Introduction to Forensic Science & Criminalistics pgs 1-6

• The premise for the basis of forensics is the Scientific Method.

• Empirical – Knowledge is gained from direct observation

• Analysis – studying the unknown item to determine its essential characteristics

Introduction to Forensic Science & Criminalistics pgs 1-6

• Comparison – examining how the characteristics compare with the established properties of known items.

• Evaluation – assessing the similarities and dissimilarities for identification purposes.

Introduction to Forensic Science & Criminalistics pgs 1-6

• Forensic Science (AAFS) – “the study and practice of the application of science to the purposes of the law.”

• Fields included in this study are forensic medicine, toxicology, psychology, and anthropology

Introduction to Forensic Science & Criminalistics pgs 1-6

• Criminalistics (CAC) – “…that profession and scientific discipline directed to the recognition, identification, individualization and evaluation of physical evidence by application of the natural sciences to law-science matters.”

• Criminalistics used to be a general study but is now specific.

Introduction to Forensic Science & Criminalistics pgs 1-6

• Identification is a prelude to individualizing.

• The real aim of all forensic science is to establish individuality.

• Individualization is proven by the fact that no two things in nature are exactly the same. (construction, breakage, wear & tear, manufacture, chance happen)

Introduction to Forensic Science & Criminalistics pgs 1-6

• Class characteristics - discovering which brand and model of tire the tread pattern came from at the scene of a crime.

• Individual characteristics – tire acquiring nicks, patterns of wear and tear – can have 4 separate ones due to 4 tires on automobile

Introduction to Forensic Science & Criminalistics pgs 1-6

• There are no specific number of similarities for evidence to be accepted.

• The number of similarities required for individualization will depend on the unique quality of the details discovered.

• Newcomb’s rule – “The probability of concurrence of all events is equal to the continued product of the probabilities of all the separate events.”

Introduction to Forensic Science & Criminalistics pgs 1-6

• Individualization represents the basis of many forensic comparisons presented in court.

• Personal evidence – personal testimony, eyewitness

• Physical evidence – fingerprints, trace evidence, glass fragments, tire tracks

Introduction to Forensic Science & Criminalistics pgs 1-6

• Also can classify evidence by the type of crime.

• Another is by the general nature of evidence – biological, physical, and miscellaneous (including polygraph tests, voice analysis, and photography)

• Evidence is examined and analyzed in a manner that is relevant to the investigation

Introduction to Forensic Science & Criminalistics pgs 1-6

• Frye v. United States (1923) – landmark case for the admissibility of scientific procedures and their results.

• Decisions made clear that general recognition – familiarity with a test or procedure by every scientist in the field – is not required for admissibility.

Introduction to Forensic Science & Criminalistics pgs 1-6

• Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (1993) – U. S. Supreme Court rejected the Frye “general acceptance” rule.

• Court offered certain guidelines for gauging the validity of scientific evidence, emphasizing flexibility – sounds a lot like the Scientific Method. They are…

Introduction to Forensic Science & Criminalistics pgs 1-6

• The Technique or theory must be testable and must have in fact been tested

• It must have been subjected to peer review and the publication process

• Standards must exist and be maintained that control the operation of the technique

• The method or theory must have been widely accepted within the relevant scientific discipline

Contributing Scientists

History of Contributing Scientists pgs 6-14

• Early forensic scientists were medical men, who logically happened to be among the first on the scene of a death.

• His Duan Yu – Chinese physician, 1248, presented the idea that medical knowledge can be use in solving crimes. Wrote book “The Washing Away of Wrongs”

History of Contributing Scientists pgs 6-14

• Antoine Louis – French medical jurist developed idea of determining cause of death and if death was a suicide or murder

• Mathieu Orfila – “the father of forensic toxicology” who developed first scientific study of the detection and pathological effects of poisons and established toxicology as a distinct forensic field

History of Contributing Scientists pgs 6-14

• Francois Vincent Raspail – defense for Madame Lafarge accused of poisoning her husband with arsenic. Boasted he could refute Orfila’s expert testimony and get arsenic using Orfila’s procedures from anything, but fell while riding. The wife went to prison. This case is still cited as first in which an attempt was made to rebut a state’s witness by means of an opposing defense expert.

History of Contributing Scientists pgs 6-14

• Photography development (circa 1840’s)• “Mug shots” – (mug slang for face) may

have derived from 18th century custom of fashioning drinking mugs in the form of grotesque human faces.

• Even with photographs, mistaken identities were made as with Adolph Beck identified as William Thomas - similar body builds and same type of mustaches

History of Contributing Scientists pgs 6-14

• Belgian prison warden named Stevens was the first really scientific attempt at identification of criminals by taking measurements of criminals’ heads, ears, feet and lengths of their bodies.

