Forensics Has Become A Vital Part Of Court Procedures
There are few people who have not heard of forensics, but many who may be unsure of what it is. In essence, forensics is a collection of sciences that are applied in a legal context to ascertain the exact events at any given scene. This is normally a crime scene, but not always. The ability to do this successfully has been made possible because of significant technological advances in science and technology, including the evolution of fingerprinting and DNA testing. There is no doubt that many crimes have been solved by the use of one or more of the many areas of this particular science. However, it is important to state that it isn't infallible and evidence can still be maniupulated for nefarious reasons.
The development of forensic science has been gradual but continuous since the early years of the twentieth century, although there had been isolated incidents of what could be described as forensic science used in trials in previous centuries. Examples of this include the matching of newspaper found in a pistol with newspaper found on a murder suspect, the imprint of corduroy material in damp earth near to a murder scene, and even the earliest examples of fingerprinting.
The use of forensic science in a legal setting is now firmly established, following the successes of those early examples, and the developments which have taken place ever since. Fingerprinting has become especially significant as a way of determining beyond doubt that someone was in a certain place at a certain time. There is no doubt that many infamous crimes from the years before fingerprinting became commonplace, including the Jack The Ripper murders that would probably have been solved had this technology been available at the time.
This is not to say that forensic science is automatically immune to controversy. The exhibits which are tested still need to be transported to the laboratory in such a way as to avoid contamination taking place, either deliberately or inadvertently. It is not enough to convince a jury that a certain substance is on a certain piece of material when it is tested, you need to convince them of how it got there in the first place. Any time a piece of evidence is stored by the police with no independent witnesses, it opens up the possibility of questioning as to what happens to it while it is in police care.
The science of forensics and all its related branches is expanding constantly due to new technology. This is not just technology used in the science itself, but technology in general. For example, there is now a branch of forensic science which deals with digital media and the extraction of data from stored files. A similar discipline exists in the analysis of cell phones, to try to extract information from erased call lists and stored numbers. All of these branches are contained within the overall science of forensics.
Gareth Williams: Met orders forensic review - The Guardian
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