Forensic
Science
even more important with
scandals regarding forced confessions, etc. Why? It's "based
on the theory of transfer, that when two objects meet, some evidence
of that meeting generally can be established and verified at
a later time." With DNA testing, bits of evidence smaller
and smaller -- can now be done with less than 100 cells.
- Origins:
- London in 1888: doctors examined
Jack the Ripper's victims for wound patterns.
- 1899: Marsh test used to test
for arsenic in the death of a Liverpool cotton broker.
- 1840: photography used to record
criminal portraits
- 1879:Alphonse Bertillon developed
i.d. method using measurements of physical characteristics.
- Fingerprinting:culmination of
the work of practitioners in several different countries. 1896:
Edward Henry developed system of classifying and filing large
numbers of fingerprints. "Henry system" adopted in
British colonies, ultimately became most commonly used classification
system. It was not until the end of the nineteenth century that
these scattered efforts began to coalesce as the rudiments of
an actual science.
- Hans Gross, examining Austrian
magistrate, compiled the most current information available at
the time, 1893, published Handbuch fur Untersuchungsrichter
(A Manual for Examining Magistrates), first real handbook
of forensic science. Early practitioners were self-taught.1930s:
universities began offering courses and degrees in criminalistics
and police science. Rapid advancement with creation of Law Enforcement
Assistance Administration in 1960s: grants for training, equipment,
and research projects.
- As criminalistics has advanced,
so has need for specialization and sophistication. Today, examiners
find themselves operating in a single area and within a narrow
field of inquiry (Bailey, 1995).
 "What
experts say investigators and crime scene technicians must improve
upon is the collection and processing of evidence. Smarter crooks
and tighter controls on police interrogation have reduced the
dependence on confessions. While confessions played a pivotal
role in 75 percent of the murder cases 20 years ago, they only
figure in about 50 percent of them today (Pilant, 1992). Diminished
confidence in police, television shows that focus on police mistakes,
and criminal cases tried in the media have also played a part.
Neither juries nor the courts give confessions the weight they
once did. They want corroborating evidence. The importance of
physical evidence and the reliability of forensic science have
grown. Protecting the crime scene and gathering or interpreting
the evidence accurately is undoubtedly the most important thing
an investigator or forensic scientist can do. " (my emphasis)
- Fingerprint Identification
Even with DNA, "the
most persuasive and conclusive type of evidence." Negligible
probability of any two people having same fingerprint patterns.
- 1970s: Japanese discovered that
process known as cyanoacrylate fuming, "superglue, "could
be used to develop prints on smooth surfaces. By early 1980s,
routine in crime labs. Created a tough, indestructible print,
but process was tedious, cumbersome and confined to lab -- equipment
wasn't portable. NIJ grant to Alaska's Scientific Crime Detection
Laboratory resulted in portable vapor pump: lets technicians
process a crime scene in less than two hours. Vapor Wand (often
called the Magic Wand): miniaturized fuming process. Small, manufactured
for less than $200.
- Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems. Traditional method of matching fingerprints
-- manually search fingerprint card files. Impossible unless
suspect has already been identified. "Cold searching,"
too tedious and cumbersome. It is also a huge drain on a department's
manpower. AFIS digitizes fingerprints, stores in database. Investigators
enter print into database, tell computer to search for a match.
Developed in France in 1960s, US national AFIS launched in 1999:
"largest biometric database in the world, containing the
fingerprints and corresponding criminal history information for
more than 47 million subjects in the Criminal Master File. The
fingerprints and corresponding criminal history information are
submitted voluntarily by state, local, and federal law enforcement
agencies."
 However,
right now there's controversy because FBI and DHS disagree on
what standard to use for tracking aliens visiting the US:
FBI wants to use the 10-finger system it has traditionally used,
while DHS wants only 2. Until the dispute is resolved, there's
no effective system for tracking aliens' prints
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Issues in Criminal Justice and Technology