Chapter 1

What is the first learning objective of Chapter 1?

To define forensic science and list the major disciplines it encompasses.

What must a student be able to recognize regarding forensic science development?

Major contributors to the development of the field.

What must students be able to account for regarding crime laboratories?

The rapid growth of forensic laboratories in the past 40 years.

What should a student be able to describe concerning the criminal justice system?

The services of a typical comprehensive crime laboratory.

Which two legal decisions must a student compare and contrast regarding the admissibility of scientific evidence?

The Frye and Daubert decisions.

What is a key learning objective regarding witnesses?

To explain the role and responsibilities of the expert witness.

What specialized services should a student be able to list besides the crime laboratory?

Specialized forensic services that are generally available to law enforcement personnel.

What online skill is highlighted as a learning objective?

Learning where to search for information about forensic science on the internet.

Who is the person whose name is synonymous with the term serial killer?

Ted Bundy.

How many murders is Ted Bundy believed to be responsible for?

He is believed to be responsible for 40 murders.

Over what years did Ted Bundy's crimes occur?

Between 1964 and 1978.

In which regions of the United States did Bundy's reign of terror occur?

The Pacific Northwest, California, Utah, Idaho, Colorado, and Florida.

What was the typical profile of Ted Bundy's victims?

They were typically young women.

How were Bundy's victims usually murdered?

They were usually murdered with a blunt instrument or by strangulation.

What occurred to Bundy's victims relative to sexual assault?

They were sexually assaulted before and after death.

In which state was Bundy first convicted in 1976?

Utah.

What was Bundy's first conviction charge?

A charge of kidnapping.

From which state did Bundy escape after being extradited for a murder charge?

Colorado.

Where did Bundy find his way to in Florida before committing more crimes?

The Tallahassee area.

What specific crime did Bundy commit at a Florida State University sorority house?

He killed two women.

Who was Bundy's final murder victim in Florida?

A 12-year-old girl.

How was Bundy finally arrested in Florida?

He was arrested while driving a stolen vehicle.

What physical evidence was found on the victim beaten with a log at the sorority house?

Bite marks were noted on her left buttock and breast.

What role did Bundy take during his sorority murder trial?

He insisted on acting as his own attorney.

What type of forensic expert shattered Bundy's defense in court?

A forensic odontologist.

How did the forensic odontologist connect Bundy to the crime?

By matching the bite mark on the victim's buttock to Bundy's front teeth.

When was Ted Bundy executed?

He was executed in 1989.

What is the broadest definition of forensic science?

It is the application of science to law.

How has society's growth impacted the use of forensic science?

Society has become more dependent on rules of law to regulate activities, and forensic science applies technology to enforce those laws.

What role does science play as government regulation increases?

Science merges more closely with civil and criminal law to monitor regulated activities.

What are examples of regulated daily activities that rely on forensic science?

The quality of food, drug potency, automobile emissions, fuel oil quality, water purity, and pesticides on crops.

Why have law enforcement agencies expanded their patrol and investigative functions?

To respond to public concern and stem the rising tide of crime.

Can science offer final and authoritative solutions to all crime problems?

No, because many problems stem from a maze of social and psychological factors.

What is the unique role of a scientist in the criminal justice system?

To supply accurate and objective information that reflects events that occurred at a crime.

What is the common usage definition of forensic science?

It is the application of science to the criminal and civil laws that are enforced by police agencies in a criminal justice system.

Why is forensic science referred to as an umbrella term?

Because it encompasses a myriad of professions that use their skills to help law enforcement investigations.

What is the largest forensic science organization in the world?

The American Academy of Forensic Science.

List the 11 sections of the American Academy of Forensic Science.

Criminalistics, Digital and Multimedia Sciences, Engineering Science, General, Jurisprudence, Odontology, Pathology/Biology, Physical Anthropology, Psychiatry/Behavioral Sciences, Questioned Documents, and Toxicology.

Which five areas of science will the textbook primarily focus on?

Chemistry, biology, physics, geology, and computer technology.

What is the popular name for the facility where scientific principles are applied to crime-scene evidence?

The crime laboratory.

What term is used interchangeably with forensic science to describe crime lab services?

Criminalistics.

How has the show CSI: Crime Scene Investigation affected public awareness?

It has greatly increased awareness of the use of science in criminal and civil investigations.

How do TV shows like CSI simplify scientific procedures?

They condense procedures into available airtime, creating unrealistic expectations of forensic skills.

What is a major difference in how CSI team members are portrayed versus the real world?

TV shows portray one team doing everything, whereas tasks like evidence collection and testimony are delegated to different people in reality.

How does the timeline of forensics on TV compare to reality?

TV procedures take minutes, whereas reality can take days, weeks, months, or years.

What is the CSI effect?

The belief by the public and jurists that every crime scene will yield forensic evidence and that every case should be supported by it.

What are the two factors forensic science owes its origins to?

Individuals who developed identification techniques and those who recognized the need to merge these principles into a coherent discipline.

What is the title of the third-century Chinese manuscript on forensics?

Yi Yu Ji, or A Collection of Criminal Cases.

How did a Chinese coroner solve a case of a woman suspected of murdering her husband and burning the body?

He noticed the corpse had no ashes in its mouth and conducted an experiment with pigs.

