Sue Black - 30-Second Forensic Science: 50 Key Topics Revealing Criminal Investigation from Behind the Scenes, Each Explained in Half a Minute

The 50 key topics revealing criminal investigation from behind the scenes

Editors

Sue Black & Niamh Nic Daid

Foreword by

Val McDermid

Contributors

Mike Allen, Sue Black

Christophe Champod

Niamh Nic Daid

Lorna Dawson, Zeno Geradts

Lucina Hackman

Adrian Linacre, Craig McKenzie

Paul Reedy, Chris Rynn

Diana Swales, Grant Thomson

Illustrator

Nicky Ackland-Snow

Val McDermid

Ive been writing crime fiction for over thirty years, and in that time Ive witnessed a revolution in the effectiveness of forensic science in bringing complex criminal cases to successful conclusions. But, like most people, what Ive also seen are hundreds of dramatic and literary versions of forensic science that are, frankly, science fiction. In TV shows and films and Im sorry to say far too many crime novels, the discipline is portrayed with sometimes shocking inaccuracy.

Succinct though it is, this informative guide will correct assumptions, explain the reality and share with you some of the extraordinary ways that science has been brought to the service of the courts. And I promise you, it will fill your head with wonder.

Although I write fiction, I try to bring authenticity to my work, and one of the ways I achieve this is by picking the brains of a diverse range of forensic scientists. Theyre invariably generous with their time and their expertise. I generally turn up with half a dozen questions and I leave with the answers to them all and a host of other things I never thought to ask. The scientists I work with are good communicators who know how to explain complex procedures in terms that lay people can understand. I once asked what a body would look like after 200 years in a peat bog. A leather bag with a face on, came the almost instantaneous reply.

There have been a lot of Wow! moments along the way for me in my encounters with the forensic investigators. Youll find some of them in the pages of this book the chemical luminol can detect blood in one part per million; blood leaves the body in the form of a ball; the dead insects plastered across your car can reveal exactly where youve been; and forensic botanists can match a seed pod on a suspects clothing to a specific tree.

But youll also find clear and concise explanations of the many disciplines whose practitioners work together to do their best to ensure that the questions thrown up by criminal acts are answered satisfactorily.

In death as in life, the human body is an amazing repository of information, and you couldnt have better guides to decoding its secrets than this pair of professors. Sue Black is a forensic anthropologist. She knows how to unravel your biological and your personal identity. She brings the dead home to their loved ones. Niamh Nic Daid is a forensic chemist; there is very little she doesnt know about fire, explosives and drugs. The combination of their two sets of skills might seem odd but what they have in common is a symbiotic understanding of the importance of the chemical and biological reactions they witness. What Sue and Niamh have done for us here is to crack open the door into their investigative world and I suspect its a door few of us will resist opening wider.

Dear reader, prepare to be amazed.

Blood patterns can be analysed to determine movements of the victim and their attacker. Any evidence gathered at the scene of a crime confirms the observation of Dr Edmond Locard, popularly known as the Sherlock Holmes of France, that every contact leaves a trace.

INTRODUCTION

Sue Black & Niamh Nic Daid

Collectively we have been embroiled in the business of forensic science for over half a century. We have sufficient longevity in our corporate memory to have witnessed trends come and go, reputations rise and fall, and watch the confidence in our science wax and wane. What never seems to diminish though, is the publics insatiable appetite for forensic science, the investigators zeal for its value and the courts reliance on its ability to help a jury reach a verdict that best serves justice.

It is always a challenge to look back into history to try to decide when a particular branch of science was first conceived or used to best effect. Many of our more traditional aspects of forensic science find themselves being formalized at the end of the nineteenth century fingerprints, handwriting examination, ballistics, biometrics and shoe patterns. Then in the mid-1980s the world of forensic science was turned on its head when Sir Alec Jeffreys discovered the variation that exists within our DNA and how that can be used to establish a level of certainty in identity. Virtually overnight, forensic science was split into two eras pre and post 1984 an interesting date in relation to George Orwells dystopian novel.

The great secret is that forensic science is a misnomer as there is no such single discipline. It is in reality a discipline of scientific disciplines and is a blanket term used to refer to those sciences utilized by the justice system and bound together in a singular desire to interpret and evaluate information within a framework of specific case circumstances. Within that classification the subjects of mechanical engineering and anatomy have as much right to be included as do the more readily recognized subjects of toxicology and DNA. Certain aspects of biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics appear in the courtrooms more frequently than others and as a result, they have collectively acquired the term forensic science. The overriding purpose of introducing science into the courtroom is to help the jury to reach a safe verdict in the pursuit of justice.

Remarkable and relatively recent advances in human molecular genetics mean that almost every individual in the world can be distinguished from another, even if they are allegedly identical twins.

Our first task for this book was to select 50 evidence types that would serve as an introduction to the subject. At a meeting within the Royal Society in London in 2015 we had asked our community of scientists and judges which evidence types they encountered most frequently within their daily work and they helpfully suggested a list of over 40. We have chosen to represent these in this book with the full realization that we could have doubled this number quite easily. This conveys the enormity and diversity of the relationship between science and the law as it applies not only to justice but also to liberty and, in parts of the world where the death penalty exists, forensic science can impact on a persons life.

This book is divided into seven chapters and each opens with a glossary of terms and includes the profile of a person who was or is preeminent in the field. The first chapter,