Just played Republic saboteur who shoots someone in the back. In the real world if any suspicions about who don it the authorities could examine the bullet and have some idea what kind of gun it came from. And they'd know which side in the war was most likely to carry it. And if they got their hands on the actual gun they could prove the treachery.

 

So that got me wondering, theoretically is it possible to do that with a blaster rifle or blaster pistol?

 

Of course the mere fact he was shot in the back should be evidence that he was taken by surprise and therefore killed by a "friend". Of course in a war they may not look too closely. They clearly have no suspicions that the Alliance Commander is actually a hidden enemy.

I don't believe that this is something that has ever been stated explicitly, but I don't believe it is possible based on the "science" behind blasters.

 

Blasters in the SW galaxy utilize some form of volatile gas that is ionized and accelerated out of the weapon into a bolt of plasma (note, every time you hear someone say "laser" in SW, it pretty much never is, it's actually a plasma beam)

 

Ballistic forensics in the real world work on the unique "signature" that a projectile gets when it passes through the barrel of a gun. Thing is, with a plasma bolt, there is no projectile, it would just discharge and that's it.

 

Now you certainly would be able to tell what kind of weapon (disrupter weapons have very different qualities than do normal blasters etc.), and possibly even the manufacturer, production batch etc. of the blaster gas (trace residues that would be left behind).

 

Not nothing to go on, but probably not definitive unless the weapon in question is unique

Forensics would determine what happened by all the other evidence surrounding the blaster attack. How did the person fall, which way? Drag marks around the body, was it moved after death?

 

I mean, forensics is so complex now, imagine with the technologies they have what they could do? They would be doing things we are not even aware of!

 

Even now, in most situations the only way someone gets away with murder is incompetent forensics... There's almost always some trace DNA evidence now that they can track whether it's the attacker or something the attacker wore, dropped, etc. etc.

 

I just think that the forensics options available for the future of a time like Star Wars would blow us away, it's so crazy meticulous now imagine with even tighter technology.

 

I just know that they would find the offender in a lot of cases even without ballistics, though ballistics involves far more than barrel boring patterns etc., it includes also angle of shot and other details that can often lead to more clues what the weapon was and who did it.

 

I mean who knows, they probably would have a device that measures something the plasma emits and leaves when it scorches through a person maybe that would lead to a specific manufacturer or weapon depending on those exact particles left behind.

[...]

Of course the mere fact he was shot in the back should be evidence that he was taken by surprise and therefore killed by a "friend".[...]

Don't ever go into detective work

 

being shot in the back only indicates that the target was either unaware, surrendered ,or fleeing

 

as for theoretical CSI? there's probably trace matter, wound size, penetration, and heat that might indicate a family and size of weapon type. might even work out the direction and rough range the shot took place from. It's doubtful they'd get an exact make/model unless it has some purposely built in signanture, and even if you could narrow down a faction for the weapon, that only tells you where the weapon came from, not who was holding it.

This raises an interesting question. This has been at least partially answered in the EU. They use forensics droids.

 

I don't know how anyone could get away with murder with this level of analysis.

In the real world if any suspicions about who don it the authorities could examine the bullet and have some idea what kind of gun it came from. And they'd know which side in the war was most likely to carry it. And if they got their hands on the actual gun they could prove the treachery.

Any good detective would also know that purposely using a weapon that's associated with someone else is a common red herring.

Knowing the type of weapon would only really tell you ... the type of weapon.

 

Think for example, of the dagger used by the assassin in Game Of Thrones.

This raises an interesting question. This has been at least partially answered in the EU.

I don't know how anyone could get away with murder with this level of analysis.

I wish people would stop saying "EU". My first thought is always "what does the European Union have to do with Star Wars"? 😏

(Not being a comic book fan, Expanded Universe is not what first comes to mind. 🙂 )

Edited March 30, 2020 by JediQuaker

Well switching weapons doesn't apply here. Saboteur just used his own blaster. I think a Jedi uses the Force.

I wish people would stop saying "EU". My first thought is always "what does the European Union have to do with Star Wars"? 😏

(Not being a comic book fan, Extended Universe is not what first comes to mind. 🙂 )

That's just how the language evolved. It's called the Expanded Universe, and this is the internet, where everyone is too lazy to type out full words when there are acronyms everyone understands in their respective communities/subcultures. What do you want to call it?

Edited March 29, 2020 by Tofu_Shark

Even now, in most situations the only way someone gets away with murder is incompetent forensics... There's almost always some trace DNA evidence now that they can track whether it's the attacker or something the attacker wore, dropped, etc. etc.

 

There's a good series on Amazon Prime called "Crime Scene Solvers" that goes through the forensics work of real-life cases. It's set in France, and most of the cases are somewhere around 10 years old, but I find it interesting how much work REAL forensics is (and how long it really takes), vs. what they show on TV cop shows.

 

And it seems even things like DNA evidence is not always so cut and dried. They had a case [spoilers!] where some guy actually faked the DNA evidence in a rape/murder by getting a used condom and using that to insert some hapless innocent's DNA. The only way they finally got him was that they used some behavior-science-guided approach while questioning him to actually get him to confess to the whole thing and explain it all!

That's just how the language evolved. It's called the Expanded Universe, and this is the internet, where everyone is too lazy to type out full words when there are acronyms everyone understands in their respective communities/subcultures. What do you want to call it?

How about a whole 2 extra characters - SWEU. 🙂

Similar to DCEU (comics).

This raises an interesting question. This has been at least partially answered in the EU. They use forensics droids.

 

I don't know how anyone could get away with murder with this level of analysis.