• He abandoned his imperfect method. But someone else elaborated on it.

History of Contributing Scientists pgs 6-14

• Alphonse Bertillon – 1879 began development of anthropometry - science of measuring the human body; 1882 - AKA bertillonage

• ID criminals by height, sitting height, length of outstretched arms, length and breadth of head, length of right ear, photographs, and other measurements

History of Contributing Scientists pgs 6-14

• Bertillon’s method was fallible & replaced by fingerprinting after 2 decades later.

• His pioneering efforts earned him the name as “the father of criminal identification”

• Francis Galton – given credit for the definitive study of the science of fingerprinting

History of Contributing Scientists pgs 6-14

• Galton’s most important contribution was that he developed a method of classifying fingerprints for filing.

• His book Fingerprints (1892) provided first statistical evidence for the uniqueness of fingerprinting and described fundamental principles that continue to apply to that method of personal identification

History of Contributing Scientists pgs 6-14

• Hans Gross – first real-life “scientific detective.

• Created a handbook for magistrates on evidence.

• He coined the term criminalistics and later launched the forensic journal Kriminologie

• Edmond Locard – disciple of Hans Gross and Sherlock Holmes

History of Contributing Scientists pgs 6-14

• The “problem of dust” or Trace evidence was of great interest to Locard.

• He set forth the concept known as Locard’s Exchange Principle – a cross-transfer of evidence takes place whenever a criminal comes in contact with a victim, an object, or a crime scene.

• His work caught three counterfeiters.

History of Contributing Scientists pgs 6-14

• Dr. Karl Landsteiner – worked as assistant to a professor of pathology and anatomy at the University of Vienna. After the turn of the century, he conducted experiments in mixing the blood cells and serum of different persons, which led him to the discovery that blood cells can be divided into groups, which were later designated as A, B, AB and O.

History of Contributing Scientists pgs 6-14

• Leon Lattes – professor at Institute of Forensic Medicine at University of Turin.

• He developed a forensically useful application of Landsteiner’s discovery of blood grouping by developing a method of removing blood from bloodstains and typing the blood

History of Contributing Scientists pgs 6-14

• Calvin Goddard – U.S. Army colonel, field of firearms examination, laid the groundwork for weapon individualization.

• 1920’s – refined process of comparing markings on a bullet taken from a shooting victim with those on one test-fired for forensic examination

• His use of comparison microscope established it as the indispensable tool of the modern firearms examiner.

History of Contributing Scientists pgs 6-14

• Albert S. Osborn – greatest handwriting expert of his day, developed the fundamental principles of questioned document examination and is credited with that field’s acceptance by the courts.

• He changed the fact of jurors being “told” things to being “shown” them.

History of Contributing Scientists pgs 6-14

• Dr. Paul Leland Kirk – one of the first professors of forensics.

• Applied biochemistry to forensic questions after working on plutonium research and the Manhattan Project during WWII

• Developed the University of California’s School of Criminology.

History of Contributing Scientists pgs 6-14

• E. Roland Menzel – In the 1970’s, he pioneered the application of lasers to criminalistics, especially their use in locating and “visualizing” latent fingerprints and other types of trace evidence including biological.

History of Contributing Scientists pgs 6-14

• Alec Jeffreys – in 1985 discovered that portions of certain genes’ DNA structure are unique to each person.

• He named the process used to isolate and read these markers “DNA fingerprinting” now known among criminalists as “DNA typing”.

• This has led to many wrongfully accused persons being exonerated and freed.

History of Contributing Scientists pgs 6-14

• Forerunner of crime lab police facilities was the photographic studio – originated by Bertillon. Locard dreamed of a crime lab but didn’t get what he wanted. He was disappointed in Bertillon's lab.

• He began with only two instruments – ordinary medical microscope & small spectroscope and some chemicals constituted the world’s first scientific crime laboratory later known as Lyons Police Laboratory

History of Contributing Scientists pgs 6-14

• August Vollmer – In 1923 by his direction, established by the Los Angeles Police Dept what is now “the oldest forensic laboratory in the United States”.

• The crime lab is an important legacy of Vollmer’s brief tenure as chief of police of the LAPD

History of Contributing Scientists pgs 6-14

• First true significant crime lab that could be called a national lab was the Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory that began at Chicago in 1929; soon affiliated with Northwestern University School of Law.

• Lab originated as a result of infamous St. Valentine’s Day massacre that same year.

