lacks blood even though areas surrounding it show blood

The pattern left when an object moves through a partially dried stain, removing part of the blood, but leaving of the outline of the stain intact

Bloodstains created from the application of force or energy to the area where the blood is

The pointed edges of a stain that radiate out to form the spatter

Spatter created when a volume of blood in excess of 1 mL strikes a surface at a low to medium velocity

The transfer of blood onto a target surface by a bloody object that is usually moving laterally

The platform created when a wet, bloody object comes in contact with a target surface, leaving a pattern, that has the features of the object making it useful for identifying the object

The surface where the blood ends up

Pattern created when a secondary target moves through an existing wet blood stain on some other object