 

Exactly this. ^

There's a good series on Amazon Prime called "Crime Scene Solvers" that goes through the forensics work of real-life cases. It's set in France, and most of the cases are somewhere around 10 years old, but I find it interesting how much work REAL forensics is (and how long it really takes), vs. what they show on TV cop shows.

 

And it seems even things like DNA evidence is not always so cut and dried. They had a case [spoilers!] where some guy actually faked the DNA evidence in a rape/murder by getting a used condom and using that to insert some hapless innocent's DNA. The only way they finally got him was that they used some behavior-science-guided approach while questioning him to actually get him to confess to the whole thing and explain it all!

 

Like I said it’s so complex now forensics is insanely technical I just can’t see it being easier to get away with something further in the future. Following that trend we can see just how we are using DNA through genealogy tests to catch criminals related to the genealogy customers, lol. It’s pretty crafty because people would never volunteer their DNA willingly but, if you entice them with a story of their history and they maybe related to (I could be related to someone important!) oh well here take all my DNA it’s to build my ego yay!

 

It’s like Facebook. 20 years ago, if you told people they would insert all their private info into a data site, including who all they socialize with, even those who are only hardly known acquaintances no one would believe me that people would give up all this for a social media website, but they did it. All it took was telling people it’s for them and their friends, and give the people a platform where they could create their own narratives with words and images, and once people got their egos filled good they had no problem giving up every bit of privacy people ever once had.

 

We are rapidly changing in social ways that humans have never had happen before... technology is advancing so fast it’s destroying hundreds of years of etiquette that people have built upon, how to respectfully socialize with one another, even how to treat one another has been altered in my opinion negatively and this is coming form a fairly hardcore introvert!

 

I don’t like how technology really socially isolates us and that’s becoming the norm. social interaction via the internet simply doesn’t, can’t replace face to face social interactions and because we delve into our devices so hard now and into computer technology we have tons of anxiety and other mental conditions that get exacerbated by our new way of living and communicating.

 

It’s definitely having a negative impact on how we are evolving right now. Without any direction it just seems we are developing new technologies with little consideration with how it will impact us years later. Not just us, the planet and all the living creatures on the earth.

 

We humans just don’t care how our actions effect others it seems only when we feel bad effects directly do we care. Who cares if some animal in Africa is killed into extinction, that’s Africa! Oh, China has a virus, those dirty Chinese eating bats passing it along! People are so dumb! Look at the bigger picture!

 

This pandemic problem isn’t a national one it’s an EARTHLY one and all people of all countries need to stop trying divide us as people just to place blame on things that happen quite naturally, in fact. So-called wet markets have existed since the beginning of time... this isn’t China’s fault. And honestly we have no concrete evidence that I have seen knowing definitively where the virus came from only the location of its first known infection spot.

 

Ignorance is bliss, I guess though. People need to stop being ignorantly tribal during times like this and work on how to make things better not spend energy blaming and pointing fingers at everyone else.

Edited March 30, 2020 by Lhancelot

Just played Republic saboteur who shoots someone in the back. In the real world if any suspicions about who don it the authorities could examine the bullet and have some idea what kind of gun it came from.

 

When I saw the title in your thread, I thought you were going to talk about the physical effects of gravity on the path of a kinetically-fired projectile, but what you're talking about is forensics, not ballistics. Ballistics as a field of study takes in far more than unraveling which projectile from which weapon killed someone. Manufacturing processes, military applications, all that.

Edited March 30, 2020 by xordevoreaux

I wish people would stop saying "EU"

 

Wellspring of fan fiction (WOFF)

Non-canon Cornucopia (NCC)

Supramystical Sci-Fi Derivative Fiction (SSDF)

Extant Star Wars-Contextualized Narrative (ESWCN)

Edited March 30, 2020 by xordevoreaux

Wellspring of fan fiction (WOFF)

Non-canon Cornucopia (NCC)

Supramystical Sci-Fi Derivative Fiction (SSDF)

Extant Star Wars-Contextualized Narrative (ESWCN)

 

SWL = Star Wars Legends...

Exactly this. ^

Actually, I take back what I said. Where there's a will, there's a way, as your double-post has so effectively proved. (Really? You couldn't had just edited your post? You're not bumping a bug thread.) Even DNA evidence can be fooled or be unreliable. This is why forensics is only a tool in crime fighting and detective work. It should not be the be all/end all of it.

 

Wellspring of fan fiction (WOFF)

Non-canon Cornucopia (NCC)

Supramystical Sci-Fi Derivative Fiction (SSDF)

Extant Star Wars-Contextualized Narrative (ESWCN)

I'll be a monkey-lizard's uncle! It's Disney's fanon that is fan fiction...awful fanfiction.

Edited March 31, 2020 by Tofu_Shark

Guess you haven't seen the true crime show where for years police harassed a family because they had a partial DNA match to DNA submitted to one of those genealogy companies.. When DNA testing was improved they found there was no match at all. The case was never solved because they focused on wrong people for so long.

No, but this is getting off-topic. Using those genealogy sites' DNA records is a legal gray area. There's not been a court decision on them yet. Also, a partial match shouldn't be enough. They should've sued the police for harassment.

 

The police also don't care who they put behind bars, because if they don't lock anyone up, they look like they don't know how to do their job, and the people may get angry about where their tax dollars are going. But if someone, anyone, gets put away, well, they're doing their job as far as they're concerned and very few complain (except for the minority communities that are disproportionately affected by these practices).

Edited April 3, 2020 by Tofu_Shark

There was an episode in the original BSG that dealt with the same topic. I'd have to look it up, but it somehow ended up having something to do with harmonics or energy frequency.