Harris - Crime fighting: the impact of science and technology

E-book published in 2012 by Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc., in association with Arcturus Publishing Limited, 26/27 Bickels Yard, 151-153 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3HA. Britannica, Encyclopdia Britannica, and the Thistle logo are registered trademarks of Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Harris, Nathaniel, 1937
Crime fighting : the impact of science and technology / by Nathaniel Harris.
p. cm. (Pros and cons)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN: 978-1-61535-609-6 (e-book)
1. Criminal investigationJuvenile literature. I. Title.
HV8073.8.H37 2010
363.25dc22

2009012433

This North American edition published in 2010 by Gareth Stevens Publishing under license from Arcturus Publishing Limited.
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Copyright 2009 Arcturus Publishing Limited
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Series Concept: Alex Woolf
Editor and Picture Researcher: Nicola Barber
Cover Design: Phipps Design
Consultant: Miles Hudson

Picture Credits: Corbis: 8 (Brooks Kraft), 11 (Bettmann), 12 (Digital Art), 13 (Jerry McCrea/The Star Ledger), 16 (Andy Rain/epa), 19 (Alessia Pierdomenico/Reuters), 30 (Yahya Arhab/epa), 32 (Narendra Shrestha/epa), 46 (Gideon Mendel), 48 (Jerome Sessini); Rex Features: 52 (Giles Moberly/PYMCA); Science Photo Library: Cover (Pasieka), 5 (Philippe Psaila), 22 (George Steinmetz), 29 (Photo Researchers), 35 (Michael Donne, University of Manchester), 36 (Mauro Fermariello), 39 (Michel Viard, Peter Arnold, Inc.), 43 (Dr. Jurgen Scriba), 44 (Tek Image), 50 (Ted Kinsman), 55 (Andrew Brookes, National Physical Laboratory), 59 (Charles D. Winters); Shutterstock: 7 (Dusan Po), 15 (Mikael Damkier), 21 (Pres Panayotov), 25 (Gary Blakeley), 26 (Gary Yim), 41 (Benjaminet), 57 (Yuyangc).

Cover: A computer-generated image of a glowing handprint shows its individual details. Just as fingerprints are unique to each person, palm prints can also be used to link possible suspects to crime scenes.

Every attempt has been made to clear copyright. Should there be any inadvertent omission, please apply to the copyright holder for rectification.

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CHAPTER 1
Science and Crime

CHAPTER 2
The Computer Age

CHAPTER 3
Watching and Listening

CHAPTER 4
Global Threats

CHAPTER 5
Questions of Identity

CHAPTER 6
In the Line of Duty

CHAPTER 7
The Future of Crime Fighting

On August 4, 1892, 32-year-old Lizzie Borden found her father and stepmother dead in the family home at Fall River, Massachusetts. An apparently frenzied attacker had smashed their heads with repeated ax blows. The Bordens family had been unhappy, and much of the evidence pointed to Lizzie as the murderer. She was put on trial, but the jury was not quite convinced of her guilt and found her innocent.

The Borden case became one of the United States most famous unsolved murders. Today, scientific investigators would almost certainly find the conclusive evidence needed to prove or disprove Lizzies guilt. That might, for example, take the form of microscopic spots of blood, or near-invisible fibers that could be shown to have come from an intruders clothing if there was an intruder.

Science-based techniques and tools have since transformed the process of criminal investigation. Scientific techniques have not, however, replaced traditional police work, which remains vital. Police officers question witnesses and suspects, take statements, conduct door-to-door investigations, and appeal to the public for information. Police detectives examine what the evidence means, search for motives, and follow leads until they identify and arrest the suspected criminals.

Blood Will Tell

Violent crimes generally leave behind a trail of blood. Crime investigators can learn much from the shapes of blood drops, splashes, and stains. They are often able to reconstruct what happened at the crime scene, including the victims movements after being struck, or the direction from which he or she was wounded. Every human being has blood that belongs to one of four types. That fact can help prove a persons guilt or innocence. If your blood belongs to a different blood type from that of a wanted criminal, you cannot be that person.

At a crime scene, investigators collect evidence, which is bagged and labeled. The investigators wear protective clean suits that protect them from harmful substances and ensure they do not contaminate the scene or its evidence.

Until the 1950s, detectives took the leading role in investigating crime scenes. The crime scene is the place where a crime has been committed, or any place where useful evidence is discovered. The crime scene is closed off and the first people to enter it are experts wearing white clean suits, including gloves, masks, and boots. Those uniforms and gear protect experts from on-site infections. The suits also ensure that nothing from the experts own bodies becomes mixed with evidence. Without such precautions, biological material from an investigator might contaminate the crime scene, or taint useful evidence from it. Contaminated evidence may be rejected in court. Expert photographers record every aspect of the crime scene before investigators may touch anything. Investigators then search for evidence, placing samples of anything movable, such as hair strands or cloth fibers, into bags that are carefully sealed and labeled.

If there is a body at the crime scene, a pathologist, or medical examiner, will examine it before it is removed. A pathologist is an expert in identifying cause of death. He or she detects and analyzes diseases and wounds. Later, he or she will perform a post-mortem examination, or autopsy. That is a surgical examination of a dead body to determine how and when the person died, the nature of his or her injuries, and what kind of weapon wounded him or her. Sometimes the pathologist can determine specific details, such as the likely height and build of the attacker.

Back in the laboratory, experts use a variety of scientific resources to extract information from evidence found at the scene. Specialists test samples of blood, hair, and body fluids. Those may prove decisive in identifying who was present at the time. Minute fibers, soil quality, seeds, or even pollen grains may also offer important clues. All substances from the crime scene are analyzed and identified.