Forensic History and Careers

Mathieu Orfila

(1787-1853) Founder of forensic toxicology, studied poisons and worked on the Marie Lafarge poisoning case

Sir Francis Galton

(1822-1911) Developed the first classification system for fingerprints, published the book Fingerprints in 1892 and described the loop, arch and whorl of fingerprint patterns

Hans Gross

(1847-1915) Generalist who believed in diverse approaches to forensic science and published the first forensic science textbook, Criminal Investigations, in 1893.

Victor Bathazard

(1852-1950) Paris Medical Examiner who advanced fingerprint, firearm and hair analysis, showed that fingerprint are unique to the 10^60 and used photography to help identify bullets

Alphonse Bertillion

(1853-1914) Developed anthropometry and was the first to solve a case using fingerprints

Edmond Locard

(1877-1966) Established a forensic lab in Lyons France in 1910, founded the Locard Exchange Principle and focused on trace evidence

Calvin Goddard

(1891-1955) Established the study of firearms evidence in the US, established a variety of police labs in the US and invented the comparison scope.

Anthropometry

System of identification of suspects involving 11 body measurements + descriptions + photos

Criminalistics

Describes forensic analysis of physical evidence

Locard Exchange Principle

Every Contact Leaves a Trace

Juan Vucitech

(1891) Who began the first fingerprint files

The Henry Classification System

Classification for fingerprinting in all European Countries

1 in 64 billion

Sir Francis Galton's odds for two fingerprints being the same

The scientific method

System in which forensic scientists work

The adversarial system

System in which lawyers work; legal framework where opposing lawyers represent their clients' interests before a neutral judge or jury

Finder of fact

Judge or jury who determines "right" in a case

Civil Cases

Occur between individuals and must show a preponderance of evidence (51%)

Criminal Cases

Occur when laws have been broken, the government in the prosecutor and and guilt but be shown beyond a reasonable doubt (99%)

Felony

Serious criminal case, possibility of greater than 1 year in prison

Misdemeanor

Minor criminal case, possible of a fine or less than 1 year in prison

Voir Dire

Qualifications of a scientists given in a court of law

Subpoena

A statement requiring someone to appear in court and stating the when and where the trial will be held

Gilbert Thomas

(1882) Who used fingerprints officially in the US for the first time

Dr. Henry Faulds

(1880) First to come up with a classification system based on fingerprints

1892

When was the first fingerprint identification made

1901

When was the idea of fingerprinting introduced to England/Wales

Karl Landsteiner

Discovered ABO blood typing and received the Nobel Prize in medicine for this work in1930.

Alec Jeffreys

Geneticist who developed DNA testing

Colin Pitchfork

First criminal convicted by DNA evidence

William Hershel (1856)

The first to use fingerprinting as a method of identification

Forensic Nurse

Trained to treat trauma patients (assaulted), take blood and tissue samples, collect evidence, photograph and measure wounds

Accreditation

laboratory has agreed to operate according to a professional or industry standard and has proven that it can and does operate that way

Certification

Forensic scientist had completed a written test covering his or her discipline

Cross Examination

The interrogation of a witness by the opposing party

Defendent

the accused

Direct examination

descriptive or question-and-answer format

Fallibilism

an awareness of how much we do not know and the humility to acknowledge the possibility of making mistakes

Generalists

worked in many forensic disciplines

Jurisdiction

a region or geographical area over which law enforcement or a legal entity can excise authority

Plaintiff

the party that files criminal charges

Private laboratories

businesses that are designed to make a profit; most of these labs specialize in DNA and forensic toxicology

Prosecutorial bias

the potential tendency of a forensic scientist to make scientific determinations that favor the prosecution

Public laboratories

funded by governments such as states, counties and cities

Specialist

forensic scientist specializes in one forensic discipline such as trace evidence analysis or questioned documents