Forensic Science 101

The intro.

A few questions…

• What do you know about forensic science?

• What have your opinions been based on?

• Does it even interest you? Why or why not?

Maybe these?

Why do we look to science for assistance in our legal system?

• Increasing Crime Rates• New or Changed Laws• New Crimes• New Weapons• Response to Public Concerns• Response to Law Enforcement

Concerns

Applying Science to Law

• Applying science to the Criminal Justice System depends on a scientist’s ability to supply accurate & objective information that reflects the events that have occurred at a crime.

What is forensic science?

• Previously “legal medicine” was the term used for the application of medical knowledge to the investigation of a crime.

• Now we call it “forensic science”– Forensic refers to the use

of material in a court of law

Forensic Science defined:

• Forensic Science (or Criminalistics) is the use of science & technology to enforce civil & criminal laws.

• It is vague & hard to define because it includes so many other areas of science.

Civil vs. Criminal LawCIVIL LAW CRIMINAL LAW

filed by a private party.o a corporationo an individual person

Penalty: a guilty defendant pays the plaintiff for losses caused by their actions.

o no incarceration

filed by the government

Penalty: a guilty defendant is punished by

o incarceration (in jail/prison)o fine paid to the gov’to execution (death penalty)

Crimes are divided into 2 classes: o misdemeanors - less than 1 year incarcerationo felonies - sentence of 1+ year

History of Forensic Science

History & Development of Forensic Science

When in Rome…• “Forensic” comes from the Latin word

“forensis” meaning forum. • During the time of the Romans, a

criminal charge meant presenting the case before the public.

• Both the person accused of the crime & the accuser would give speeches based on their side of the story.

• The individual with the best argumentation would determine the outcome of the case.

WHERE DID FORENSIC SCIENCE START?

Where did forensic science start?

• The Chinese book Hsi Duan Yu (The Washing Away of Wrongs), which appeared in 1248, provided the first association of medicine and law.

– The book offered useful advice, such as distinguishing drowning (water in the lungs) and strangulation (pressure marks on the throat and damaged cartilage in the neck) from death by natural causes.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

• Science-fiction author in late 1800’s

• Popularized scientific crime-detection methods through his fictional character ‘Sherlock Holmes’.

Where did forensic science start?

• The first appearance of experts in the courtroom was documented around the end of the 18th century.

• The emergence of modern chemistry around that period led to discoveries which were applicable to crime investigation and detection.

Mathieu Orfila(1787-1853)

• One of the first celebrated cases in forensic science involved the, "Father of Toxicology,” Mathieu Orfila, who worked in Paris and testified in an arsenic poisoning criminal trial in 1840.

• Orfila and others had developed a chemical test to detect arsenic, the poison of choice for the period because the symptoms, violent stomach pains and vomiting, were similar to cholera (a common disease of the times) and often went undetected.

Alphonse Bertillon (1853-1914)

• “Father of Anthropometry”• Developed a system to distinguish

one individual person from another based a series of body and facial measurements, developed in 1882.

Anthropometry

Francis Galton(1822-1911)

• “Father of Fingerprinting”

• Developed fingerprinting as a way to uniquely identify individuals.

• Published Fingerprints in 1892, was another pioneering contribution to the emerging field of forensic science.

Leone Lattes(1887-1954)

• “Father of Bloodstain Identification”

• He developed a procedure for determining the blood type (A, B, AB, or

O) of a dried blood stain.

Calvin Goddard(1891-1955)

• “Father of Ballistics”• Developed the

technique to examine bullets, using a comparison microscope, to determine whether or not a particular gun fired the bullets.

National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN)

• The NIBIN Program automates ballistics evaluations and provides actionable investigative leads in a timely manner.

• NIBIN is the only interstate automated ballistic imaging network in operation in the United States and is available to most major population centers in the United States.

National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN)

• To use NIBIN, firearms examiners or technicians enter cartridge casing evidence into the Integrated Ballistic Identification System. (IBIS).

