8/12/2014
8/11/14
Catalyst:

What is your definition
of forensic science?
Objectives:
Announcements:
I will:
 Define and distinguish
between forensic science
and criminalistics
 Create a Forensic Science
timeline with my group

How to commit the
perfect crime essaydue today!
Essential Questions:


History of Forensic Science
What is forensic science?
How has forensic science evolved?
Forensic Science:


What do you think forensic science is all about?


is the application of science to the criminal and civil laws
that are enforced by police agencies in a criminal
justice system.
Forensic comes from Latin word ”forum”
a community meeting place that was also a place for
public justice
"scientists must supply accurate and objective information
that reflects events that have occurred at a crime scene"
(Saferstein, 2008)
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What kind of scientists are involved in
Forensic Science?
Forensic Science vs. Criminalistics

Overview of the History of Forensic
Science


Write down a few of
the main historical
events

Forensic science is
the application of
science to those
criminal and civil laws
that are enforced by
police agencies in a
criminal justice
system.

Criminalistics is the
application of
scientific techniques in
collecting and
analyzing physical
evidence in criminal
cases
When did people start doing forensic
science?
https://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=TbuTir
BdZjQ
Which one is most
important?
Evidence of fingerprints in early paintings
& rock carvings made by prehistoric
humans.
When did people start doing forensic
science?
Alphonse Bertillon

– French scientist, devised the
first personal identification
system,


In ancient China, thumb prints are found 264-277 AD- A Chinese book: Yi Yu
on clay seals.
Ji (“A Collection of Criminal Cases”)
Pre-historic picture writing of a hand with
ridge patterns is discovered in Nova
Scotia.
he dubbed his system as
“anthropometry”
His method combined detailed
measurement and classification
of unique features with frontal
and profile photographs of
suspects—and which recorded the
information on standardized cards
in orderly files. (seen on the next
**He is known as the father
slide)
of criminal identification.
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

A photograph from Alphonse Bertillon's photo
album from his exhibition at the 1893 World's
Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
The downfall of Bertillonage/
anthropometry




Bertillon card for Thomas Conway, arrested for larceny (measurements)
Police departments throughout Europe and the United States adopted
Bertillon's system in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The suspect's fullface and profile photographs appear on one side of the card; name,
measurements, and other information are on the reverse.

New York City Municipal Archives (Visible Proofs)
Francis Henry Galton
occurred in 1903 at Leavenworth Federal Prison.
Prisoner Will West was brought to the prison and had
his measurements taken.
His measurements matched a prisoner already in the
prison named William West.. The only noticeable
difference between the two men was their fingerprints.
Will West

William West
Francis Henry Galton
Dr. Leone Lattes


http://galton.org/fingerprinter.html
undertook the first
definitive study of
fingerprints and
developed a
methodology of
classifying them
for filing.
1892 he published
a book title Finger
Prints, which
contained the first
statistical proof
supporting the
uniqueness of his
method of
personal id.
Professor at the institute of forensic
medicine at the University of Turin in Italy.
1915 he devised a relatively simple
procedure for determining the blood group
of a dried bloodstain
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Closing Question

In this class, what will really be studying,
Forensic Science or Criminalistics? Why?
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