The Multitopic Blog

Forensic science is the application of science to law. All cases involving criminal charges generally entail some aspect of forensic science and scientific evidence. It is used and relied upon by society to convict the guilty and protect or exonerate the innocent. Criminalistics is the branch of criminal law that utilizes known laboratory techniques and procedures to solve crimes.

Probability, as will be noted throughout this article, is the central and controlling idea in the utilization of forensic science in the modern criminal trial. Historically, scholars have cautioned against ascribing more weight to statements grounded in probability assessments than they deserve. More often than not, proof of fact statements, particularly in science-based litigation, are couched in terms of probabilities. The economist John Maynard Keynes, among a host of others, alerts us to the continuing problem of society, especially in litigation, of carelessly accepting a certain level of proof of a probability that certain facts are true as proof that they are true: “It has been pointed out already that no knowledge of probabilities, less in degree than certainty, helps us to know what conclusions are true, and that there is no direct relation between the truth of a proposition and its probability. Probability begins and ends with probability.”

The important methodologies in Forensic Sciece are:

Hair Analysis

Fiber Analysis

Glass Fragments and Paint Chips Analyses

Soil Analysis

Ballistics and Toolmarks

Fingerprints

Footwear

Tire Impressions

Blood Spatter Analysis

DNA Analysis

Forensic Anthropology

Forensic Archeology

Forensic Pathology

Forensic Odontology

Questioned Document Analysis

Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology

The central ingredient in the utilization of the findings of the forensic sciences is the crime scene itself. The word crime scene in ambit is wide enough to include any area or space, but for the purposes of forensics ithas been limited in ambit to the scene of a violent crime, for example murder or sexual assault or arson etc. The  focus of forensic scientists is the recognition and collection of materials at a crime scene. It is also the central source and reference point for analysis of the many legal issues that are involved directly or indirectly in the field of forensic evidence. 

The analysis of materials found at the crime scene may through close examination by forensic scientists, yield valuable information and lead to an arrest and successful prosecution of the perpetrator. The admission of information found at a crime scene depends majorly on the rules of evidence of the court at which the evidence has been presented. 

Summing up, there are four aspects to proper utilization of forensic science:

Recognition – The ability to understand what could be present at the scene.

Collection Procedures – Understanding and utilizing the most current thinking on the subject of collection procedures.

Testing Procedures – Understanding and utilizing the most current thinking on the subject of forensic laboratory testing protocols.

Trial Evidence Requirements – Witness and exhibit foundation requirements and the applicability of relevancy under the rules of evidence.