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Forensic ScienceHistory and Practice

Matthew T. PiccaverCambridge Graduate Course in MedicineWolfson CollegeCambridge

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Introduction

• The term forensic science comes from the Latin forensis meaning “of the forum”.

• It involves the application of scientific techniques in the solving of crime. Fundamental principle is that of “trace contact”.

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History

• Prehistory: evidence of fingerprints in rock paintings.

• AD 700’s: Chinese used fingerprints to establish identity.

• circa AD 1000: Quintilian, Roman court attorney, showed bloody palm prints were intended to frame a man of his mother’s murder.

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History

• 1248: A Chinese book, Hsi Duan Yu (the washing away of wrongs), contains a description of how to distinguish drowning from strangulation. This was the first recorded application of medical knowledge to the solution of crime.

• 1609: The first treatise on systematic document examination was published by François Demelle of France.

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History

• 1686: Marcello Malpighi, a professor of anatomy at the University of Bologna, noted fingerprint characteristics. However, he made no mention of their value as a tool for individual identification.

• 1784: In Lancaster, England, John Toms was convicted of murder on the basis of the torn edge of wad of newspaper in a pistol matching a remaining piece in his pocket. This was one of the first documented uses of physical matching.

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History

• 1800’S: Thomas Bewick, an English naturalist, used engravings of his own fingerprints to identify books he published.

• 1810: Eugène François Vidocq, in return for a suspension of arrest and a jail sentence, made a deal with the police to establish the first detective force, the Sûreté of Paris.

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History

• 1810: The first recorded use of question document analysis occurred in Germany. A chemical test for a particular ink dye was applied to a document known as the Konigin Hanschritt.

• 1813: Mathiew Orfila, a Spaniard who became professor of medicinal/forensic chemistry at University of Paris, published Traite des Poisons Tires des Regnes Mineral, Vegetal et Animal, ou Toxicologie General l. Orfila is considered the father of modern toxicology. He also made significant contributions to the development of tests for the presence of blood in a forensic context and is credited as the first to attempt the use of a microscope in the assessment of blood and semen stains.

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History

• 1823: John Evangelist Purkinji, a professor of anatomy at the University of Breslau, Czecheslovakia, published the first paper on the nature of fingerprints and suggested a classification system based on nine major types. However, he failed to recognize their individualizing potential.

• 1830’s: Adolphe Quetelet, a Belgian statistician, provided the foundation for Bertillon's work by stating his belief that no two human bodies were exactly alike.

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History

• 1835: Henry Goddard, one of Scotland Yard's original Bow Street Runners, first used bullet comparison to catch a murderer. His comparison was based on a visible flaw in the bullet which was traced back to a mold.

• 1836: James Marsh, an Scottish chemist, was the first to use toxicology (arsenic detection) in a jury trial.

• 1839: H. Bayard published the first reliable procedures for the microscopic detection of sperm. He also noted the different microscopic characteristics of various different substrate fabrics.

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History

• 1851: Jean Servais Stas, a chemistry professor from Brussels, Belgium, was the first successfully to identify vegetable poisons in body tissue.

• 1853: Ludwig Teichmann, in Kracow, Poland, developed the first microscopic crystal test for hemoglobin using hemin crystals.

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History

• 1854: An English physician, Maddox, developed dry plate photography, eclipsing M. Daguerre's wet plate on tin method. This made practical the photographing of inmates for prison records.

• 1856: Sir William Herschel, a British officer working for the Indian Civil service, began to use thumbprints on documents both as a substitute for written signatures for illiterates and to verify document signatures.

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History

• 1863: The German scientist Schönbein first discovered the ability of haemoglobin to oxidize hydrogen peroxide making it foam. This resulted in first presumptive test for blood.

• 1864: Odelbrecht first advocated the use of photography for the identification of criminals and the documentation of evidence and crime scenes.

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History

• 1864: Thomas Taylor, microscopist to U.S. Department of Agriculture suggested that markings of the palms of the hands and the tips of the fingers could be used for identification in criminal cases. Although reported in the American Journal of Microscopy and Popular Science and Scientific American, the idea was apparently never pursued from this source.

• 1879: Rudolph Virchow, a German pathologist, was one of the first to both study hair and recognize its limitations.

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History

• 1892: Francis Galton published "Fingerprints", the first comprehensive book on the nature of fingerprints and their use in solving crime.

1892: Juan Vucetich, an Argentinean police researcher, developed the fingerprint classification system that would come to be used in Latin America.

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History

• 1896: Sir Edward Richard Henry developed the print classification system that would come to be used in Europe and North America. He published "Classification and Uses of Finger Prints".

• 1898: Paul Jesrich, a forensic chemist, took photomicrographs of two bullets to compare, and subsequently individualise the minutiae.

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History

• 1900: Karl Landsteiner first discovered human blood groups and was awarded the Nobel prize for his work in 1930.

• 1903: The New York State Prison system began the first systematic use of fingerprints in United States for criminal identification.