Describe the pig experiment conducted by the third-century Chinese coroner.

He burned one live pig and one dead pig and found ashes only in the mouth of the pig that was alive before burning.

What was one of the first methods of identification recognized by the Chinese?

Fingerprints.

What hampered the development of forensic science until the late 17th and early 18th centuries?

Limited knowledge of anatomy and pathology.

Who prepared the first recorded notes on fingerprint characteristics in 1686?

Marcello Malpighi, a professor of anatomy at the University of Bologna.

Did Marcello Malpighi recognize fingerprints as a method of identification?

No, he did not acknowledge their value for identification.

Who wrote the 1798 work A Treatise on Forensic Medicine and Public Health?

The French physician François-Emanuel Fodéré.

What test did Carl Wilhelm Scheele devise in 1775?

The first successful test for detecting the poison arsenic in corpses.

What did Valentin Ross discover in 1806?

A more precise method for detecting small amounts of arsenic in the walls of a victim's stomach.

Who is considered the father of forensic toxicology?

Mathieu Orfila, a Spaniard.

What did Mathieu Orfila publish in 1814?

The first scientific treatise on the detection of poisons and their effects on animals.

Who invented the polarizing microscope in 1828?

William Nichol.

Who formulated the first procedures for microscopic detection of sperm in 1839?

Henri-Louis Bayard.

When was the first microcrystalline test for hemoglobin developed?

In 1853.

When was the first presumptive test for blood developed?

In 1863.

Who was James Marsh and what did he do in 1839?

He was a Scottish chemist who first testified on the detection of arsenic in a victim's body.

How was photography used in forensics in the 1850s and 1860s?

To record images of prisoners and crime scenes.

What system did Alphonse Bertillon devise in 1879?

Anthropometry, the first system of personal identification.

How did Bertillon's anthropometry distinguish individuals?

By taking a systematic series of body measurements.

Who is known as the father of criminal identification?

Alphonse Bertillon.

What did Thomas Taylor suggest in 1877?

That fingerprints could be used as a means of identification.

Who published the book Finger Prints in 1892?

Francis Henry Galton.

What did Galton's 1892 book provide for the first time?

Statistical proof supporting the uniqueness of fingerprints as a method of personal identification.

Who wrote the first treatise on the application of scientific disciplines to criminal investigation in 1893?

Hans Gross.

What was the title of Hans Gross's classic book?

Criminal Investigation (originally Handbuch für Untersuchungsrichter als System der Kriminalistik).

What scientific fields did Hans Gross list as helpful to investigators?

Microscopy, chemistry, physics, mineralogy, zoology, botany, anthropometry, and fingerprinting.

What forensic journal did Hans Gross introduce?

Archiv für Kriminal Anthropologie und Kriminalistik.

Who is the best-known fictional figure in 19th-century forensics?

Sherlock Holmes.

Who was the creator of Sherlock Holmes?

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

What principles did Holmes apply before real-life investigators?

Serology, fingerprinting, firearms identification, and questioned-document examination.

In which 1887 novel did Holmes describe a reagent for hemoglobin?

A Study in Scarlet.

Why did Holmes claim his blood test was superior to the guaiacum test?

The guaiacum test was clumsy, and microscopic exams were valueless if stains were a few hours old.

What discovery did Dr. Karl Landsteiner make in 1901?

He discovered that blood can be grouped into categories A, B, AB, and O.

Who devised a procedure for determining blood group from a dried bloodstain in 1915?

Dr. Leone Lattes.

Who wrote the first significant text on document examination, Questioned Documents, in 1910?

Albert S. Osborn.

What was the impact of Albert S. Osborn's work?

It led to the acceptance of documents as scientific evidence by the courts.

Who first demonstrated how Gross's principles could work in a crime lab?

Edmond Locard.

In what year and city did Edmond Locard start his police laboratory?

1910, in Lyons, France.

What were the only instruments Locard had during his first years of work?

A microscope and a rudimentary spectrometer.

Define Locard's exchange principle.

When two objects come into contact with one another, there is an exchange of materials between them.

What did Locard believe could connect every criminal to a crime scene?

Dust particles carried from the scene.

How did Locard solve a counterfeiting case?

He found metallic particles on the suspects' clothing that chemically matched counterfeit coins.

Who was the world's preeminent microscopist and forensic educator?

Dr. Walter C. McCrone.

Who refined firearms examination using the comparison microscope?

Colonel Calvin Goddard.

What does a comparison microscope allow a firearms examiner to do?

Determine if a particular gun fired a bullet by comparing it with a test-fired bullet.

Name three procedures that allow modern scientists to identify suspect substances accurately.

Chromatography, spectrophotometry, and electrophoresis.

What is the most significant modern advance in forensic science?

The discovery and refinement of DNA typing.

Who developed the first DNA profiling test in 1984?

Sir Alec Jeffreys.

Who was the first person convicted of murder using DNA profiling?

Colin Pitchfork.

What are the benefits of computerized databases in forensics?

They allow rapid comparison of evidence like fingerprints and DNA against thousands of records, reducing analysis time.

What is the oldest forensic laboratory in the United States?

The Los Angeles Police Department laboratory.

Who created the LAPD crime lab in 1923?

August Vollmer.