Forensic Science Research Paper

A brief history of forensic science

The forensic science dates back to the antiquity, although the use of the forensic science in the antiquity was quite under-developed compared to the contemporary forensic science that uses advanced technologies, such as DNA analysis. The investigation of crimes in the past was based on eyewitness evidence and obvious facts, for example, when the offender was caught on the site of the crime. The development of the forensic science involved considerable challenges in the course of history since the progress of the forensic science came hand in hand with the progress of science. Early developments of the forensic science involved works of ancient Chinese scholar, Song Ci, conducted the study of crimes and facts that helped to investigate crimes. He wrote the book Washing Away of Wrongs, where he provided his views on the crime investigation and his recommendations concerning the development of crimes (Saks & Faigman, 2008). For example, he provided recommendations on determining the cause of the crime and he introduced elements of the study of corpses and autopsy to identify the cause of the crime.

However, the true breakthrough in the development of the forensic science occurred in the late 18th – 19th century, when the investigation of crimes has started to apply scientific methods and approaches (Porter, Daston, & Park, 2014). In this regard, scientific findings also contributed to the development of the forensic science. In such a way, the development of the forensic science involved the use of technological advances, including the analysis of footprints, chemical analysis of materials and items found on the crime scene, and other items. The further development of the forensic science involved the development of the anthropometry that helped to investigated physical features of individuals involved in crimes, including both victims and criminals. The development of anthropometry helped to investigate better how the crime was committed and the personality or physical features of the offender.

The development of fingerprint technology in the late 19th century became one of the major advancements in the development of the forensic science since fingerprints help to identify the personality of the offender and other persons related to the crime. The uniqueness of fingerprints makes them still relevant and they are still used in the investigation of crimes.

The 20th century brought a particularly significant progress of the forensic science. To put it more precisely, forensic science became the real science in the 20th century that used scientific approaches and the most advanced technologies for the investigation of crimes (Ruffell & McKinley, 2014). The development of the forensic science involved the creation of laboratories where forensic detectives could study items identified on the crime scene, perform autopsy and conduct other studies to determine all important facts about crimes, offenders, victims and related individuals. Contemporary forensic science helps to reconstruct crimes with the high degree of accuracy, while the use of advanced technologies, such as DNA analysis provides investigators with effective tools to identify offenders and get important information about offenders and victims.

The actions of the initial response to the crime scene and processing steps this would include

The initial response to the crime, such as the murder in Michigan, involves several important steps which may be applied to all crimes of that time, since homicide requires basic steps to conduct the investigation steadily, to identify evidence and to collect the factual information about the crime. The data collection starts with the recording of the site, where the body is found. Forensic detectives and investigators should take photos or make video recording of the site to record the position of the body, the exact location of the body and other items before any changes have been made by investigators. When the scene of the crime or the scene, where the body is found, is fully recorded, then investigators should collect items relevant to the crime and store those items because they may be used in the investigation and trial as proofs. The collected data will be processed further in the course of the investigation.  

The next important step is the autopsy of the body since the homicide involves the murder of a person. The autopsy is essential for the investigation of the crime because it reveals the key facts about the murder, including the time of the murder, the cause, the weapon used to kill the victim and other relevant facts. In some cases, the autopsy can reveal who has committed the crime and how he/she has done it. In such a way, the investigation of the crime involves the autopsy. In other words, the autopsy also contributes to the development of the adequate understanding of the crime. The analysis of results of the autopsy should define whether the case is homicide or not. For example, a person may commit a suicide and the autopsy can prove it.