• These images are correlated against the database. Law enforcement can search against evidence from their jurisdiction, neighboring ones, and others across the country.

• This program is one investigative tool accessed by law enforcement that allows each of us to share information and cooperation easily making all of us more effective in closing cases.

Integrated Ballistics Identification System (IBIS)

• The Integrated Ballistics Identification System (IBIS) was created to expedite the highly labor-intensive and time-consuming task of matching ballistics information in police investigations.

• In addition to matching evidence from an ongoing or current investigation, IBIS can be used to link ballistic information to prior investigations and to guns used in crimes—that is, firearms that have been used in the commission of multiple crimes but that may not have been recovered in the investigation.

Albert Osborn(1858-1946)

• “Father of Document Examination”

• His work led to the acceptance of documents as scientific evidence by the courts.

A bit of news…

• http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/accused-master-art-forger-tracked-shanghai/story?id=24558288

Walter McCrone(1916-2002)

• “Father of Microscopic Forensics”

• He developed & applied his microscope techniques to examine evidence in countless court cases.

Hans Gross(1847-1915)

• “Father of Forensic Publications”

• Wrote the book on applying all the different science disciplines to the field of criminal investigation.

Edmond Locard(1877-1966)

• “Father of the Crime Lab”• In 1910, he started the 1st crime lab in an

attic of a police station.• With few tools, he quickly became known

world-wide to forensic scientists & criminal investigators & eventually founded the Institute of Criminalistics in France.

• His most important contribution was the “Locard’s Exchange Principle”

Locard’s Exchange Principle

• “Every Contact Leaves a Trace.”

• He believed that every criminal can be connected to a crime by particles carried from the crime scene.

• When a criminal comes in contact with an object or person, a cross-transfer of evidence occurs.

Alexandre Lacassagne (1844 – 1921)

• The founder of modern forensic science.

• Lacassagne made many contributions including the first to recognize the significance of the striations etched on a bullet extracted from a murder victim and their link to the gun from which it was fired, thus beginning the science of ballistics.

Founder of Forensic Science!• He also was the first to

study the relationship between an attack on a victim and the shape and configuration of bloodstains, and was first to recognize the need for adequate means of identifying criminals through a police filing system.

J. Edgar Hoover• “Father of the FBI” - Director of Federal Bureau of

Investigation during the 1930’s

• Hoover's leadership spanned 48 years and 8 presidential administrations. His reign covered Prohibition, the Great Depression, WWII, the Korean War, the Cold War, & the Vietnam War.

• He organized a national laboratory to offer forensic services to all law enforcement agencies in the U.S.

• VERY CONTROVERSIAL– He exceeded & abused his authority with unjustified

investigations & illegal wiretaps based on political beliefs rather than suspected criminal activity

– FBI directors are now limited to 10-year terms

CRIME LABS!• First forensic laboratory was set up

in France in 1910. (Locard) • First crime laboratory in the U.S.

was established in 1930 by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

• The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) lab was established in 1932 and in 1937 Paul Kirk (1902-1970) set up the first academic criminalistics program in the U.S. at the University of California.

Current Practice of Forensic Science in U.S. Laboratories

• Labs test:– Drug Analysis – Trace Evidence analysis

• Fiber and hair comparison and analysis • Paint comparison and analysis • Glass comparison and analysis • Fire debris and explosives analysis • Gun shot residue analysis Tape comparison • Soil and building materials comparison and

analysis • Lamp and filament examinations

Current Practice of Forensic Science in U.S. Laboratories

• Biology services – Biological fluid identification and species origin – DNA analysis– Bloodstain pattern interpretation

• Firearms and toolmark identification – Firearm operability – Projectile comparison – Gun powder pattern interpretation – Footwear and tire impression comparison

Current Practice of Forensic Science in U.S. Laboratories

• Toxicology – Breath and blood alcohol analysis – Urine analysis – Drugs in biological fluids and tissues

• Fingerprint and latent identification and comparisons

• Specialized analysis – Computer and data recovery – Voiceprint analysis

Applications of Forensic Science

• Identification of Criminals or Victims• Solving Mysteries

– Past crimes (unsolved or wrongfully convicted)

