FORENSIC SCIENCE

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FORENSIC SCIENCE

• Text Criminalistics by Richard Saferstein

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Forensic Science is Defined

• as the application of science to those criminal
  and civil laws that are enforced by police
  agencies in a criminal justice system.
• Or, forensic science resolves legal issues by
  applying scientific principles to them.

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Forensic Science - History

• Francis Galton Classified fingerprints
• Leone Lattes grouped dried blood
• Calvin Goddard used comparison microscope to
  examine firearms
• Albert Osborn document examination was accepted
  in court
• Hans Gross recognized scientific principles
  should be applied to criminal investigation

• History of forensic science is relatively new
• Names to know
• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote Sherlock Holes
  stories
• Mathieu Orfila father of forensic toxicology
• Alphonse Bertillon anthropometry is science of
  body measurements

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Forensic Science - History

• Edmond Locard 1877 1966
• Locards Exchange Principle which says when two
  objects come into contact with each other, each
  of the objects will leave particles of one on the
  other. It is this principle that is the
  foundation of the study of trace evidence.

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Crime Laboratory

• No regional or national planning has modeled a
  typical crime lab.
• Increase in numbers because
• Increase in crime
• Increase in drug related crimes require
  toxicology testing
• DNA profiling has put increased demand on crime
  labs

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Crime Laboratory

• Four major federal crime labs
• FBI Federal Bureau of Investigation has largest
  crime lab in the world
• DEA Drug Enforcement Administration analyzes
  drugs seized
• ATF Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
  analyzes alcohol, examines weapons in conjunction
  with Gun Control Act of 1968 and Organized Crime
  Control Act 1970, and examines documents relating
  to tax laws
• US Postal inspection Service criminal
  investigations relating to postal service.

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Crime Laboratory - services

• Physical Science unit
• Drugs, glass, paint, explosives and soil
• Biology Unit
• DNA profiling of dried bloodstains and other body
  fluids
• Comparison of hairs and fibers
• ID and comparison of plant materials (wool,
  seeds, etc.a)

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Crime Laboratory - services

• Firearms Unit
• Examines firearms, discharged bullets, cartridge
  cases, shotgun shells, and ammunition. Gunshot
  Residue (GSH) is also studied and analyzed.
• Document Examination Unit
• Handwriting and typewriting document analysis as
  well as paper and ink analysis

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Crime Laboratory - services

• Photography Unit
• Digital, infrared, ultraviolet and X-ray
  photography yields new information
• Full Service Labs also provide
• Toxicology Units
• Latent Fingerprint Unit
• Polygraph Unit
• Voiceprint Analysis Unit
• Evidence-Collection Unit

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Landmark Cases

• Frye v. United States discussed what is mean by
  a technique that is generally accepted by most
  of the scientific community.
• Federal Rule of Evidence 702- deals with
  admissibility of expert testimony
• Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceutical, Inc.
  allows trial judge to decide who is and who is
  not an expert witness.

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Landmark Cases

• Coppolino v. State recognized the admissibility
  of new techniques as long as they are based on
  scientifically valid principles and techniques.

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Expert Testimony

• If a witness can establish to the satisfaction of
  a trial judge they are an expert, their testimony
  can be considered expert.
• Absolute certainty never possible. Usually an
  opinion is given probabilities and statistical
  chances.
• Forensic scientist does not testify for the
  defense or the prosecution. They testify only to
  the truth as they can ascertain it.

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Additional Forensic Services

• Forensic Pathology
• Investigation of sudden, unnatural, unexplained
  or violent deaths
• Forensic Anthropology
• Identification of human skeletal remains
• Forensic Entomology
• Study of insects and their relations to a
  criminal investigation

• Forensic Psychiatry
• Relationship between human behavior and legal
  proceedings is examined
• Forensic Odontology
• Characteristics of teeth used to ID body
• Forensic Engineering
• Reasons for structural failure and where the
  responsibility might fall.

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Detection of Curare in the Jascalevich Murder
Trial

• What was the reason this case was given at this
  point in the text?
• What was Jascalevich charged with?
• What was the result of the trial?
• If you were the forensic expert on this case how
  would you have handled the investigation
  differently?