What is forensic science?
It is a method of gathering and collecting information for use in a
court trial. It comes from the Latin
term “forensis” which means “of the forum.”
It originally comes from the Roman era when the accused and the accuser
of a crime would present their sides of what happened in a public forum. After both sides gave their side, the case
would be decided in favor of the person giving the best delivery. The origin gives two sources of the modern
term “forensic”, one being a form for
legal evidence, and the other, a form for public presentation.
Earlier Methods
Ancient methods lacked much of today's standardized practices
that criminals were able to escape conviction.
Thus, this usually resulted in forced confessions and testimony. However, these ancient methods may have
foreshadowed much of today's concepts of forensic science that is used today.
For instance, Archimedes used the law of displacement when he
had to figure out if a dishonest goldsmith substituted some silver for
gold.
A murder case was solved by the use of medicine and
entomology, based on the book by Xi Yuan Lu (translated Washing Away Wrongs) by
Song Ci in 1248 during the Song Dynasty.
The case was solved by an instructor asking everyone to bring a sickle
to a single location. It was realized
when several blades were tested on animal carcass and comparing the wound. When flies had gathered around the blood on a sickle, the real murderer confessed to
the crime. This book also discusses how
to determine if the cause of death was caused by drowning (water in lungs) or
strangulation (broken cartilage in neck) and also how to tell if a corpse was
the result of murder, suicide, or an accident.
Other methods involved using saliva, mouth and tongue to
determine an accused's innocence or guilt.
In China and India, suspects were told to fill their mouths with rice
and spit it back out. Ancient
middle-eastern cultures made the accused
lick hot metal rods for a short time.
The validity of this method determined the accused's guilt would
produced a drier mouth than that of an innocent person. In the case of the rice, the accused were
usually guilty if the rice stuck to their mouths in abundance or they had
severely burned tongues due to lack of saliva.
Origins of Forensic
Science
By the 16th century, medical
practitioners began to gather evidence that would determine the cause and
manner of death. French army surgeon,
Ambroise Pare, studied the effects of violent death on internal organs. Two Italian surgeons, Fortunato Fidelis and
Paolo Zacchia, studied the effect of changes in the body as a result of
disease. By the late 18th century, articles such as these began to
appear: “A Treatise on Forensic Medicine
and Public Health” by French physician Francois Immanuele Fodere and “The
Complete System of Police Medicine” by German medical expert, Johann Peter
Frank.
The rational values of the Enlightened Era began to permeate
during the 18th century, criminal investigation began to use a
more rational-based, and rational procedure.
Torture and forced confessions, as well as the use of witchcraft and the
occult, ceased to influence the court's decisions. An example of using logic and procedure in a
criminal investigation happened around 1874 in Lancaser, when John Toms was
tried and convicted of murdering Edward Cushaw with a pistol. After examining Cushaw's body, a pistol wad (crushed paper that was used to
secure powder and balls in the muzzle) was found in Cushaw's head which matched
with bits of torn newspaper found in Tom's pocket, which led to his
conviction.
In Warwick in 1816, a laborer was tried and convicted in the
murder of a maidservant who drowned in a shallow pool from a violent
assault. Footprints and the corduroy
impression found in the damp mud near the pool along with samples of scattered
grains and chaff matched the laborers breeches which led to his conviction.
Toxicology and
Ballistics
In 1773, Swedish chemist, Carl Wilhelm Scheele, devised a
method to detect arsenic oxide, or arsenic, in corpses. Later, in 1806, German chemist, Valentin
Ross, learned how to detect the poison in victim's stomach wall.
The first to apply this to forensic science was James Marsh
when he was called by the prosecution in the murder of John Bodie, accused of
poisoning his grandfather with arsenic-laced coffee. He mixed a sample of hydrogen sulfide and
hydrochloride acid, which enabled him to detect the arsenic as yellow arsenic trisulfide. When it was shown to the jury, the arsenic
deteriorated, resulting in the accused to be acquitted due to reasonable doubt.
Bothered by this fact, Marsh then came up with a better way
when he combined a sample of arsenic with sulfuric acid and and arsenic free
zinc which produced arsine gas. When the
gas was ignited, it decomposed to pure metallic arsenic and when passed to a
cold surface, appeared as a silvery-black deposit. Marsh's test was so sensitive, it could
detect as little as one-fiftieth of a milligram of arsenic. Marsh published this in The Edinburgh
Philosophical Journal in 1836.
