Lecture 1 – Forensic Science Fundamentals

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, principles, and classifications introduced in Lecture 1 on Forensic Science, designed to aid revision for foundational concepts and terminology.

Forensic Science

The science of establishing spatial and temporal relationships between people, places, and things involved in crimes to reconstruct past events.

Proxy Data

Indirect evidence or measurements used to infer past events or conditions when direct evidence is unavailable.

Forensic Medicine

Medical specialty applying medical knowledge to legal matters, especially determining cause of death or injury.

Forensic Odontology

Branch of dentistry that applies dental knowledge to legal investigations, such as bite-mark or dental record analysis.

Forensic Anthropology

Application of biological anthropology techniques to legal cases involving human remains.

Forensic Toxicology

Analysis of biological samples to identify drugs, poisons, or other harmful substances in the body for legal purposes.

Crime Scene (Chisum & Turvey)

Any area where a crime has taken place.

Crime Scene (Robert Shaler)

Place where participants meet in time and space or where the instrument of the crime is prepared and delivered.

Crime Scene Processing

Recognizing, documenting, collecting, preserving, and transporting physical evidence.

Primary Crime Scene

Location where the offender carried out the majority of the principal offense behavior.

Secondary Crime Scene

Site of victim-offender interaction that supported but did not comprise the principal offense behavior.

Intermediate Crime Scene

Any scene between the primary site and the disposal site where transfer evidence may exist, such as a vehicle.

Dumpsite / Disposal Site

Location where a body is found; may be primary or secondary depending on where assault occurred.

Tertiary Crime Scene

Location containing physical evidence without direct victim-offender interaction, e.g., a trash bin holding a weapon.

Macroscene

The visible elements an investigator sees on entering a scene, such as a body or blood pool.

Microscene

Invisible or latent traces (dust, hairs, fibers, DNA) associated with the macroscene; often called trace evidence.

Physical Evidence

Tangible objects from a crime scene that help reconstruct events, e.g., blood, fingerprints, tool marks.

Testimonial Evidence

Spoken statements from witnesses or experts about their observations or expertise related to a case.

Direct Evidence

Evidence obtained firsthand from a person rather than through inference.

Circumstantial Evidence

Evidence that requires inference and is not based on personal observation.

Corpus Delicti

Physical evidence establishing that a crime has been committed.

Modus Operandi (MO)

Characteristic pattern of criminal behavior used to link crimes to the same offender.

Linkage (Forensic)

Process of connecting crime scenes, suspects, and evidence; also refers to closely inherited DNA sequences.

Locard’s Exchange Principle

Theory that whenever two objects come into contact, there is an exchange of material—"every touch leaves a trace."

Primary Transfer

Evidence transfer directly between two persons or objects during contact.

Secondary Transfer

Trace evidence from a primary source is passed to a target that never contacted the original source.

Tertiary Transfer

Evidence passed through two intermediaries before reaching the final target, e.g., glove-mediated DNA transfer.

Pattern Recognition

Detection of recurring shapes or designs in evidence for classification or comparison.

Pattern Fit (Physical Matching)

One item physically fits into the pattern of another, demonstrating a former unity.

Pattern Match

Side-by-side comparison of items to determine similarity, such as clothing to surveillance images.

Fracture Fit

Reassembling broken pieces to show they were once a single object, e.g., shattered headlight fragments.

Pattern Continuity

Matching adjoining patterns demonstrating continuous design across two items.

Pattern Transfer

Marks produced when an object transfers its pattern onto another surface.

Impression (2-D)

Two-dimensional contact mark left by an object, such as a shoe sole print on tile.

Indentation (3-D)

Three-dimensional contact mark, like a shoe print left in soft soil.

Striation

Linear sliding contact pattern, often seen in tool marks or bullets.

Direct Physical Match (Jigsaw Fit)

Individualizing match where separated pieces fit perfectly, proving common origin.

Indirect Physical Match

Association using surface/internal features when a direct jigsaw fit is not possible.

Class Characteristics

Shared features that group objects into a broad category, e.g., tread design of a sneaker model.

Identification (Forensic)

Determining the nature of an item after classification, e.g., powder identified as cocaine.

Individualization

Demonstrating that an item has a unique origin, reducing class membership to one.

Class Evidence

Items sharing characteristics within a scalable membership, not unique to a single source.

Positive Control

Known material expected to yield a positive result, verifying that a test functions correctly.

Negative Control

Known material expected to yield a negative result, ensuring substrates do not interfere with testing.

Morphological Identification

Recognition of a physical pattern by its distinct form, such as visually identifying marijuana.

Reconstruction (Crime Scene)

Process of assembling and interpreting data to understand the sequence of events in a crime.

Grid(Scene Searching Method)

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