While the human skin and protective garments are barriers to exposure to the AIDS virus, there are objects and conditions present at crime scenes that may, through abrasion, puncturing or cutting action, provide additional avenues for transmission. If investigators believe they are not properly protected from the AIDS virus, they may limit their evidentiary searches, consciously or unconsciously, to only those scenarios they believe to be "safe." Physical evidence may be only cursorily dealt with, hunches may not be followed up, and officers may avoid specialized forensic assignments. If the courts are forced to rely on evidence of poor quality, the guilty may not be convicted, and the innocent may not be exonerated. The vast majority of crime scene investigators and evidence technicians report that the quality of their work is not adversely affected. However, 1988 research with the police crime scene investigation and evidence technicians who are members of the Michigan-Ontario Identification Association revealed that overall, about two thirds of the sample feel the need for more information about methods of dealing effectively with the AIDS situation. 11 notes.