Henry Goddard of Scotland Yard is known for the use of bullet
comparison in 1835 when he noticed a flaw in a bullet that killed a victim and
traced it back to the mold he used in manufacturing the process.
Anthropometry
Dissatisfied with the use of ad hoc methods used to identify
criminals, French police officer Alphonse Bertillion applied the used a form of
anthropological technique of anthropometry to law enforcement which resulted in
the use of creating an identification system of physical measurements as a
means of human classification. Before
this, criminal were only identified by name or photo.
Other forensic techniques Bertillion created were: forensic document examination, use of
galvanistic compounds to preserve footprints, ballistics, and the dynamometer
(used to determine the degree of force in breaking and entering). These methods of Bertillion were replaced
with the use of fingerprinting, his other methods like mug shots and the
systematization of crime-scene photography are still used today.
Fingerprints
Sir William Herschel was the first to use fingerprinting for
identifying criminals when he worked for ht Indian Civil Service and used
thumbprints on documents as a security measure to prevent the rampant use of
signatures in 1858.
Herschel used these fingerprints in 1877 in Hooghly (near
Calcutta) on contracts and deeds, and registered government pensioner's
fingerprints to prevent relatives from collecting their pensions. He also used the fingerprints of prisoners
upon their sentence in order to prevent them from committing fraud to avoid a
prison sentence.
In 1880, Scottish surgeon, Dr. Henry Faulds, discussed in the
scientific journal, “Nature,” the usefulness of fingerprints for identification
and the use of recording them with printing ink. His first classification was first used on a
vial, but was later dismissed by the Metropolitan Police in 1886.
Faulds wrote to Charles Darwin about his method, but too old
and too ill, Darwin gave the information to his cousin, Francis Galton, who had
an interest in anthropology. Inspired to
study fingerprinting for ten years, Galton published a detailed scientific
statistical model of fingerprint analysis, encouraging its use in forensic
science. Galton calculated the chance of
“false positive” to be 1 in 64 billion, meaning no two different individuals
having the same prints).
Maturation
By the 20th century, forensic
science had become in criminal investigation.
Scientific and surgical investigation was used by the Metropolitan
Police of London during the pursuit of the mysterious Jack the Ripper, who had
killed a series of prostitutes during the 1880s.
“The Handbook for Coroners, Police Officials, and Military
Policeman” which was written by Austrian criminal jurist, Hans Gross in 1893,
is acknowledged as the birth to the field of criminalistics. His work combined the fields of psychology
and science as well as the use of crime scene photography that could be used
against the crime.
20th Century
Modern methods were later
introduced to the field of forensic science by British pathologists Mikey
Rochman, Francis Camps, Sydney Smith, and Keith Simpson. Alec Jeffreys use of DNA profiling in
forensic science in 1984 through the use of DNA fingerprinting (variations of
genetic code to identify individuals) has gained importance in assisting police
with detective work as well as resolving paternity and immigration
disputes.
Forensic Careers
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Forensic Investigation also known as
forensic audit is the examination of documents and the interviewing of people
to extract evidence. Forensic investigation is fast emerging as a lucrative
professional practice field. With increased sophistication of white collar
criminals, there is demand for well trained experts to carry out investigations
and also institute preventive, deterrence and detective measures.
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Art forensics concerns the art
authentication cases to help research the work's authenticity. Art
authentication methods are used to detect and identify forgery, faking and
copying of art works, e.g. paintings.
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Computational
forensics concerns the development of algorithms and software
to assist forensic examination.
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Criminalistics
is the application of various sciences to answer questions relating to
examination and comparison of biological evidence,
trace evidence,
impression evidence (such as fingerprints, footwear
impressions, and tire
tracks), controlled
substances, ballistics,
firearm and toolmark examination, and other evidence in criminal investigations.
In typical circumstances evidence is processed in a Crime lab.
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Digital forensics
is the application of proven scientific methods and techniques in order to
recover data from electronic / digital media. Digital Forensic specialists work
in the field as well as in the lab.
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Forensic
accounting is the study and interpretation of accounting
evidence.
