Abstract
The work of professionals who examine and collect evidence at crime scenes is important to establish the dynamics of the facts and the potential authorship of the offense. Both are necessary to support decisions within the criminal justice system, and can contribute to the conviction or acquittal of individuals. Despite these repercussions, it is not deeply understood how crime scene investigators recognize evidence as relevant, and how they decide which evidence should be collected for analysis. This represents a problem, as the first stage of the chain of custody is recognition, which is the “act of distinguishing an element as potentially of interest for the production of forensic evidence”. This paper discusses the current knowledge surrounding this process and highlights future directions that can contribute to understanding the reasoning and decision-making of professionals involved in crime scene examination.