Forensics Science - Docs - Notes

People

• Jan Evangeline Put - 9 fingerprints

• Mathieu Orfila (1787-1853)

  • “Father of Toxicology“ wrote about the detection of poisons and their effects on animals. Contributed to the development of forensics using microscopes to assess blood and semen stains.

• Alphonse Bertillon

  • Father of Criminal Identification- Using Anthropometry (body measurements as a means of identification)

Crime Scene

• Classification of Crime Scene

  • Location

  • Size of area

  • Type of crime

  • Physical Location

• Primary and Secondary Crime Scene

  • Primary: Where the original crime scene occurred

  • Secondary: Subsequent crime scene

• Microscopic and Macroscopic

  • Microscopic: (size of crime scene) Focuses on specific type of physical evidence

  • Macroscopic: (size of crime scene) One location, composed of many microscopic crime scenes

• Cause of Death

  • The immediate reason of a person’s death (Such as a heart attack, kidney failure)

• Mechanism of Death

  • The specific physiological, physical, or chemical event that stops life (ex: cause of death; heart attack, mechanism of death; cardiac arrhythmia)

• Manner of Death

  • How death occurred; 5 Possibilities

    • Natural

    • Accidental

    • Suicide

    • Homicide

    • undetermined

• Corpus Delicti

  • The body of offense

    • Must be proven a crime has been committed.

    • Ex: dead body for homicide, stolen items for burglary

• Modius