• It ’ s cool, glamorous and fun. You can drive humvees, carry a gun, wear expensive clothes and earn lots of money!

CSI shows give 'unrealistic view'
By Paul Rincon
BBC News science reporter
The CSI Effect
Reference to the phenomenon which raises real world expectations of forensic science and crime scene investigation by general public, victims of crime, jury members and even criminals.
'CSI effect' has juries wanting more evidence
By Richard Willing, USA TODAY

• Glamorizing the field of forensic science.
• Overstating the accuracy of forensic techniques.
• Exaggerating the abilities of forensic science.
• Inaccurate time frame on when cases get solved.
• Many prosecutors, judges and journalists have claimed that watching television programs such as CSI: has caused jurors to wrongfully acquit guilty defendants when the prosecution presents no scientific evidence in support of the case

“ The application of science to the criminal and civic laws that are enforced by police agencies in a criminal justice system.
”
An umbrella term encompassing a myriad of professions that use their skills to help law enforcement officials conduct their investigations.

civil and criminal law.
• Food & Drugs
• Automobile Emissions
• Purity of water
• Levels of toxins

The diversity of professions practicing forensic science is illustrated by the eleven sections of
The American
Academy of
Forensic Science .
• Criminalistics
• Digital & Multimedia
Sciences
• Engineering Sciences
• General
• Jurisprudence
• Odontology
• Pathology/Biology
• Physical Anthropology
• Psychiatry/Behavioral
Sciences
• Questioned Documents
• Toxicology

Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle ’ s legendary detective Sherlock
Holmes applied many of the principles of modern forensic science long before they were adopted widely by police.

Mathieu Orfila (1787 – 1853):
Toxicology
Alphonse Bertillon (1853 – 1914):
Anthropometry

• Francis Galton (1822 – 1911): Fingerprints
• Hans Gross (1847 – 1915): Criminal
Investigation
• Leone Lattes (1887 – 1954): Bloodtypes
• Calvin Goddard (1891 – 1955): Comparison
Microscope
• Albert S. Osborn (1858 – 1946): Document
Examination
• Walter C. McCrone (1916 – 2002): Microscopy
 Edmond Locard (1877 – 1966): Scientific
Method (Locards Exchange Principle)

"Everywhere you go, you take something with you, and you leave something behind."

Anytime there is contact between two surfaces, there will be a mutual exchange of matter across the contact boundary

'Wherever he steps, whatever he touches, whatever he leaves, even unconsciously, will serve as a silent witness against him. Not only his fingerprints or his footprints, but his hair, the fibers from his clothes, the glass he breaks, the tool mark he leaves, the paint he scratches, the blood or semen he deposits or collects. All of these and more, bear mute witness against him. This is evidence that does not forget. It is not confused by the excitement of the moment. It is not absent because human witnesses are. It is factual evidence. Physical evidence cannot be wrong, it cannot perjure itself, it cannot be wholly absent. Only human failure to find it, study and understand it, can diminish its value. ‘
-Professor Edmond Locard

1932
The Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) crime laboratory is created.

At present, nearly 400 public crime laboratories operate at various levels of government (federal, state, county and municipal) – more than three times the number of crime laboratories operating in 1966.
• Supreme court decisions in the 1960 ’ s were responsible for greater police emphasis on securing scientifically evaluated evidence.
• Increase in crime rates in the last 40 years.
 All illicit-drug seizures must be sent to a forensic laboratory for confirmatory chemical analysis before the case can be adjudicated.
 The advent of DNA profiling

Five Basic Units
1. Physical Science Unit
2. Biology Unit
3. Firearms Unit
4. Document Examination Unit
5. Photography Unit
Optional Services
• Toxicology Unit
• Latent Fingerprint Unit
• Polygraph Unit
• Voiceprint Analysis Unit
• Crime Scene Investigation
Unit

Applies principles and techniques of chemistry, physics, and geology to the identification and comparison of crime-scene evidence.
• Uses chemical tests and analytical instrumentation to examine items such as:
– Drugs
– Glass
– Paint
– Explosives
– Soil

Identification and DNA profiling of:
– dried bloodstains
– other bodily fluids
– hairs
– fibers
– botanical materials

Examines:
– firearms
– discharged bullets
– cartridge cases
– shotgun shells
– ammunition of all types
– residue on clothing and other objects

• Studies handwriting and typewriting on questioned documents to determine authenticity and source.
• Analyze paper and ink
• Indented writings
• Erasures
• Obliterations
• Burned or charred documents

• Examines and records physical evidence
• The following may be required to make invisible information visible:
– Digital imaging
– Infrared
– Ultraviolet light
– X-ray photography
• Also aids in the preparation of photographic exhibits for courtroom presentation.

Examine body fluids and organs to determine presence or absence of drugs or poisons

• Processes and examines evidence for latent (not visible to the naked eye) fingerprints – dactyloscopy

• Tool for criminal investigator, not forensic scientist
• Handled by people trained in techniques of criminal investigation and interrogation

• Used in cases involving telephone threats or tape-recorded messages
• Use a sound spectrograph (an instrument that transforms speech into a visual graphic display called a voiceprint)

Specially trained personnel dispatched to crime scene (civilian or police) to collect and preserve physical evidence that will later be processed at the crime laboratory.

• Forensic Psychiatry
• Forensic Odontology
• Forensic Engineering
• Forensic Computer and Digital Analysis

Examines the relationship between human behavior and legal proceedings

Forensic Odontology
• The study of teeth as it relates to the law.
• Provides information for identification of victim
• Characteristics of
Teeth
– overall mouth structure
– alignment of teeth
– bite mark analysis

Engineers are concerned with failure analysis, accident reconstruction, causes and origins of fires and explosions

Forensic Computer and Digital Analysis
• New and fastgrowing field
• Identification, collection, preservation, and examination of information derived from computers and other digital devices

1) Proper Recognition, Collection, and Preservation of Physical
Evidence
2) Analysis of Physical Evidence
3) Expert Testimony