FRSC 1011H Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Karl Landsteiner, Alphonse Bertillon, Petrographic Microscope
2 May 2018
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Chapter One
● Laws are always being changed to decrease the crime rate.
● Forensic science applies the knowledge of technology of science to the definition
and enforcement of such laws.
● Forensic science is the application of science to the criminal and civil laws
that are enforced by police agencies in a criminal Justice system.
● Forensic scientist have a unique role in the criminal Justice system the role is to
supply accurate and objective information about the events that took place at the
crime scene.
● “Forensic science” is just an umbrella term.
● One of the earliest records of applying forensics to solve a case come from 3rd
century china. Proved the woman's husband was dead before the fire.
● Scientific approach at really early times was not a rule it was rather exception.
● First record about fingerprinting was in 1686 by Marcello Malpighi
● The first scientific treatises on forensic science began to appear in 1798.
● In 1775, Carl Wilhelm devised the first successful test for detecting the poison
arsenic in the corpses.
● 1814, Orfila published the first scientific treatise on the detection of poisons and
their effects on animals.
● Advances that happened in the mid 1800s
○ 1828: invention of the polarizing microscope
○ 1853: The first microcrystalline test for hemoglobin
○ 1863: the first presumptive test of blood
● 1839 Toxicological evidence was first used in a trail.
● During the 1850s and 1860s, the new science of photography was also used in
forensics to record images of prisoners and crime scenes.
● Late nineteenth century, public officials were beginning to apply knowledge from
virtually all scientific disciplines to the study of crime.
● Bertillon’s system, which he dubbed “anthropometry”, was a procedure that
involved taking a series of body measurements as a mean of distinguishing one
individual from another.
○ Bertillon’s “father of criminal identification”
● Thomas Taylor had suggested that fingerprints could be used as a means of
identifications.
● Francis Henry Galten did the first definitive study on fingerprints.
● In 1901, De. Karl Landsteiner discovered that blood can be grouped into different
blood types.
● Around 1915 Albert S, Osborn was conducting pioneering work in document
examination.
● Edmond Locard is the founder of workable crime labs.
● Locard believed that every criminal can be connected to a crime with whatever is
left at the crime scene.
● In the twentieth century microscopes came into widespread.
● Colonel Calvin Goddard refined the techniques of firearm examination by using
the comparison microscope. Now we can determine whether a particular gun has
fired a bullet.
● Locard’s exchange principle;
○ Whenever two objects come into contact with one another, materials are
exchanged between them.
● Sir Alec Jeffreys developed the first DNA profiling test in 1984 and used it 2
years later to solve a murder.
● Review from textbook on these sections
○ Forensic science is the applications of science to criminal and civil laws
that are enforced by police agencies in a criminal justice system.
○ The first system of personal identification was called “anthropometry”. It
distinguished one individual from another based on a series of bodily
measurements.
○ Forensics owes its origins to individuals such as Bertillon, Galton, Lattes,
Goddard, Osborn, and Locard, who developed the principles and
techniques needed to identify and compare physical evidence.
● The oldest forensic lab is in LA and was created in 1923.
● FBI lab is the largest in the world,
● Four major federal crime laboratories
○ F. B.I
Document Summary
Laws are always being changed to decrease the crime rate. Forensic science applies the knowledge of technology of science to the definition and enforcement of such laws. Forensic science is the application of science to the criminal and civil laws that are enforced by police agencies in a criminal justice system. Forensic scientist have a unique role in the criminal justice system the role is to supply accurate and objective information about the events that took place at the crime scene. Forensic science is just an umbrella term. One of the earliest records of applying forensics to solve a case come from 3rd century china. Proved the woman"s husband was dead before the fire. Scientific approach at really early times was not a rule it was rather exception. First record about fingerprinting was in 1686 by marcello malpighi. The first scientific treatises on forensic science began to appear in 1798.
