Chapter 1Introduction to Forensic Science

Why Forensic Science• Many people want to be

able to solve problems and puzzles to be a detective

• Science has been proven to be an important tool in answering difficult problems

• Lastly, there has been an explosion among high school and college students in the study of forensic science

Forensic Science

Forensic Science is the application of is the application of sciencescience to those criminal and civil laws that are enforced by police agencies in a criminal justice system.

• Forensic science is a multidisciplinary subject, drawing principally from chemistry and biology, but also from physics, geology, psychology, social science, etc.

•The term evidence implies anything that tends to disprove or establish a fact of the case.

History and Development

• Sherlock Holmes is a famous, brilliant, fictional detective of the late 19th century, created by British author and physician Arthur Conan Doyle.

Sherlock Holmes• Applied the principles of serology• Fingerprinting• Fire-arm identification• Questioned-document examination

Timeline• http://www.forensicdna.com/Timeline020702.pdf. • The Forensic Science Timeline can also be found as an

appendix in our recently published book• Principles and Practice of Forensic Science: The

Profession of Forensic Science• http://forensicdna.com/Bookstore/index.html • See also the Forensic Science Bibliography• http://forensicdna.com/Bibliography.html • This is a “work in progress”• Please e-mail comments and suggestions• http://forensicdna.com/~emailforms/emailtimeline.html • This work is copyright © of Norah Rudin and Keith

Inman

Timeline• AD 66: Nero murders his wife and presents her

head on a dish to his mistress. She identifies the head as Nero’s wife by two discolored front teeth.

• 1149: King Richard I of England creates the job of coroner to investigate questionable deaths.

Timeline• 1732: Luigi Galvanio discovers that the human nervous

system transmits information electrically; this is the basis of current lie detection equipment.

Timeline• 1879: Alphonse Bertillon, a 1879: Alphonse Bertillon, a

French police employee, French police employee, devised the first system of devised the first system of personal identification. This personal identification. This science was called science was called anthropometry in which a anthropometry in which a systematic procedure of taking systematic procedure of taking a series of body measurements a series of body measurements can be the means of can be the means of distinguishing one individual distinguishing one individual from another. He is known as from another. He is known as the father of criminal the father of criminal identificationidentification

Timeline• 1892: (Sir) Francis Galton 1892: (Sir) Francis Galton

published Fingerprints, the published Fingerprints, the first comprehensive book first comprehensive book on the nature of on the nature of fingerprints and their use fingerprints and their use in solving crime. in solving crime.

• His work went on to His work went on to describe the basic principles describe the basic principles that form the present that form the present system of identification by system of identification by fingerprints.fingerprints.

Timeline• 1903: At Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary, Kansas, Will

West, a new inmate, was initially confused with a resident convict William West using anthropometry. They were later (1905) found to be easily differentiated by their fingerprints. For a historical clarification, please see http://www.scafo.org/library/110105.htm

Edmond Locard Accomplishments• 1904: Locard published L'enquete

criminelle et les methodes scientifique, in which appears a passage that may have given rise to the forensic precept that “Every contact leaves a trace.”

Timeline• 1957: The growth stages of skeletal bones are

identified by Americans Thomas Mocker and Thomas Stewart, forming the basis of forensic anthropology.

Timeline• 1977: Fuseo Matsumur, a trace evidence examiner

at the Saga Prefectural Crime Laboratory of the National Police Agency of Japan, notices his own fingerprints developing on microscope slides while mounting hairs from a taxi driver murder case. He relates the information to co-worker Masato Soba, a latent print examiner. Soba would later that year be the first to develop latent prints intentionally by “Superglue®” fuming.

• (1977): The FBI introduced the beginnings of its Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) with the first computerized scans of fingerprints.

Timeline• 1978: Britain’s Yorkshire Ripper case highlights

the value of computers in investigating serial killings and leads to the development of “psychological profiling” techniques in the following decade.

• 1979 Bite mark evidence is key in convicting serial killer Theodore “Ted” Bundy.

• 1984: (Sir) Alec Jeffreys developed the first DNA profiling test. It involved detection of a multilocus RFLP pattern. He published his findings in Nature in 1985.

Timeline• 1987: DNA profiling was introduced for the first time in a

U.S. criminal court. Based on RFLP analysis performed by Lifecodes, Tommy Lee Andrews was convicted of a series of sexual assaults in Orlando, Florida.

The United States• FBI Laboratory is the largest forensics

lab in the world.• FBI’s Forensic Science Research and

Training Center was opened in 1981– This facility is dedicated to conducting

research in order to develop new and reliable scientific techniques and methods

Reasons for Growth

•Changing judicial requirements

•Increase in crime rates•Advent of DNA profiling

Services of the Crime Laboratory

• Because of the independent development of crime labs in the America, a wide variation of the total services offered at a forensic lab in a given community can be different than those in another community.– Variations in local laws– Budgetary and staff limitations– Different capabilities and functions of the

organization to which the lab is attached

Basic Services• Physical Science department:

– Applies the principles and techniques of:• Chemistry• Physics• Geology

– Identify and compare crime-scene evidence• Drugs• Glass• Paint• Explosives• Soil

Basic Services• Biology Unit:

– Biologists and biochemists• Identification and DNA profiling of dried

bloodstains and other bodily fluids• Comparison of hairs and fibers• Identification and comparison of botanical

materials– Wood– Plants

Basic Services• Firearms Unit:

– Examination of firearms, discharged bullets, cartridge cases, shotgun shells, and ammunition of all types.

– Also exam garments and other items• To detect firearm discharge residue• Approximate the distance from a target at which

a weapon was fired

The basic principles of firearm examinationare also applied to the comparison of marks made by tools

Basic Services• Document Examination Unit:

– Handwriting– Typewriting

– Analysis of paper and ink– Examination of indented writings– Obliterations– Erasures– Burned or charred documents

Used to ascertain source and/or authenticity

Other Units• Photography Unit:

– Examine and record physical evidence– Aids in the preparation of photographic

exhibits for the courtroom presentations

Optional Services : Full-Service Crime Lab• Toxicology Unit:Examine body fluids and

organs– Determine presence or absence of drugs or

poison– Training of operators of the Intoxilyzer

(determines the alcoholic consumption of an individual)

• Latent Fingerprint Unit• Polygraph Unit

Optional Services : Full-Service Crime Lab• Voiceprint Analysis Unit:

– Cases involving telephone threats or tape-recorded messages

– Use of a sound spectrograph: an instrument that transforms speech into visual graphic display (voiceprint)

• Evidence-Collection Unit:– Special trained personnel (civilian and/or

police) that collect and preserve physical evidence from the crime scene

Other Forensic Sciences

• Forensic pathology • Forensic anthropology• Toxicology• Odontology• DNA• Forensic botany• Forensic Engineering• Computer Forensics• Impressions specialist• Soil Analyst• Forensic Entomologist

• Document Analysis• Hair/Fiber/Paint

Analysis• Ballistics• Serology• Trace Evidence

Specialist• Arson/Explosives

Expert• Fingerprints• Forensic Vet