Forensics Chapter 1

Francois Demelle

• Published the first essay on document examinations

• Noted that handwriting and signatures could be compared as a way of detecting forgeries.

• France, 1609

Carl Wilhelm Scheele

• Detected arsenic acid in stomach contents.

• His evidence couldn’t be shown in court because there was no valid test.

• Sweden, 1775

Mathieu Orfila

• Known as the Father of Toxicology.

• Published A Treatise on Poisons, found in the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms.

• Spain, 1818

Alphonse Bertillon

• Developed anthropometric theory, which identified people through physical measurements.

• His method eventually lost out to fingerprint identification.

• French police officer 1830s

John Evangelist Pukinje

• Suggested a fingerprint classification system based on nine major types.

• 1823

James March

• Chemist who was the first to use toxicology in a jury trial. Developed the Marsh Test.

• Scotland, 1836

Jean Servais Stas

• First to identify plant alkaloids from body tissues.

• Belgium, 1851

Ludwig Techiman

• Developed the first microscope crystal test for hemoglobin using hemin crystals.

• The Techiman Test is a confirmatory test for blood.

• Poland, 1853

Rudolph Virchow

• Known as the "Pope of Medicine."

• First to testify to forensic hair comparison in 1861.

• Associated with hair analysis and hair comparison.

Henry Faulds

• Physician working in Tokyo who published a paper in Nature.

• The first to suggest fingerprints could be used to identify criminals.

• Scotland, 1880

Arthur Conan Doyle

• Published the first Sherlock Holmes story.

• Frequently used footprint evidence to solve cases and wrote an essay on preserving footprints using Plaster of Paris.

Alexandre Lacassagne

• First to try to individualize bullets to a gun barrel after noticing the lands and grooves (rifling) on a bullet removed during an autopsy.

• France, 1889

Sir Francis Galton

• Published Finger Prints,

• The first comprehensive book on fingerprints and their use in solving crime.

• Defined and named fingerprint minutiae known as Galton Details.

• England, 1892

Sir Edward Richard Henry

• Collaborated with Galton and Indian police officers to develop the fingerprint classification system that came to be used in Europe and North America.

• England, 1896

Albert S. Osborne.

• The most influential document examiner.

• Published Questioned Documents, which is still used today.

• 1910

Leone Lattes

• Devised a method for ABO blood typing of dried bloodstains, a major advancement for criminal investigations.

• Italy, 1915

Edmond Locard

• Developed Locard's Principle: "Every contact leaves a trace." Examples include hair, fiber, fingerprints, saliva, DNA, and shoe prints.

• French criminologist

What are the three factors that increase the number of crime lab cases?

New laws, new technology, and population growth.

Mapp v. Ohio (1961)

Unreasonable search and seizures

Gideon v. Wainwright

All citizens are provided a lawyer if they cannot afford one

Miranda v. Arizona

Read Miranda rights upon questioning or arrest. Anything you say may be used against you