• 1912: Edmund Locard, successor to Lacassagne as professor of forensic medicine at the University of Lyons, France, established the first police crime laboratory.

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History

• 1920s: Georg Popp pioneered the use of botanical identification in forensic work.

• 1974: The detection of gunshot residue (GSR) using scanning electron microscopy with electron dispersive X-rays (SEM-EDX) technology was developed by J. E. Wessel.

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History

• 1977:The FBI introduced the beginnings of its Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) with the first computerised scans of fingerprints.

• 1983: The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was first conceived by Kerry Mullis, while he was working at Cetus Corporation. The first paper on the technique was not published until 1985.

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History

• 1984: Alec Jeffreys developed the first DNA profiling test.

• 1986: In the first use of DNA to solve a crime, Jeffreys used DNA profiling to identify Colin Pitchfork as the murderer of two young girls in the English Midlands. Significantly, in the course of the investigation, DNA was first used to exonerate an innocent suspect.

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History

• 1986: The human genetics group at Cetus Corporation, led by Henry Erlich, developed the PCR technique for a number of clinical and forensic applications. This resulted in development of the first commercial PCR typing kit specifically for forensic use, HLA DQ-alpha (DQA1), about 2 years later.

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Practice

• The field of forensic science in wide and varied, and includes the following areas:

•Forensic Anthropology

•Forensic Chemistry inc. Toxicology

•DNA Analysis

•Entomology and Botany

•Forensic Imaging

•Medicine and Pathology

•Forensic Odontology

•Audio Processing

•Questioned Document Examination

•Psychiatry and Psychology

•Questioned Document Examination

•Scenes of Crime Investigation

•Fire and Explosives Investigation

•Engineering

•Computing

•Microscopy

•Fingerprints

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Forensic Anthropology

• Application of physical anthropology to detection of crime. Involves identification of skeletal, badly decomposed and unidentified remains. Work in conjunction with pathologists and odontologists. Also suggest age, sex, ancestry, stature, and unique features of a decedent from a skeleton.

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Forensic Chemistry and Toxicology

• Use analytical techniques to identify presence of chemicals potentially injurious to health within biological tissues.

• Analyse non-biological materials for presence of chemicals that may be of an evidential nature in a case.

• May include drugs of abuse, pharmaceuticals, industrial chemicals, plant alkaloids etc.

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DNA Analysis

• Use of genetic techniques to analyse DNA samples found at the scene of a crime.

•Of particular importance in violent crime, e.g. rape, murder, assault. Allows identification of potential suspect via comparison of unknown sample to samples of known identity.

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Entomology and Botany

• Study of insects and their larvae.

• Allows estimation of time of death and location of killing, amongst others.

• Botany allows study of plants and pollen. May be used to link suspect to scene of crime.

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Forensic Medicine and Pathology

• Concerned with medical examination of crime.

•Usually associated with ascertaining cause of death.

•Involves post mortem examination.

•Also includes duties of a doctor with respect to death.

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Forensic Odontology

• Uses dental records to identify individuals.

•May be post-mortem or in the identification of a suspect.

•May be used to link suspect to scene of crime.

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Audio Processing and Imaging

• Involves use of imaging techniques e.g. photography to record evidence in a pictorial manner. Includes taking photos at a crime scene.

•May also involve enhancement of images for evidential purposes.

•Audio processing may allow recorded evidence to be improved.

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Psychiatry and Psychology

• Concerned with the study of crime to yield details about the suspect’s personality.

•Psychiatry involves a degree of treatment.

• Psychology can involve offender profiling, statement analysis and the statistics of crime.

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Engineering and Fire and Explosives Investigation

• Forensic Engineering concerns itself with the situation surrounding structural failure.

•May be structure of mechanical object.

•Fire and Explosives investigation - self explanatory.

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Crime Scene Investigation

• Examination/collection of evidence from an alleged scene of crime.

•Involves photography, illustration, scenes of crimes officers, medical involvement etc.

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Fingerprints

• Long associated with the field of forensic science.

•Involves characterising fingerprint on basis of 16 identifiable points of similarity.

•Pretty damning evidence, especially in conjunction with DNA evidence.

•Other prints have evidential value, including footprints, tyre marks, tool marks and even ear prints. (!!)

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Microscopy

•Evaluation and inspection of evidence at the microscopic level.

•May involve inspection of fibres, dusts, pollen grains, hair samples, fabrics, bullet casings, paint residue etc.

•Uses both light and electron microscopes.

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Other areas

•Forensic computing: uses modern computing techniques to hunt for electronic evidence.

•Forensic geology: analysis of geological samples as evidence. Uses the geological microscope and analytical chemistry techniques.

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Case Examples

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Conclusion

•Forensic science is a large and varied subject.

•Modern techniques allow the use of a wide range of evidence modalities.

•The investigation of crime draws on the skills of a wide range of experts from a wide range of fields.

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Thank You!