Using Forensic Science to Identify Criminals Essay example

In today’s world we have progressed far past Benjamin Franklin’s discovery of electricity. We have shaped and molded technology to provide us with less hassle, less work and a more convenient way to communicate. In the world of crime, technological advances have taken us above and beyond as we master to seek the truth through polygraph tests, or the way we link a suspect through DNA samples from a crime scene ; Even the way we have administered technology with the death penalty has advanced far beyond we ever imagined. Technology has been useful to solving many crimes and will continue to advance

How must it be to live in a criminal mind? How must it be to completely loose the sense of normality? I heartily believe that Forensic Psychology holds the key which opens an entire world of psychopathologies, mental deformities, twisted thoughts and repressed needs of bestiality. Besides letting you sink into the most dangerous minds, it gives you the armament to combat everything hiding in there- knowledge.

7) Pollen & Spore identification can provide important trace evidence in solving crimes dues to their

Forensic science and law are often seen as two opposing disciplines; forensic science is often presumed to be factual and law can be interpreted in multiple ways. Science and law reach conclusions in different ways which is an issue. Due to these differences, miscommunication is often the cause for miscarriages of justice. In order to address this problem, people working in the criminal justice system should have more knowledge of forensic science. There are many factors that contribute to the lack of understanding between forensic science and the people involved in the court process. Firstly, the adversarial model will be discussed in relation to how these procedures prevent effective communication between forensic evidence and lawyers. Secondly, the role that expert witnesses play in the presentation of scientific evidence and how jurors play a role in interpreting their evidence, will be considered. Thirdly it will be argued that lawyers and judges lack adequate knowledge of forensic science that is needed to conduct accurate trials. Lastly, possible solutions to improve the communication between forensic science and the actors involved in the criminal justice system. Juries, lawyers and judges should be more educated in understanding forensic science.

The human body and brain has always intrigued and fascinated me, but more in death than living. In middle school, a TV show called CSI: Crime Scene Investigation appeared to me every day afterschool. Whatever I did, I could not stay away for one second. Even my mom was weird out on how comfortable I was with crime scenes having blood and gruesome dead bodies lying around, which hasn’t changed.

Forensic Science has contributed to our world a great deal. People often misunderstand Forensic Science and believe it is much more capable than it really is. As a matter of fact what you see on T.V. is around 80% false or over exaggerated in some way. To Start of, Criminal Investigation is the largest and most known form of Forensic Science. Some of the more known areas include; Fingerprinting, Ballistics, DNA Identification, Fiber Samples, Computer Animation, Documentation analysis, etc. To get this out of the way in the beginning, what you saw on last night’s law and order is far from the truth. Things they do in a matter of hours take months at a time, and most of the time aren’t even plausible concepts.

The Insanity defense is mentioned as confusing to the psychiatric and legal concept. Furthermore, it is explained that the word “insane” is more of a legal word, then a medical term, and therefor to prove a person or a criminal insane, one must find the mental condition, of a criminal, severely impaired to the point of losing one’s free will. A psychiatrist may be or may not able to determine such illness, and a jury’s decision solely based on a psychiatrists’ opinion may be grounded on unreliable evidence. Retrieved from; West's Encyclopedia of American Law, edition 2 (2008).

Before the 1980s, courts relied on testimony and eyewitness accounts as a main source of evidence. Notoriously unreliable, these techniques have since faded away to the stunning reliability of DNA forensics. In 1984, British geneticist Alec Jeffreys of the University of Leicester discovered an interesting new marker in the human genome. Most DNA information is the same in every human, but the junk code between genes is unique to every person. Junk DNA used for investigative purposes can be found in blood, saliva, perspiration, sexual fluid, skin tissue, bone marrow, dental pulp, and hair follicles (Butler, 2011). By analyzing this junk code, Jeffreys found certain sequences of 10 to 100 base pairs repeated multiple times. These tandem

The revolutionary trend of forensic science from history to this modern period opens lot of ways to find criminals hidden in our society and brings great changes in criminal justice system. It was very difficult to identify criminals in the past because of lack specific field to study criminal activity and equipments so that there were high chances of escaping criminals from criminal justice. Similarly, the innocent offenders had to be punished due to unreliable and inaccurate criminal justice. But the development and research on Forensic science has backbone of criminal justice

The definition of forensic science is any scientific research, method, or theory used to analyze evidence in an attempt to solve legal cases (Cho). In recent years, there has been growing public interest in forensic science, arguably because of the numerous television programs that glamorize its practices. This phenomenon is part of what is known as the CSI effect, or the process through which devoted fans of popular crime dramas develop unrealistic notions of forensic science methods, practices, and their applications in real life cases (Mancini 544; Stevens 37; Ley, Jankowski, and Brewer 52). The CSI effect has had more negative impacts on forensic science and society than positive impacts, especially in regards to what goes on in the

Forensic science in the 1940s - 1970s is still being used today to determine the suspect of a crime. During the late 1900s, Forensic scientist began to determine different pieces of evidence that could lead them to the suspect of a crime. Scientist began to realized that they could use technology to help them identify suspects of a murder. According to Elkins Kelly, “ Forensic science is a broad field that includes the discipline of pathology, psychiatry, engineering, computer science, toxicology, odontology, anthropology, and botany, as well as the chemical, physical and biological sciences.”(Kelly,1). Scientist have identified new ways to determine the suspect of crimes. Voice recordings became very essential in the 1940s -1970s as evidence

1). Forensic Psychology is the application of the theories of psychology to law and the legal system. Issues of violence and its impact on individuals and/or groups delineate the main and central concerns in Forensics within the adult, juvenile, civil, and family domains. Forensic psychologists provide advice to legislators, judges, correctional officers, lawyers, and the police. They are called upon, for example, to serve as an expert witness, diagnose and treat incarcerated and probationed offenders, and screen and evaluate personnel in the law enforcement and judicial systems. Forensics encompasses a wide range of academic orientation. Synonyms for Forensic psychologists include criminal psychologist,

The challenges and opportunities of using forensic science in television are not new to the development of visual media. In fact, the origin of modern crime fiction is closely connected to the expansion of forensic science. Forensic techniques started being developed in the nineteenth century including; fingerprints, mug shots, crime photography, lie detectors, forensic profiling, and forensic pathology (Kirby, 2012). Forensic science is the utilization of science in both criminal and civil

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The process of inferring the personality characteristics of individuals responsible for committing criminal acts has commonly been referred to as criminal profiling. (Turvey) Criminal profiling can also be referred to as, behavioral profiling because when a profiler creates a profile they refer to the behavior of the offender. The general term criminal profiling can also be referred to as crime scene profiling, criminal personality profiling, offender profiling, psychological profiling and criminal investigative analysis. All the terms listed above are used inconsistently and interchangeably. Modern criminal profiling is owing to a diverse history grounded in the study of criminal behavior (criminology), the study of mental illness