Polymers on the crime scene: How can analytical chemistry help to exploit the information from these mute witnesses?

Polymers are ubiquitous in everyday life, so it is very likely that they may be encountered on a crime scene as well. In order to exploit to the fullest extent the amount of information that these items contain, it is necessary to properly characterise them. The state of the art and the most recent advances in the forensic characterisation of polymeric items are presented. The qualitative and quantitative determination of the formulation is discussed, along with more innovative approaches, that focus on the features directly related to the macromolecular nature of such traces (molecular weight, degree of crystallinity, presence of comonomers, etc.).