Forensics
This article deals with forensic science, used in legal proceedings. For forensics in public speaking, see debate and individual events.Forensic science (often shortened to
forensics) is the application of a broad spectrum of
sciences to answer questions of interest to the
legal system. This may be in relation to a crime or to a civil action. The use of the term "forensics" in place of "forensic science" could be considered incorrect; the term "forensic" is effectively a synonym for "legal" or "related to courts" (from Latin, it means "before the forum"). However, it is now so closely associated with the scientific field that many dictionaries include the meaning given here.
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, shoeprints, and tire tracks),
controlled substances,
firearms, and other evidence in criminal investigations. Typically, evidence is processed in a
crime lab. Some of the forensic science disciplines are:
Forensic odontology is the study of the uniqueness of dentition. (study of teeth)
Forensic toxicology is the study of the effect of
drugs and
poisons on the human body.
Forensic engineering studies the causes of failure of devices and structures.
Forensic accounting is the study and interpretation of accounting evidence.
Forensic economics is the study and interpretation of economic damage evidence to include present day calculations of lost earnings and benefits, the lost value of a business, lost business profits, lost value of household service, replacement labor costs and future medical care costs.
Forensic psychology and
forensic psychiatry deal with the legal aspects of human behavior.
Forensic anthropology is the application of
physical anthropology in a legal setting, usually for the recovery and identification of skeletonized human remains.
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.
Forensic epistemology deals with philosophical knowledge in a legal settting, typically for understanding behavior of states.
Forensic evidence deals with scientific evidence from a crime scene.
Questioned document examination is the study and interpretation of evidence that takes the form of document.
The "Eureka" legend of
Archimedes (287-212 BC) can be considered an early account of the use of forensic science. In this case, by examining the principles of water displacement, Archimedes was able to prove that a crown was not made of gold (as it was fraudulently claimed) by its density and buoyancy.
The earliest account of
fingerprint use to establish identity was during the 7th century. According to
Soleiman, an Arabic merchant, a debtor's fingerprints were affixed to a bill, which would then be given to the lender. This bill was legally recognized as proof of the validity of the debt.
The first written account of using
medicine and
entomology to solve (separate) criminal cases is attributed to the book
Xi Yuan Ji Lu (洗冤集錄, translated as "
Collected Cases of Injustice Rectified"), written in 1248 China by
Song Ci (宋慈, 1186-1249). In one of the accounts, the case of a person murdered with a sickle was solved by a death investigator who instructed everyone to bring their sickles to one location. Flies, attracted by the smell of blood, eventually gathered on a single sickle. In light of this, the murderer confessed. The book also offered advice on how to distinguish between a
drowning (water in the
lungs) and
strangulation (broken neck
cartilage).
In
sixteenth century Europe, medical practitioners in army and university settings began to gather information on cause and manner of death.
Ambrose Paré, a
French army
surgeon, systematically studied the effects of violent death on internal organs. Two
Italian surgeons,
Fortunato Fidelis and
Paolo Zacchia, laid the foundation of modern
pathology by studying changes which occurred in the structure of the body as the result of disease. In the late
1700s, writings on these topics began to appear. These included:
"A Treatise on Forensic Medicine and Public Health" by the French physician
Fodéré, and
"The Complete System of Police Medicine" by the
German medical expert
Johann Peter Franck.
In
1775,
Swedish chemist
Carl Wilhelm Scheele devised a way of detecting arsenous oxide, simple
arsenic, in corpses, although only in large quantities. This investigation was expanded, in
1806, by German chemist
Valentin Ross, who learned to detect the poison in the walls of a victim's stomach, and by English chemist
James Marsh, who used chemical processes to confirm arsenic as the cause of death in an
1836 murder trial.
Two early examples of English forensic science in individual legal proceedings demonstrate the increasing use of
logic and
procedure in criminal investigations. In
1784, in
Lancaster, England, John Toms was tried and convicted for murdering Edward Culshaw with a pistol. When the dead body of Culshaw was examined, a pistol wad (crushed paper used to secure powder and balls in the muzzle) found in his head wound matched perfectly with a torn newspaper found in Toms' pocket. In
Warwick, England, in
1816, a farm laborer was tried and convicted of the murder of a young maidservant. She had been drowned in a shallow pool and bore the marks of violent assault. The police found footprints and an impression from corduroy cloth with a sewn patch in the damp earth near the pool. There were also scattered grains of
wheat and chaff. The breeches of a farm laborer who had been threshing wheat nearby were examined and corresponded exactly to the impression in the earth near the pool.
Sherlock Holmes, the fictional character created by
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in works produced from
1887 to
1915, used forensic science as one of his investigating methods. Conan Doyle credited the inspiration for Holmes on his teacher at the medical school of the
University of Edinburgh, the gifted surgeon and forensic detective
Joseph Bell.
Decades later, the
comic strip,
Dick Tracy also featured a detective using a considerable number of forensic methods, although sometimes the methods were more fanciful than actually possible. Popular television series focusing on crime detection, including
', ', and
, depict glamorized versions of the activities of 21st Century forensic scientists. These related TV shows have changed individuals' expectations of forensic science, an influence termed the "
CSI effect".
*
Ballistic fingerprinting*
Forensic chemistry*
Forensic epistemology*
Forensic evidence*
Forensic identification*
Forensic accounting*
Forensic facial reconstruction*
Questioned document examination*
Forensic psychology* Forensic palaeography -- see
diplomatics or
Questioned document examination* Baden, Michael, M.D, former New York City Medical Examiner, and Roach, Marion.
"Dead Reckoning: The New Science of Catching Killers". Simon & Schuster, 2001. ISBN 0-684-86758-3.
* Kind, Stuart and Overman, Michael.
"Science Against Crime". Doubleday and Company, Inc., New York, 1972. ISBN 0-385-09249-0.
* Nickell, Joe and Fischer, John F.
"Crime Science: Methods of Forensic Detection". University Press of Kentucky, 1999. ISBN 0813120918.
* Wolfson, Seth, forensic sculptor and make-up FX artist, "Forensic Sculpting: Step--Step in Photos." Realsculpt Press, 2005. http://www.forensicsculpting.com/
* Anil Aggrawal's Internet Journal of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology. http://www.geradts.com/anil/ij/indexpapers.html
*
Autopsy of a Murder, an interactive website on forensic sciences and techniques, produced by the Montreal Science Centre*
Mobile laboratory for forensic investigation*
Computer Forensics*
Ongoing project on History of Forensic Sciences*
History of the finger-print system*
ForensicsWiki, the wiki for digital forensics*
Forensical - Computer Forensics and Electronic Discovery*
DNA and the Criminal Justice System is a
Harvard University based research project
*
List of Forensic Labs in the US*
Anil Aggrawal's Forensic Websites*
Zeno's Forensic Sitehi guys
