Procedures applied by Chain of Custody Participants

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to analyze the procedures for safeguarding evidence where they were applied in the Chain of Custody of facts investigated by the intervening parties. The problem formulated consisted of the alleged negligence in the application of the criminal procedures, the physical evidence and the evidentiary material collected by the National Police, as well as the Public Prosecutor's Office, are affected, thus creating a procedural vacuum. The design had a qualitative approach of analytical level, cross-sectional, non-experimental, carried out through a case study. The sample consisted of seven public prosecution files of punishable acts of public criminal action of Criminal Prosecutor's Unit No. 5 of the Public Prosecutor's Office of Area V of Itapúa and interviews with those involved. They affirmed that a fair trial is based on the correct application of the protocol and stated that there is a deficit in the praxis to adequately develop the Chain of Custody procedure. Therefore, it is recommended to protect the place of the facts and to carry out the procedure correctly in order to guarantee the legality of the evidence of the punishable act under investigation.