(Page 7 ch1) One contribution is the journal he has written is about the improved methods of scientific crime detection and this still reports today. The second contribution is his treatise written about scientific disciplines in the field of criminal investigations. (Page 8 ch 1) Karl Landsteiner figured out how to divide blood into groups and today there are four different groups A,B,AB,O. Then Leone Lattes takes this information and puts it to work with figuring out the types of blood with dried blood. (pg10 ch1) The first person to apply the principals of forensic science was Edmond Locard, he began in the attic of the Lyons police department.
In the film, Pandora’s Box, we are introduced to James Watson. Watson is the very candid and controversial co-founder of the shape of DNA. Watson won a Nobel Prize for his work on DNA, and later went on to spearhead the mapping of the human genome. In 2000, the rough draft for sequencing of the human genome was complete. In 2003, it was believed we had what was considered the complete mapping.
The forensic pathologist, Benerd Spilsbury, who claimed the tissue was a scar, helped prosecutors gain over 250 convictions in murder trials. He was expected to give the goods to the Jury, and indeed he did. No one second-guessed it, especially since this was the first act of forensic science. 8) Do you think Crippen killed his wife? Why or why not?
I asked the police officer in charge of the case for fingerprints of the two male suspects, which he provided. These fingerprints were darker in appearance and clearer than the prints I had lifted at the crime scene. All prints were then scrutinized under a microscope for any obvious matches; I found similarities of prints from one of the suspects as the prints showed a whorl pattern with short ridges. Of the suspects, exhibit B, prints were present on the hammer and on the finger sample he had given the police officer. There was a match as both prints showed short ridges.
The first solid piece of evidence that delineates Sheppard’s innocence is the DNA evidence and blood spatter analysis that was found at the crime scene. The way Marilyn Sheppard was murdered, blood must have been spattered all over the room as it had been. If Sam Sheppard were the killer, blood should have been spattered all over Sheppard. However only a blood stain was found on his pants and no where else. DNA analysis of the blood found at the crime scene was determined to be neither Marilyn’s nor Sam’s blood, thus signifying that it indeed belonged to the killer.
The body was so damaged that identification of the body was impossible. Police officials reasoned that the child had been abandoned in a dumpster at birth, probably by the mother. Unable to determine the baby’s identity, the police decided to see if there were any women who had been pregnant and now were not pregnant but did not have a baby. The first step in this process was to identify all the women who have been pregnant at the appropriate time in this same town of 10,000 residents. Police subpoenaed the records of Planned Parenthood to obtain the names of women who had received positive results on pregnancy tests in the previous nine months.
Such evidence is given primary status in many, if not all, criminal trials today ranging from crimes of murder to mere vandalism. Yet, despite the ‘heavyweight’ support given to the idea that forensic evidence is irrefutable it is argued by some that forensic science evidence alone should not convict. Arguably the Twentieth Century saw the explosion of science, not only in the area of forensic evidence but generally. Methods and techniques deployed in the gathering of evidence for conviction or acquittal changed at a dramatic pace and as each and every scientific discovery was made an application in Forensic Science was close behind. The gathering of forensic evidence at a crime scene is now paramount.
Explain why the work of Robert Koch was so Important? (7 Marks) Koch discovered and developed what Pasteur did not. Using Germ theory, he discovered the germ that caused Anthrax, a disease that affected animals as well as people. This was a phenomenal breakthrough as this was the first time that a specific germ had been identified, this then 100% proved Pasteur’s theory, which then left a wide door open for many more scientists to investigate and discover other specific bacterial germs that were damaging to the human body. The reason this makes Koch so important is because if he hadn’t investigated Anthrax using Pasteur’s theory, the germ theory may never have caught on leaving people to believe false theories for much longer.
What physical evidence was related to the case? The main physical evidence used to solve this case was the biological DNA evidence from the vaginal swabs from the three elderly women who had been raped. (Saferstein, R. 2009) 4. What was the outcome of the case? In April, 2001 convicted-offender database got what was called a “cold-hit” because the perpetrator of the crime had been convicted of shooting at a residence that was occupied, which in North Carolina requires that the persons DNA be placed in the criminal database.
Forensics The 1900's and 2000's Forensics is the use of science to determine the truth about an occurrence or an object. Forensics is most often applied to criminal events, artifacts and causes of illness or death and used to present criminal court cases. Because people have always been fascinated by mysteries, forensics has had a universal appeal across its extended history and come a long way since its origins in ancient Rome. Etymology The word forensics comes from the Latin word forensis, which means of or before a forum. In ancient Rome, when an individual was charged with a crime, he and his accuser were brought before a public forum.