Introduction Chain of custody, sometimes abbreviated as (CoC), is defined as the chronological documentation or a paper trail that shows seizure, the custody, controls, transfers, analyses, and disposition of electronic or physical evidence (Fridell 48). This concept is always very important when one is handling criminal cases. However, it is also applicable in civil litigation. When there is evidence to be presented in court, it is always important to handle it with a lot of care to avoid claims of tampering with evidence. This is because it can compromise the evidence. The three components of the chain of custody are very important if one is to win a particular case. For instance, when the evidence is a piece of knife, it must be proven that the knife is the piece of evidence. A litigant’s fingerprints or blood sample can help prove this. The second step should be a testimony of consistency showing the possession of the item. For instance, an officer picks the knife, hands it over to the forensic officer, who finally hands it over to the evidence clerk. The evidence clerk would finally store it. Lastly, there should be testimony by all the individuals who had possession of this evidence showing that the evidence has not been tampered with. Concept of “Locard’s Principle of Exchange” Forensic science has had a massive development due to the effort put in place by various scientists, including Edmond Locard. Locard’s principle of exchange holds that a criminal will always have cross-transfer of some form of physical evidence when he or she encounters a person or an object. This principle is currently very popular in court cases (Brown 56). For instance, when one is accused of murder, traces of blood of the victim on the accused person’s hand or clothes will be a confirmation that the accused had contact with the victim. Major Types of Individual Identification that Have Been Used Throughout Forensic History Forensic science has been very important in the identification of the accused in the courtroom. While in court, there is always a need to produce proof that a particular individual is the one who is rightfully needed in the court. Forensic science has helped a lot in the identification process. Several ways through which criminal investigators identify criminals exist. DNA profiling, also known as DNA testing, has been one of the widely used strategies in the identification of criminals. This tactic helps in the identification of individuals through their DNA profiles (Tilstone 92). The technique of DNA profiling is credited to Sir Alec Jeffreys of the University of Leicester, who was the first to bring up the technique in 1984. Another common type of individual identification is offender profiling. In this strategy, an investigator will try to predict the behavioral pattern of an offender and connect it to the nature of the offense. This would then be connected to how the offense was committed. In the end, it would help in connecting the crime to the person who committed the offense. Dr. Richard Jarvis is credited with this strategy of criminal profiling. Digital image forensic is another strategy that has also been in use for the identification of individuals in the court. In this case, an individual will be identified