Chapter 1: Introduction to Forensic Science

Criminalistics

Criminalistics

generally thought of as the branch of forensic science that involves the collection and analysis of physical evidence generated by criminal activity. It includes areas such as drugs, firearms and tool marks, fingerprints, blood and body fluids, footwear, and trace evidence.

Forensic science

the science of associating people, places, and things involved in criminal activities; these scientific disciplines assist in investigating and adjudicating criminal and civil cases.

Trace evidence

different things that might include fire and explosive residues, glass, soils, hairs, fibers, paints, plastics, and other polymers, wood, metals, and chemicals. These items are generally analyzed by forensic scientists or forensic science laboratories.

Forensic Pathology

it is conducted by a medical examiner, who is a physician, specially trained in clinical and anatomic pathology, whose function is to determine the cause and manner of death in cases where the death occurred under suspicious or unknown circumstances.

Forensic Anthropology

• a branch of physical anthropology, the study of humans and their ancestors.

  • deals with identifying people who cannot be identified through soft tissue features, such as fingerprints or photographs.

Forensic Odontology

• also known as Forensic Dentistry.

• They include identification of human remains in mass disasters, post-mortem x-rays of the teeth can be compared to ante-mortem x-rays, and the comparison of bitemarks.

Forensic Engineering

They’re goal is to locate the cause of the failure; this information can be used to improve the performance or safety of a product or to determine liability in a legal case.

Toxicology

involves the chemical analysis of body fluids and tissues to determine if a drug or poison is present.

Questioned Documents

This field has many facets, including the comparison of handwritten or typewritten documents to determine their source or authenticity.

Private Forensic Science Laboratories

they mostly serve a niche by performing only one or two examinations, such as drugs, toxicology, or questioned documents

Public Forensic Science Laboratories

They are administered and financed by a unit of government that varies with the jurisdiction.

FORESIGHT Project

a business-guided self-evaluation of forensic science laboratories across the globe.

FBI laboratory

The _____ supports the investigative efforts of the FBI and will, upon request, analyze certain types of evidence for state and local law enforcement agencies and forensic science laboratories.

Drug Enforcement Administration

is responsible for investigating major illicit drug enterprises and helping interdict shipments of drugs from other countries

Secret Service Laboratory

This laboratory engages in the research and development of countermeasures and protection of the president and other officials.

US Fish and Wildlife Service

• animal-oriented forensic science laboratory. Its mission is to support the efforts of the service’s investigators who patrol the national parks.

• The laboratory also provides consulting services for other countries in their efforts to track people who traffic animal parts.

US Postal Service

• It is considered to be a quasi-federal agency.

• The service maintains a laboratory that supports the service’s efforts to combat postal fraud.

• This effort mainly involves questioned document analysis, although the laboratory also has fingerprint and traces evidence capabilities.

evidence intake unit

The _______ will have a secured area for storing evidence, the size of which depends again on the volume of work: it may be a room or a warehouse.

Chain of Custody

A process that tracks the movement of evidence through its collection, safeguarding, and analysis lifecycle by documenting each person who handled the evidence, the date/time it was collected or transferred, and the purpose for the transfer.

Modern intake systems

________ use computerized systems that generate barcodes that are placed on each item of evidence or its container.

barcode

The ______ is scanned by each unit of the laboratory that takes possession of that item, so the evidence can be easily traced by the computer as it makes its way through the laboratory.

American Society for Testing and Materials, International (ASTM)

publishes voluntary consensus standards for a wide variety of sciences, including forensic science.

Sampling

This often happens with large drug cases in which there may be hundreds or thousands of similar exhibits. The opposite may also be true: insufficient sample for complete or repeat analysis.