Chapter 1 Intro into Forensic Science

Areas of Specialization

• Odontology• Pathology• Forensic Anthropology• Toxicology• Entomology

Thanks to…

• Bertillon-anthropometry

• Work great for many Years, until….

• The man on the left was called Will West, while the one on the right was called William West, and they were both sentenced to jail at Leavenworth Penitentiary in Kansas over 100 years ago.. His arrival caused the records clerk at the prison considerable confusion…

Galton

Conan Doyle, I presume

• Blood stains BEFORE they were popular• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bCS4icT

rH0

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DVJEQEdo-c

Landersteiner

• Blood type A and B are found at the scene, who can you EXCLUDE from your list of suspects

• Alyssa- Type A• Bob- Type B• Carla- Type AB• Olivia-Type O

Locard

• Every contact exchanges material(evidence)

#5

• DNA-unique. Needs little other evidence• Fingerprints-unique• Case markings-unique

Dates Not on Test

• 1923-oldest crime lab• 1930-1st university featuring criminology• 1932-FBI• 1972-Intergration between states• 1981-F. S Training Center

#7 How do Police solve Crimes

• Confession• Eyewitness• Evaluation of physical evidence

• Are there issues with any of these?

Why do Innocent People confess

• Some tend to believe that complying with the police will be more beneficial than continuing to maintain their innocence.

• Other factors include: duress coercion intoxication diminished capacity mental impairment ignorance of the law fear of violence the actual infliction of harm the threat of a harsh sentence misunderstanding the situation Confessions obtained from juveniles are often unreliable -- children can be easy to manipulate and are not always fully aware of their situation.

Why not believe an eyewitness?

• My Cousin Vinny-eyewitness accounts

• http://www.visualexpert.com/Resources/eyewitnessmemory.html

Just the data

Frye vs US-technique MUST be generally accepted

• Forensic use of DNA technology in criminal cases began in 1986 when police asked Dr. Alec J. Jeffreys (who coined the term "DNA fingerprints" 6) of Leicester University (England) to verify a suspect's confession that he was responsible for two rape-murders in the English Midlands.7 Tests proved that the suspect had not committed the crimes. Police then began obtaining blood samples from several thousand male inhabitants in the area to identify a new suspect.8 In a 1987 case in England, Robert Melias became the first person convicted of a crime (rape) on the basis of DNA evidence.9

• In the United States, the New York Police Department, the New York State Prison System, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons instituted a fingerprint system in 1903, and in 1905, the U.S. Army began using fingerprint identification.The first murder case in the United States in which fingerprint evidence was used successfully was in Illinois in 1910, when Thomas Jennings was accused of murdering Clarence Hiller after his fingerprints were found at Hiller's house.