The autopsy should be completed by the ballistic expertise or the expertise of the possible weapon that has to be used in the investigation of the crime. To put it more precisely, the investigation of the weapon used in the crime can help to determine the specific weapon used and the identification of the weapon can help to identify the criminal. To put it more precisely, the crime committed by the offender can help to reach positive effects in the investigation of the crime. The next step is the identification of the suspect on the ground of the evidence and facts collected in the course of the investigation of the crime. Upon determining, who the suspect is, investigators should initiate the search and seizure procedure and obtain the court authorization to conduct the search and seizure (McCrie, 2007). After that, investigators should conduct the search and seizure during which they can obtain more facts and items that may be used as evidence of the crime. Items identified in the course of the search and seizure contributes to the adequate investigation of the crime. The search and seizure reveals items, like clothes, weapon, and other items that help to prove the guilt of the suspect. On the contrary, the lack of such evidence raises the question whether there is the suspect has committed the crime at all.

As all the evidence and facts about the crime are collected, they have to be used in the course of the investigation to prepare the case for the trial. The evidence should be connected to the crime and reveal the obvious evidence of the crime committed by the offender.

Investigators should also take into consideration the Fourth Amendment issues that may arise and that should be addressed while investigating the crime and detaining the suspect. In this regard, investigators cannot just enter the apartment of the suspect and conduct the search and seizure because this would be the direct violation of the Fourth Amendment that grants all citizens with the privacy right protection. Instead, investigators should obtain the authorization of the search and seizure by the court to conduct it in a legally correct way. Investigators should respect the privacy right of the suspect and to conduct search and seizure in accordance with the Fourth Amendment.

Identify, collect, preserve, and analyze at least three different pieces of evidence detailed in the above crime scene

Taking pictures of the scene before any object is removed or transported from the scene. Pictures of the scene, where the body was found is important to make records of the scene and to reconstruct the scene, whenever it may be necessary, at any stage of the investigation of the crime. The collection of factual evidence, items found on the crime scene is also important and provides investigators with the information about how the body was delivered to the scene or probably the victim was killed on the scene, where the body was found.

The use of the dog and personal items of the victim to track, where the suspect moved or was moved to, helped to track the movement of the body and the place, where the victim of the crime in Michigan was killed. Tracking the movement or transportation of the body can help to reconstruct the sequence of events and to understand how the murderer acted and why. In such  a way, investigators do a sort of rewind to reconstruct events that preceded the finding of the deceased man in the trunk of the car.

The autopsy provides details of the homicide. The autopsy revealed details of how the victim has been killed. The distance the shot was made from could be also evaluated due to the autopsy and enhanced by the further ballistic expertise. In case of the murder in Michigan, the autopsy played a particularly important part because it provided details about the murder and the weapon used. In this regard, the ballistic expertise is the next step to identify the weapon which the murderer used to shoot the victim.

Therefore, there are three main pieces of evidence. First, there was the body of the victim, which was autopsied, studied and provided investigators with important information about the crime. The body contained evidence of the murder and helped to understand how the murder was committed, when and what the murderer did to the body.

Second, the bullets and ballistic analysis of findings comprise important pieces of evidence that allow identifying the specific weapon used to commit the murder. Bullets are used to identify the weapon used to kill the victim of the crime. The identification of the weapon and bullets is necessary to prove the guilt or innocence of the suspect in the court as well as to simply detain the suspect.

Third, the apartment, where the murder took place provided important pieces of information since the furniture, clothing and other items related to the crime and located in the apartment contribute to the successful investigation of the crime. The apartment provided factual evidence and more information that proved the guilt of the murderer. Evidence found in the apartment is evidence that contains specific items from the scene, where the murder was committed, before the body was put into the trunk of the car and transported to where it was found.

