22 JAN 2024

Chapter 1 Notes – Forensic Science

 Forensic Science
o Simple definition – Application of science to law
o Forensis – public, to the forum (Latin)
 Forensics can also mean “to debate”
o American Academy of Forensic Sciences definition – Any science used for
the purposes of the law is a forensic science
o Applies the knowledge and technology of science to the definition and
enforcement of the rules of law
o Textbook definition – Application of science to the criminal justice and civil
laws that are enforced by police agencies in a criminal justice system
 American Academy of Forensic Science (AAFS)
o Largest forensic science organization in the world
o Over 6500 members
o Worldwide
o 12 disciplines
 Anthropology
 Criminalistics
 Digital and Multimedia Sciences
 Engineering and Applied Sciences
 General
 Jurisprudence
 Forensic Nursing Science
 Odontology
 Pathology/Biology
 Psychiatry/Behavior Science
 Question Documents
 Toxicology
 The CSI Effect – Puts unrealistic expectations on forensics and investigations
with regard to personnel (who does what), time (things don’t actually happen that
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quickly), evidence (being available at every crime scene). It does, however, give
public openness to the investigation world
o Based on 12 million viewers of CSI Vegas, juries may also expect more
evidence at trial because of what they see on CSI-type shows.
 Reasons why there may not be evidence at trial
 Collection feasibility
 Crime type
 Financial constraints
 Lab technology and turnaround time
 Relevancy
 To combat CSI effect, attorneys will bring in experts to give negative
testimony of why they didn’t find evidence at the case
o Research where 1000 prospective jurors were interviewed (Michigan)
 46 percent expected to see some kind of evidence in every criminal
case
 22 percent expected to see DNA evidence in every criminal case
 36 percent expected to see fingerprint evidence in every criminal
case
 32 percent expected to see ballistic or other firearms laboratory
evidence in every criminal case
 Big figures in history of forensic science
o Sherlock Holmes
 Fictional character in books
 Character from late 1800s
 Sparked interest in forensic science
 Used clues and technology to solve crimes
o Edmond Locard
 Lived in late 1800s to mid 1900s
 Frenchman
 Educated in medicine and law
 In 1910, he started a police laboratory
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 Locard’s Exchange Principal

 Foundation of forensic science
 Basis for how evidence is generated, transferred
 Definition: Whenever two objects come into contact with
each other, there is an exchange of materials between them
 Every contact leaves a trace
 If a suspect or victim are at the crime scene, they are
probably leaving something behind and taking something
away. If you can prove that both were at the crime scene,
they probably were there together
o Hans Gross
 Prosecutor and judge that pushed idea that scientists could assist
in investigations
o Alphonse Bertillion
 Devised first system of personal identification: When person is
arrested, they collect a series of measurements (anthropometry)
 Later found to be not super useful
o Francis Galton
 Fingerprints
o Leone Lattes
 Serology – identifying blood
o Calvin Goddard
 Ballistics and firearms
o Albert Osborne
 Questioned documents
o Walter McCrone
 Microscopy
o Mathieu Orfila
 Founder of forensic toxicology
 Crime laboratories
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o LAPD (1923) – First crime lab in U.S. City police department

o FBI (1932) – The world’s largest forensic lab. Federal agency
o Forensic labs open for whatever reason. Smaller labs may have
developed because the larger labs are backlogged or do not do certain
types of forensics. And, any lab can do anything they want (ex: a drug lab
can do firearms if they want)
o NIST is trying to create standards for labs to follow so no issues or
complexities arise
 NIST divided forensics into different sections
o International crime labs
 Great Britain
 Canada
 Over 100 countries around the world
o United States crime labs
 Federal
 FBI
 DEA
 ATF
 Postal Inspection Service
 Defensive Forensic Science Center (like USACIL)
 State
 Some states may have one state lab
 Regional
o Scattered across state
 Satellite
o One main HQ lab with smaller labs here and there
 Local
 City
 County
 Multi-County (one lab covers multiple counties)
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 These may be housed in: Medical Examiners’ offices, District

Attorneys’ offices, Police Departments’ offices
 Private
 Usually have some specialization
 NMS labs (mostly toxicology)
 Bode (DNA work)
 McCrone (Microscopy or trace analysis)
 RJ Lee Group (gunshot residue testing)
o Department of Justice ICITAP works with foreign countries to help further
develop their law enforcement and forensic lab capabilities
o Crime laboratory services
 Basic
 Physical science unit (drugs, trace)
 Biology (DNA & Serology)
 Firearms (and Toolmarks)
 Document examination (QD)
 Photography
 Optional
 Toxicology
 Latent fingerprints
 Polygraph
 Voiceprint
 Crime scene
 Other
 Psychiatry
 Odontology
 Engineering
 Digital
o Cumberland County DA’s Office Forensic Lab
 Controlled substances
 Toxicology
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 Friction Ridge Examination

 Digital
 Crime Scene
 Firearms (coming soon)
 The forensic scientist
o Analysis of evidence
 Use scientific method to analyze
 Hypothesis
o Admissibility of Evidence
 Prior to trial, the judge (no jury) may have an admissibility hearing
to decide if they are going to accept the evidence.
 Frye state – looking for general acceptance. Is this evidence
generally accepted? (page 16)
o In Frye case, defense argued whether polygraph is
generally accepted. Ruled that it is not
 Daubert state – judge as gatekeeper (page 17, 18); most
states use this
o Tested theory – Is the theory tested?
o Peer review – have other groups looked at this and
agreed with it?
o Error – Have enough studies been done that an error
rate has been established?
o Standards – Have standards been used?
o Acceptance – General acceptance
 Most evidence is automatically accepted in court because the
techniques and types of evidence are already pre-approved
o Federal Rules of Evidence (page 17) – Has to do with expert testimony of
the evidence. This does not deal with accepting evidence into trial
 Rule 702
o Expert testimony
 Expert witness
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 Qualification
o Credentials
o Competency
 Facts vs. opinions
 Expert witnesses can render opinions. Lay witnesses can
only render facts
 Reasonable degree of scientific certainty
 Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts
 Required that expert actually be present at trial
 Evidence collection (page 21)
o Proper
 Recognition
 Collection
 Preservation
o Only trained and specialized personnel should do this. They also need
proper tools and supplies for evidence collection. Unfortunately, lots of
police departments haven’t adopted this
o They also need to know the labs capabilities, services, and limitations of
the lab analysis
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Class hints:

- Know vocab terms in book margins

- Go over review questions