Forensics

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This article deals with forensic science, used in legal proceedings. For forensics in public speaking, see debate and individual events.
Forensic science
Human remains
Forensic pathology  · Forensic odontology
Forensic anthropology  · Forensic taphonomy
Forensic entomology
Social forensics
Forensic psychology  · Forensic psychiatry
Modus Operandi  · Offender profiling
Other specializations
Latent Print Examination  · Ballistics
Bloodstain pattern analysis
Forensic genetics  · Serology
Forensic footwear evidence  · Tire track evidence
Forensic toxicology  · Forensic palynology
Questioned document examination
Forensic accounting
Cybertechnology in forensics
Information forensics  · Computer forensics
Forensic databases
Forensic engineering
Structural failures
Fire investigation
Vehicular accident reconstruction
Related articles

Crime scene  · CSI Effect

Trace evidence  · DNA analysis
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Forensic science (often shortened to forensics) is the application of a broad spectrum of sciences to answer questions of interest to the legal system. This may be in relation to a crime or to a civil action. The use of the term "forensics" in place of "forensic science" could be considered incorrect; the term "forensic" is effectively a synonym for "legal" or "related to courts" (from Latin, it means "before the forum"). However, it is now so closely associated with the scientific field that many dictionaries include the meaning given here.

Contents

[edit] Applications and subdivisions

Criminalistics is the application of various sciences to answer questions relating to examination and comparison of biological evidence, trace evidence, impression evidence (such as fingerprints, footwear impressions, and tire tracks), controlled substances, firearms, and other evidence in criminal investigations. Typically, evidence is processed in a crime lab. This is the division of forensic science most often reported in the media and depicted in popular fiction.

Some of the other forensic science disciplines are:

Forensic accounting is the study and interpretation of accounting evidence.

Forensic anthropology is the application of physical anthropology in a legal setting, usually for the recovery and identification of skeletonized human remains.

Forensic economics is the study and interpretation of economic damage evidence to include present day calculations of lost earnings and benefits, the lost value of a business, lost business profits, lost value of household service, replacement labor costs and future medical care costs.

Forensic engineering studies the causes of failure of devices and structures.

Forensic entomology deals with the examination of insects in, on, and around human remains to assist in determination of time or location of death. It is also possible to determine if the body was moved after death.

Forensic epistemology deals with philosophical knowledge in a legal setting, typically for understanding behavior of states.

Forensic linguistics deals with anything in the legal system that requires linguistic expertise.

Forensic odontology is the study of the uniqueness of dentition. (study of teeth)

Forensic photography is the art of producing an accurate photographic reproduction of a crime scene for the benefit of a court.

Forensic psychology and forensic psychiatry deal with the legal aspects of human behavior.

Forensic toxicology is the study of the effect of drugs and poisons on the human body.

Forensic Ballistics is the science dealing with the investigation of use of firearms and ammunition.

Questioned document examination is the study and interpretation of evidence that takes the form of document.

Forensics is also related to speech communication such as a Forensics Team (high school/college).

[edit] History of forensics

The "Eureka" legend of Archimedes (287-212 BC) can be considered an early account of the use of forensic science. In this case, by examining the principles of water displacement, Archimedes was able to prove that a crown was not made of gold (as it was fraudulently claimed) by its density and buoyancy.

The earliest account of fingerprint use to establish identity was during the 7th century. According to Soleiman, an Arabic merchant, a debtor's fingerprints were affixed to a bill, which would then be given to the lender. This bill was legally recognized as proof of the validity of the debt.

The first written account of using medicine and entomology to solve (separate) criminal cases is attributed to the book Xi Yuan Ji Lu (洗冤集錄, translated as "Collected Cases of Injustice Rectified"), written in 1248 China by Song Ci (宋慈, 1186-1249). In one of the accounts, the case of a person murdered with a sickle was solved by a death investigator who instructed everyone to bring their sickles to one location. Flies, attracted by the smell of blood, eventually gathered on a single sickle. In light of this, the murderer confessed. The book also offered advice on how to distinguish between a drowning (water in the lungs) and strangulation (broken neck cartilage).