The analysis of the above mentioned three different pieces of evidence and what information can be gleaned from this type of forensic science

The autopsy provided investigators with a lot of important information to the extent that it revealed the general picture of the crime, including the time of the death, the cause of the death, the weapon used for the murder, and the way the murder was committed in. For example, the analysis of the body revealed the fact that the murder stood face to face with the victim and shot the victim from a couple of feet distance. Hence, the victim probably knew the murderer. Furthermore, the location of wounds on the body of the victim reveals the intent and purpose of the victim and gives insight into circumstances of the crime. The first wound is right into the face of the victim means that the murder stood close to the victim and was probably familiar to him. The murderer used the weapon to shoot his victim dead rather than to threaten or to injure because the first shot was directed right into the head of the victim that increased the chances of the lethal injury multiple times compared to shooting into the body of the victim or his lambs. The second wound proves that the murder’s actions were well-planned and had the intent to kill the victim that means that it was not a sort of self-defense, or accidental shooting, or just a shooting driven by anger with the intent to shoot the victim that could have been followed by remorse and regret or whatsoever. The second would was into the head of the victim to make sure that he is dead. This was a sort of ‘control’ shot to ensure that the victim is dead for sure. In such a way, the second wound is the evidence of the cold-blooded and planned crime with the evident intent to kill the victim.

Bullets provided investigators with important information about the weapon used. The investigators have managed to identify the type of weapon and the specific model of the weapon used. Moreover, the contemporary forensic science allows identifying exactly what weapon was used in the crime. Hence, investigators just needed to find the weapon and use it as evidence of the crime committed. In such a way, the ballistic analysis of bullets and wounds on the body of the victim allow investigators to identify the weapon used for the murder (Inman & Rudin, 2000). This information is very important because the murderer may still bear the weapon. Hence, being detained with the weapon on him, the offender would face the burden of evident proof of his guilt in the crime. Even if the offender attempts to get rid of the weapon, but the weapon is registered or is found after the crime, there may be other direct or indirect evidence that the murderer used the victim. For example, powder marks on hands and fingers of the murder or his fingerprints on the weapon could prove his guilt since it was him, who pulled the trigger and shot the victim dead.

The apartment provided a bunch of factual information about the crime, starting from clothing to details of the murder since the murder took place in the apartment and all things, such as pieces of furniture, walls, floors, clothes and other items provided investigators with the information relevant to the crime and became important factual evidence and proof of the guilt of the suspect in the crime. The crime scene provided investigators with information that allowed reconstructing the crime and proving the guilt of the suspect. Clothes, personal items of the victim and the murderer and other items found in the apartment helped the investigators to identify the murderer and to prove his guilt.

Summarize the significant findings for crime scene reconstruction as if presenting this case to the district attorney for possible prosecution

Important findings of the investigation of the crime involve the bullets that stuck in the head of the victim. This fact is very important because the way  the murderer shot the victim proves that he did it purposefully and the murder was carefully planned, while the ultimate goal of the offender was not to threaten or to do whatever else to the victim but to kill him. Otherwise, the murderer would not shot the second time from the close distance right into the head of the victim. Items found in the apartment are also important because they prove that the murder was committed in the specific apartment and it is the suspect, who has committed the murder.

References:

Crime 360 – Welcome to Homicide, 2015. Retrieved from http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2r9msu

Inman, K. and N. Rudin, (2000). Principles and Practice of Criminalistics: The Profession of Forensic Science. CRC Press

McCrie, R.D. (2007). “General Managerial Fundamentals and Competencies.” Security Operations Management. 1st ed. Amsterdam: Butterworth-Heinemann/Elsevier. 93. 

Porter, Roy; Lorraine Daston; Katharine Park. (2014). The Cambridge History of Science, Early Modern Science, 3, 805.

Pringle, JK; Ruffell, A; Jervis, JR; Donnelly, L; McKinley, J; Hansen, J; Morgan, R; Pirrie, D; Harrison, M (2012). “The use of geoscience methods for terrestrial forensic searches”. Earth Science Reviews. 114: 108–123. 

Ruffell, A; McKinley, J (2014). “Forensic geomorphology”. Geomorphology. 206: 14–22. 

Saks, M.J.; Faigman, D.L. (2008). “Failed forensics: how forensic science lost its way and how it might yet find it”. Annual Review of Law and Social Science. 4: 149–171. 

The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from

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freeessays.club (2016) The terms offer and acceptance [Online].
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"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

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"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

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