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Forensic
aerial photography is the study and interpretation of aerial
photographic evidence.
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Forensic
anthropology is the application of physical
anthropology in a legal setting, usually for the recovery and
identification of skeletonized
human remains.
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Forensic
archaeology is the application of a combination of archaeological
techniques and forensic science, typically in law enforcement.
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Forensic astronomy
uses methods from astronomy
to determine past celestial constellations for forensic purposes.
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Forensic botany
is the study of plant life in order to gain information regarding possible
crimes.
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Forensic chemistry
is the study of detection and identification of illicit drugs, accelerants used in arson cases, explosive and gunshot residue.
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Forensic document examination or questioned
document examination answers questions about a disputed
document using a variety of scientific processes and methods. Many examinations
involve a comparison of the questioned document, or components of the document,
with a set of known standards. The most common type of examination involves
handwriting, whereby the examiner tries to address concerns about potential
authorship.
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Forensic DNA analysis takes
advantage of the uniqueness of an individual's DNA to answer forensic questions
such as paternity/maternity
testing and placing a suspect at a crime scene, e.g. in
a rape
investigation.
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Forensic
engineering is the scientific examination and analysis of
structures and products relating to their failure or cause of damage.
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Forensic
entomology deals with the examination of insects in, on and around human
remains to assist in determination of time or location of death. It is also
possible to determine if the body was moved after death using entomology.
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Forensic
geophysics is the application of geophysical techniques such
as radar for detecting objects hidden underground or underwater.
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Forensic
intelligence process starts with the collection of data and
ends with the integration of results within into the analysis of crimes under
investigation.
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Forensic
Interviews are conducted using the science of professionally
using expertise to conduct a variety of investigative interviews with victims,
witnesses, suspects or other sources to determine the facts regarding
suspicions, allegations or specific incidents in either public or private
sector settings.
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Forensic limnology
is the analysis of evidence collected from crime scenes in or around
fresh-water sources. Examination of biological organisms, in particular diatoms, can be useful in connecting
suspects with victims.
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Forensic
linguistics deals with issues in the legal system that
requires linguistic expertise.
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Forensic
meteorology is a site-specific analysis of past weather
conditions for a point of loss.
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Forensic
odontology is the study of the uniqueness of dentition, better
known as the study of teeth.
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Forensic
optometry is the study of glasses and other eyewear relating to
crime scenes and criminal investigations.
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Forensic pathology
is a field in which the principles of medicine and pathology are applied to determine a
cause of death or injury in the context of a legal inquiry.
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Forensic podiatry
is an application of the study of feet footprint or footwear and their
traces to analyze scene of crime and to establish personal identity in forensic
examinations.
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Forensic
psychiatry is a specialized branch of psychiatry as applied to and based
on scientific criminology.
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Forensic
psychology is the study of the mind of an individual, using
forensic methods. Usually it determines the circumstances behind a criminal's
behavior.
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Forensic
seismology is the study of techniques to distinguish the
seismic signals generated by underground nuclear explosions from those
generated by earthquakes.
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Forensic serology
is the study of the body fluids.
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Forensic
social work is the specialist study of social work theories and their
applications to a clinical, criminal justice or psychiatric setting. Practitioners
of forensic social work connected with thecriminal
justice system are often termed Social Supervisors, whilst the
remaining use the interchangeable titles Forensic
Social Worker, Approved
Mental Health Professional or Forensic Practitioner and they
conduct specialist assessments of risk, care planning and act as an officer of the
court.
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Forensic
video analysis is the scientific examination, comparison and
evaluation of video in legal matters.
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Mobile
device forensics is the scientific examination and evaluation
of evidence found in mobile phones, e.g. Call History and Deleted SMS, and
includes SIM Card Forensics.
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Trace evidence
analysis is the analysis and comparison of trace evidence including glass,
paint, fibres and hair (e.g., using micro-spectrophotometry).
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Wildlife
Forensic Science applies a range of scientific disciplines to
legal cases involving non-human biological evidence, to solve crimes such as
poaching, animal
abuse, and trade in endangered species.
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Blood
Spatter Analysis is the scientific examination of blood
spatter patterns found at a crime scene to reconstruct the events of the crime.
Reference
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