What are the consequences if chain-of-custody is breached?

• A. Breaches may affect admissibility.
• B. Evidence remains admissible regardless.
• C. Breaches always lead to dismissal.
• D. Breaches have no impact on credibility.

Answer: (A)

Maintaining a proper chain of custody shows evidence is authentic and unchanged from the moment it is collected to when it is presented in court. If this chain is broken, the court can question whether the evidence’s integrity was preserved, which may lead to suppression or exclusion of the evidence or to credibility challenges during trial. This is why breaches may affect admissibility. It doesn’t automatically render the evidence inadmissible in every case, and it doesn’t always lead to dismissal; some breaches are considered harmless if other documentation shows the evidence’s integrity remains intact. At the same time, such breaches can undermine credibility, so the notion that they have no impact on credibility isn’t correct.