1. Introduction to Forensic Science

2. “…When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either cease being mistaken, or cease being honest.” ~ Thomas Paine ( )

3. bjectives
Understanding the role of a forensic scientists versus crime scene investigator
Types of forensic disciplines
Basic terminology

4. What is Forensic Science?
Application of science to matters involving the public or applications of unattended or suspicious death.
Forensic Scientist: a scientist who analyzes evidence generated by criminal or civil offenses and who can offer expert testimony concerning the evidence in court of law
Difference btw FS and Crime Scene Investigator?
Investigators are usually trained police officers responsible for identification, collection, and preservation of evidence.

5. Criminalistics Paul Kirk
Criminalistics: Analysis of physical evidence generated from crime scenes; includes pattern sciences areas of forensic evidence.
Paul Leland Kirk (May 9, 1902 – June 5, 1970[1][2]) was a chemist, forensic scientist and participant in the Manhattan Project who was specialized in microscopy. He also investigated the bedroom in which Sam Sheppard supposedly murdered his wife and provided the key blood spatter evidence that led to his acquittal in a retrial over 12 years after the murder. The highest honor one can receive in the criminalistics section of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences carries Kirk's name.

6. Criminology
Develops theories for explaining crime as a social phenomenon.
“criminal minds”

7. Locard’s Exchange Principle
French Doctor
The perpetrator of a crime will bring something into the crime scene and leave with something from it, and both can be used as forensic evidence.
“Wherever he steps, whatever he touches, whatever he leaves, even unconsciously, will serve as a silent witness against him. Not only his fingerprints or his footprints, but his hair, the fibers from his clothes, the glass he breaks, the tool mark he leaves, the paint he scratches, the blood or semen he deposits or collects. All of these and more, bear mute witness against him. This is evidence that does not forget. It is not confused by the excitement of the moment. It is not absent because human witnesses are. It is factual evidence. Physical evidence cannot be wrong, it cannot perjure itself, it cannot be wholly absent. Only human failure to find it, study and understand it, can diminish its value.”

9. Types of Forensic Disciplines
Any science can be a forensic discipline if it is involved in a civil or criminal context.
Anthropology
Engineering
Behavioral Sciences
Computer/Digital
Taphonomy
Accounting
Physics
Common disciplines:
Odontology
Entomology
Botany
Pathology
Toxicology
Chemistry
Biology

10. Common Acronyms AAFS: American Academy of Forensic Sciences
BATF: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
CSI
DEA: Drug Enforcement Agency
FBI
FWS: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
IRS
TSA
USSS: United States Secret Service

11. History 700s Fingerprints 1810 1835 Question Doc Bullet Comparison
1248
His Duan Yu
1784
Physical Matching
1810
Question Doc
1835
Bullet Comparison
1836
Toxicology
Blood Groups
Don’t need to memorize the history, you just need to understand there IS one. It’s complex, and has developed over time.

12. 1851
Vegetable Poison
1863
Hydrogen Peroxide
1864
Photography
1879
Study of Hair
1880
Fingerprints/Crime
1889
Bullet to a Gun Barrel
1892
Latin American
1900
Blood Groups