– Cause, Location, Time of Death– Paternity cases

• Cyber crimes• Corporate Crimes (Enron)• Voice Analysis

Applications of Forensic Science• Application of DNA as evidence• Prevention vs. Reaction• Catastrophes & Wars

• ID remains of victims (either civilian or soldiers)

• ex. Holocaust or Katrina • Military & International Forensics

– Terrorism – The search for WMD’s– stockpiled or stored weapons from past

wars

Munitions

• When the Army unearthed more than a 1,000 mortar rounds from a WW2 training site, they enlisted a Forensic Science Lab to determine which were live munitions & which were dummies.

The Trial of the Century

• O.J. Simpson was a NFL football legend.

• He is now famous for having been tried for the murder of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson & her friend Ronald Goldman in 1994.

• He was acquitted in criminal court after a lengthy, highly publicized trial.

What went wrong?

• 1st on the scene, police found evidence of blood & entered the Simpson home without a search warrant, an action permissible b/c the situation was an emergency.

• HOWEVER, the police collected a pair of blood-stained gloves during their search.

• Collection of evidence without proper warrants became the key argument used by Simpson’s legal team & ultimately led to his acquital.

What was learned?

• If forensic evidence is to be admissible in court, the highest professional standards must be used at the crime scene!

• He was found liable for their deaths in civil court, but has yet to pay the $33.5 million judgment.

THE BODY FARM• PRIMARY GOAL: To understand the

processes & timetable of postmortem decay, primarily to improve determining the "time since death" in murder cases.

• The Body Farm is a simulation of various crime scenes using real human bodies.

• Started in 1970-80’s to study Forensic Anthropology (the study of human decomposition after death).

THE BODY FARM

• Used by Law Enforcement, Medical Examiners, Entomologists, Cadaver Dogs, Anthropologists & FBI for Crime Scene Training.

• The BF uses unclaimed cadavers & volunteers (who donate their body to science after death)

• Only 2 Facilities in the U.S.– Univ. of Tennessee (original)– Western Carolina University – Texas State University - local residents opposed it

• Doorway to death, the main gate of the Anthropology Research Facility—the “Body Farm”—consists of a wooden privacy fence inside a chain-link fence that’s topped with razor wire.

• Security is a high priority. Fences, padlocks, video surveillance cameras, & police patrols safeguard the world’s only human-decomposition research facility.

• One research study examined the effects of the elevated temperatures—and limited insect access—to which a body in a car would be subjected.

• Corpse 1-81 was an elderly white male; he became part of a pioneering study of insect activity in human corpses.

• Closeup of a recent research subject. After only a few weeks in the Tennessee summer, the skull is completely bare & many vertebrae are exposed. The rib cage & pelvis are covered with dried, leathery skin, but the soft tissues beneath are gone, consumed by insects & bacteria.

• Close-up of a human femur & hip bone, containing an artificial hip implant. Such orthopedic devices can help identify an unknown crime victim.

• An aerial view of the Body Farm, taken from Patricia Cornwell’s helicopter. The large wooden tripods are used for hoisting & weighing bodies as part of a research study of weight loss during decomposition.

• A jaw from a research subject held by the founder of the Body Farm.

Types of Research

How does the decomposition rate compare in:– sunshine vs shade?– In cool weather vs hot weather? – In a shallow grave vs on the ground? – In water? – Inside a car? – What effect do other variables have—

humidity, insect activity, clothing, body weight, and so on?

Why is TSD so important?

• First question at most murder scenes: "How long has this person been dead?“

• It's crucial to know when the crime was committed.– it can help narrow the search for a suspect

or– it can help rule out potential suspects who

had alibis at the time the victim was killed.

What is the future of forensic science?

• Many possibilities!• Currently, scientists are working on

making faster, more efficient methods for their lab tests.

• Who knows where the future of forensic science lies – maybe you’ll be part of the answer!