What is the importance of chain of custody?

Maintaining the chain of custody and following proper procedures is important to ensure evidence does not get tampered with or lost, as stated by the Office for Victims of Crime. It allows the courts to know that the evidence presented is exactly the same as it was when it was seized by offers. If the chain of custody is broken at some point, it could mean that the evidence cannot be presented as part of the criminal case.

If the chain of custody was maintained correctly, the whereabouts of the item and who was responsible for the object should be accounted for from the moment of seizure to the current time, according to NOLO.