Chapter 1: Introduction Flashcards
What is forensic science?
Forensic science describes the science of associating people, places, and things involved in criminal activities. The scientific disciplines assist in investigating and adjudicating criminal and civil cases.
How is forensic science different from other sciences, like biology and physics?
Forensic as a science is science applied to public or legal concerns. These scientists’ work involves answering questions for the courts through reports and testimony.
What does the word forensic mean?
Public
Name four disciplines within the forensic sciences.
Four disciplines within forensic science include toxicology, serology/biology, forensic pathology, explosives.
What are the two kinds of forensic laboratories?
The two kinds of forensic laboratories are a) public and b) private.
Private forensic laboratories serve a niche; many today only are devoted to DNA analysis. They will usually accept evidence from private citizens.
Public forensic laboratories are financed by the government and don’t usually take evidence from private citizens.
What is the main difference between these two types of forensic laboratories?
The main difference is that private labs often will accept evidence from private citizens, whereas public laboratories do not.
Name three federal agencies that have forensic science laboratories.
The Department of Justice - FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and the US Postal Service.
What is a chain of custody?
The chain of custody is documentation that states who had what items of evidence and when. It begins at the crime scene when the evidence is collected.
Who accredits forensic science laboratories?
There is no mandatory accreditation process for the nation’s forensic science laboratories.
Who was Will West?
Will West was a man wrongly accused and admitted to prison, because back at that time they used anthropometry or Bertillonage, which was taking measurements. Will West was wrongly accused because there was a man with the same name and the same measurements.
What is FORESIGHT?
The FORESIGHT Project consists of volunteer laboratories in local, state, and national jurisdictions across North America submit standardized business measures for analysis, and this provides a comparison between laboratories effectiveness. Labs can now self-evaluate their performance against their peers and allocate resources to the best result.
What is ASTM?
ASTM stands for American Society for Testing and Materials, International. They publish voluntary consensus standards for a wide variety of sciences, including forensic science. Agencies independently choose to adhere to them. The standards are written through a consensus process, meaning that everyone on the subcommittee, committee, and the society has had a chance to read, comment, and vote on the standard.
What is ISO 17025?
ISO 17025 is the standard for accreditation.
Who is a forensic anthropologist?
forensic anthropologists gather information from the bones and their recovery context to determine who died, how they died, and how long ago they died
Who was Bertillon?
Bertillon was a French criminologist who developed a method of recording physical features of a person in a way that would be unique to that person. His technique was used in the 18th and 19th centuries.