• It was headed by Colonel Calvin Goddard• In 1938 transferred to Chicago Police Dept

History of Contributing Scientists pgs 6-14

• 1908 – Bureau of Investigation created – a.k.a. - FBI

• 1924 – reorganized by J. Edgar Hoover; national fingerprint file established by adding fingerprint cards from federal penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas to existing bureau files.

History of Contributing Scientists pgs 6-14

• 1930 – official U.S. Crime Lab established by bureau in Washington, D.C.

• 11-24-32 – U.S. Crime Lab equipped to provide forensic science facilities to authorized law enforcement agencies and other government agencies.

History of Contributing Scientists pgs 6-14

• Most forensic labs in U.S. are publicly (governmentally) operated usually by law enforcement agencies.

• Occasionally run by prosecutors or medical examiners office or by departments of public safety.

• Private labs operate as commercial enterprises or affiliated with universities; provide service in balancing availability of forensic expertise

Modern Crime Labpgs 14-19

• “perhaps the most important function of the police laboratory is to train the police investigators as to what constitutes physical evidence and how it is to be found, collected, preserved, and delivered to the proper laboratory investigator” – Paul L. Kirk

• Setup depends on social nature & size of community it serves, the anticipated case load, the available facilities and funding.

Modern Crime Labpgs 14-19

• Recommended general divisions for crime laboratories:– Photography– Evidence Storage– Identification– Chemistry– General Examination– Firearms– Instrument– Crime Scene Search

Modern Crime Labpgs 14-19

• One of greatest resources of FBI is extensive reference collections used to help solve crimes.

• Firearms Reference Collection – contains more than two thousand handguns and over eight hundred shoulder weapons used for identification of gun parts and locating serial numbers

Modern Crime Lab – FBI cont.pgs 14-19

• Standard Ammunition File – over ten thousand samples of foreign and domestic specimens of ammunition

• Reference Fired Specimen File – consists of test bullets and cartridge cases fired from weapons submitted to the laboratory

• Typewriter Standards File – contains original specimens of typewriting from numerous and domestic machines

Modern Crime Lab – FBI cont.pgs 14-19

• Watermarks Standard File – indexes watermarks and brand names used by paper manufacturers and helps trace the origins of paper.

• Safety Paper Standards File – helps determine the manufacturers of “safety” paper used for checks.

Modern Crime Lab – FBI cont.pgs 14-19

• Checkwriter Standards File – contains original impressions of checkwriters so they can be identified as to make and model.

• Office Copier Standards File – aids in determining manufacturers of photocopiers and duplicators

Modern Crime Lab – FBI cont.pgs 14-19

• Maintains Reference files of Inks

• Anonymous Letter File – handwriting, hand printing, typewriting of extortionists, confidence men, and kidnappers

• National Fraudulent-Check File – photographic copies of the works of “bad-check artists”

• Bank Robbery Note File – self-explanatory

Modern Crime Lab – FBI cont.pgs 14-19

• Other fields represented by FBI Lab – Tire tread file of patterns furnished by manufacturers; a Shoe Print File; a National Vehicle Identification (VIN) Standard File – helps find stolen vehicle

• National Motor Vehicles Certificate of Title File – authentic samples from each manufacturer and state issuer & photos of fraudulent titles and stickers

Modern Crime Lab – FBI cont.pgs 14-19

• Explosive Reference Files – known standards of various explosive items and bomb components.

• Cigarette Identification File – used to ID cigarette butts found at crime scene

• Pornographic materials File

• Automobile Paint File – hit and run cases

Modern Crime Lab – FBI cont.pgs 14-19

• Extensive Hairs and Fibers Collection

• Safe Insulation Files

• Blood Serum Files

• Invisible Laundry Mark File

Modern Crime Labpgs 14-19

• U.S. Treasury Department – complete “library” of every available commercial pen ink.

• Inks catalogued according to dye patterns developed by thin-layer chromatography

Modern Crime Labpgs 14-19

• Two important regulation processes implemented within forensic sciences – Certification & Accreditation

• American board of Criminalists – certify individual forensic scientists as to their level of knowledge, skills & expertise in specified areas (includes proficiency tests)

Modern Crime Labpgs 14-19

• American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors (ASCLAD) – improve quality of crime labs, including local, state, and federal facilities by accreditation – just like schools do (SACS)

In Closing the Introductionpgs 14-19

• “The scientist is indistinguishable from the common man in his sense of evidence, except that the scientist is more careful. The increased care is not a revision of evidentiary standards, but only the more patient and systematic collection and use of what anyone would deem to be evidence.” – from an article in the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science

Resource

• All information was taken from Chapter One of the book, Crime Science Methods of Forensic Detection by Joe Nickell and John F. Fischer, published by The University Press of Kentucky, copyright 1999.