In sixteenth century Europe, medical practitioners in army and university settings began to gather information on cause and manner of death. Ambroise Paré, a French army surgeon, systematically studied the effects of violent death on internal organs. Two Italian surgeons, Fortunato Fidelis and Paolo Zacchia, laid the foundation of modern pathology by studying changes which occurred in the structure of the body as the result of disease. In the late 1700s, writings on these topics began to appear. These included: "A Treatise on Forensic Medicine and Public Health" by the French physician Fodéré, and "The Complete System of Police Medicine" by the German medical expert Johann Peter Franck.

In 1775, Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele devised a way of detecting arsenous oxide, simple arsenic, in corpses, although only in large quantities. This investigation was expanded, in 1806, by German chemist Valentin Ross, who learned to detect the poison in the walls of a victim's stomach, and by English chemist James Marsh, who used chemical processes to confirm arsenic as the cause of death in an 1836 murder trial.

Two early examples of English forensic science in individual legal proceedings demonstrate the increasing use of logic and procedure in criminal investigations. In 1784, in Lancaster, England, John Toms was tried and convicted for murdering Edward Culshaw with a pistol. When the dead body of Culshaw was examined, a pistol wad (crushed paper used to secure powder and balls in the muzzle) found in his head wound matched perfectly with a torn newspaper found in Toms' pocket. In Warwick, England, in 1816, a farm laborer was tried and convicted of the murder of a young maidservant. She had been drowned in a shallow pool and bore the marks of violent assault. The police found footprints and an impression from corduroy cloth with a sewn patch in the damp earth near the pool. There were also scattered grains of wheat and chaff. The breeches of a farm laborer who had been threshing wheat nearby were examined and corresponded exactly to the impression in the earth near the pool.pppppppp

[edit] Forensic science in the media

Sherlock Holmes, the fictional character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in works produced from 1887 to 1915, used forensic science as one of his investigating methods. Conan Doyle credited the inspiration for Holmes on his teacher at the medical school of the University of Edinburgh, the gifted surgeon and forensic detective Joseph Bell.

Decades later, the comic strip, Dick Tracy also featured a detective using a considerable number of forensic methods, although sometimes the methods were more fanciful than actually possible. Popular television series focusing on crime detection, including CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, and CSI: NY, depict glamorized versions of the activities of 21st Century forensic scientists. These related TV shows have changed individuals' expectations of forensic science, an influence termed the "CSI effect".

In the video game Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Forensic Science is used in various cases.

[edit] Forensics as Speech and Debate

Forensics is also a term for a facet of speech communication studies encompassing competitive speech and debate competitions. A comprehensive survey recently identified more than 400 Colleges and Universities with programs. Hundreds more teams exist on the high school level. Thousands of students compete at tournaments across the country from August through May of each year in a variety of individual speaking categories and styles of debate as well as competitive readers theater. Some of the major organizations that oversee and administer forensics competition at the national level include:

The American Forensics Association (AFA)[1]
The National Forensic League (NFL)[2]
Phi Rho Pi [3]
American Readers Theater association (ARTa) [4]
The National Parliamentary Debate Association (NPDA) [5]
The Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA) [6]

An informal study several years ago identified several notable famous forensics participants at the high school and college level including Oprah Winfrey, Al Gore, Brad Pitt, and Jane Pauley, among others.

The creator of CSI, Anthony E. Zuiker, was a national award-winner in forensics speaking competitions while in college.

[edit] See also

[edit] Further reading

  • Baden, Michael, M.D, former New York City Medical Examiner, and Roach, Marion. "Dead Reckoning: The New Science of Catching Killers". Simon & Schuster, 2001. ISBN 0-684-86758-3.
  • Kind, Stuart and Overman, Michael. "Science Against Crime". Doubleday and Company, Inc., New York, 1972. ISBN 0-385-09249-0.
  • Nickell, Joe and Fischer, John F. "Crime Science: Methods of Forensic Detection". University Press of Kentucky, 1999. ISBN 0-8131-2091-8.
  • Wolfson, Seth, forensic sculptor and make-up FX artist, "Forensic Sculpting: Step--Step in Photos." Realsculpt Press, 2005. http://www.forensicsculpting.com/
  • Anil Aggrawal's Internet Journal of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology. http://www.geradts.com/anil/ij/indexpapers.html

[edit] External links

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