Forensic Science

Written by:
Jennifer Hansen

What is forensic science?

Application

of science to law
Applies knowledge and technology of
science to the definition and
enforcement of laws
Enforced by police agencies in the
criminal justice system

Diversity of professions within

the forensic science
Criminalistics
Engineering
Science
General
Jurisprudence
Odontology
Pathology/Biology

Physical
Anthropology
Psychiatry and
behavioral science
Questioned
Documents
Toxicology

Also divisions such as

Fingerprint

examination
Firearm and tool mark examination
Computer and digital data analysis
Photography

History and Development of

Forensic Science

Earliest Record 3rd century China

Yi Yu Ji A collection of criminal cases

Woman murdered her husband and burned
the body and claimed accidental fire
Coroner noticed no ashes in mouth of
deceased and performed experiment on pigs
Chinese were first to recognize the potential
of fingerprints as means of identification

Limited knowledege of
anatomy and pathology
hindered the growth of
forensics until the late 17th
century and early 18th
century

Initial Scientific advances

1798

A treatise on Forensic medicine

and Public Health
Written

by french physician FrancoisEmanual Fodere

Biggest breakthroughs at this time were
in chemistry

Initial scientific advances

1775

Sweedish Chemist Carl William

Scheele developed first successful
test in detecting arsenic poisoning in
corpses
1806 German chemist Valatin Ross
developed more precise method of
detection in stomach lining of victims

Father of Forensic Toxicology

Spaniard
1814

MATHIEU ORFILA

published the first scientific

treatise on the detection of poisons and
their effects on animals
Forensic toxicology was born

Advances through the mid

1800s

1828

William Nichol- invented the

polarizing microscope
1839 Henry-Louis Bayard-first
procedures for microdetection of
sperm
1853 First microcrystalline test for
hemoglobin

Advances through the mid

1800s
1863 First presumptive test for blood
TOXICOLOGY EVIDENCE FIRST USED
IN TRIAL IN 1839

Scottish chemist named James Marsh testified

presence of arsenic in victim

1850s-60s Photography became an integral

part of recording crime scenes

Late Nineteenth Century

Progress

1879

French scientist Alphonse

Bertillon responsible for
advancements in anthropology and
morphology (study of structure of
living organisms)

Bertillons System
Anthropometry

systematic procedure involved taking

body measurements as means of
identifying one individual from
another
Father of Criminal Identification

Bertillons Method
Used for over two
decades as a source of
identification

Replaced by
fingerprinting in the
early 1900s

QuickTime and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.

Francis Henry Galton

Father of Fingerprinting
First definitive study of fingerprinting and
methodology for classifying and filing
1892 published book Finger Prints
First statistical proof supporting
uniqueness of method of identification

Hans Gross
1893

Public processor and judge in

Graz, Austria published Criminal
Investigation
This

book detailed the assistance that

investigators could expect from fields of
microscopy, chemistry, physics,
mineralogy, zoology, botany,
anthropometry, and fingerprinting

Hans Gross

Introduced the first forensic journal

journal compiles improved methods of

science in a field
This journal is still published and
updated to this date

Make Believe helped this field

grow!

Sherlock

Holmes was a fictional

character created by Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle
Tales where about Dr. John Watson
who was Sherlock Holmes partner and
biographer and together they solved
criminal mysteries

Make Believe helped this field

grow!

This

series encompassed fields like:

Serology-

study of blood and bodily fluid

Fingerprinting
Firearms identification
Questioned Document examination

 1901

Twentieth century
Breakthroughs

Dr. Karl Landsteiner discovered

blood types (A, B, AB, O)
1915 Dr. Leone Lattes devised a
simple test for determining blood
types from dried blood

Albert S. Osborn
1910

Developed fundamental
principles of document examination
Questioned Documents

Edmond Locard
1910

persuaded Lyons police

department to give him 2 attic rooms
and 2 assistants to start a police
laboratory
Only equipment was a microscope and
spectrometer

Edmond Locard
His enthusiasm overcame his technical and
monetary deficiencies
His research and accomplishments became
known though the world
Became founder and director of Institute
of Criminalistics at the University of Lyons
International center for study and research
in forensic science

Locards Exchange Principle

When

two objects come into contact

with each other a cross transfer of
material occurs

Locard
He

strongly believed that every

criminal can be linked to a crime by
dust particles carried from the crime
scene
Reinforced by a series of successful
well publicized cases

Other notable scientists

Dr.

Walter McCrone- worlds

preeminent microscopist
Army Colonel Calvin Goddard- refined
techniques of firearm examination by
using a comparison microscope

Modern Scientific Advances

Computer Technology
Chromatography
Spectrophotometry
Electrophoresis
DNA typing

Sir Alec Jeffreys

Developed

first DNA profiling test in

1984
Has revolutionized the practice of
fornsic science

Computers
Have

revolutionized data bases

cutting down on the time required to
find matches and analyze data

What should I know at this

point?
Definition of forensic science
Who developed anthrpometry and what it
is
Scientists what they contributed=
Bertillon, Galton, Lattes, Goddard, Orfila,
Jeffrey, Osborn, and Locard
Locards exchange principle