Carbaugh Samuel - Forensics: uncover the science and technology of crime scene investigation

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July 2013
eISBN: 978-1-61930-186-3

Illustrations by Samuel
Educational Consultant, Marla Conn

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Contents

TIMELINE

44 BCE	Antistius, a Roman physician, performs the first recorded autopsy on Julius Caesar.
700 CE	The Chinese use fingerprints to establish the identity of documents and clay sculptures.
1149	King Richard of England introduces the idea of a coroner to investigate questionable deaths.
1248	The first written account of forensic science being used to solve crimes is recorded in the book Xi Juan Ji Lu (Collected Cases of Injustice Rectified) by Song Ci, a judge in the Chinese criminal court.
1540s	Dr. Ambroise Par, a French army surgeon, systematically studies the effect of violent death on internal organs. His work is the beginning of modern forensic pathology.
1784	The first case of physical matching occurs in England when John Toms is tried and convicted of murdering Edward Culshaw with a pistol. A pistol wadcrushed paper used to secure gunpowder and balls in a pistols muzzlethat is found in Culshaws head wound matches perfectly with a torn newspaper in Tomss possession.
1820s	French detective Eugne Franois Vidocq studies bullets to identify murder weapons and makes plaster casts of shoe impressions to solve crimes.
1835	Sir Henry Goddard of Londons Scotland Yard police uses physical analysis to match a bullet to a gun.
1836	Scottish chemist James Marsh develops a chemical test to detect the presence of arsenic, which is used in a murder trial.
1864	Odelbrecht advocates the use of photography to identify criminals and document evidence at crime scenes.
1891	Dr. Juan Vucetich of Argentina creates the first fingerprint classification system, which is still used in Spanish-speaking countries.
1892	Sir Francis Galton publishes Finger Prints, the first book on the subject. He develops pattern types and demonstrates that no two prints are identical.

THE HISTORY OF FORENSICS

1896	Sir Edward Richard Henry from England develops a fingerprint classification system that becomes standard in English-speaking countries.
1910	Dr. Edmond Locard founds the first laboratory in France dedicated to criminal investigation. He later becomes famous for his principle, Every contact leaves a trace.
1920s	Dr. Calvin Goddard, a physician and expert in firearms identification, uses the comparison microscope to identify which bullets came from which shell casings.
1924	August Vollmer, chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, establishes the first American police crime laboratory.
1930	Karl Landsteiner wins the Nobel Prize for classifying human blood into groups A, B, AB, and O.
1933	The Federal Bureau of Investigations crime lab is created.
1937	Luminol is found to react with the hemoglobin in blood and produce a bluish glow.
1953	James Watson and Francis Crick discover the DNA double helix, which will become the basis for DNA fingerprinting in forensic science.
1970	The FBI introduces the beginnings of the Automated Fingerprint Identification System.
1984	Sir Alec Jeffreys of England develops the first DNA fingerprinting tests for use in a criminal case.
1990s	The FBI starts to build its Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), the first computerized nationwide system for matching DNA samples from suspects with those collected from crime scenes. It will become the largest DNA data bank in the world.
2012	Digital image enhancements allow investigators to better match details such as fingerprints, shoe prints, and bite marks.
2012	New DNA technology allows for forensic testing of older and smaller samples.

Introduction
Crack the Case

How do police and investigators solve crimes?