Anth 245 1st Edition Lecture 1 Outline of Last Lecture I. Introduction to course syllabus Outline of Current Lecture II. Definitions of a few key termsIII. Brief history of forensic scienceIV. Key players in the field and its historyCurrent LectureForensic Science • Application of science to criminal and civil law • Science in the service of the law ◦ Applying what we know to serve society Science = way to study the natural world • Natural world - earth, gravity, planets, bones, rocks, (includes things from naturally occurring materials...such as plastic) • Science is multidisciplinary History of forensic science • Use of teeth to identify an individual dates to the 1st century AD: Roman Empire to identify the cut-off head of a mistress • In 1776, ID of soldier at Bunker Hill - identified by dentures made by Paul Revere • Forensic toxicology: 1814 • First system of identification: 1879 (specific measurements of height and so on) • Fingerprints used to sign legal documents in China as far back as 1,000 BC ◦ By 1880 - recognized as useful for criminal investigations especially in the U.S. • First publication on criminal investigation 1893 • Mid 1950s - DNA discovered/used • Recognition of blood groups in 1901; procedure to detect blood group developed in 1915 History of forensic science, key players: These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle • Sherlock Holmes • A study in scarlet (1887) • Mathieu Orfila (1787-1853) father of forensic toxicology ◦ Morgue in NYC ◦ Published paper on poison detection ◦ Techniques for detecting arsenic • Alphonse Bertillon (1853-1914) ◦ Father of criminal identification ◦ Helped develop anthropometry (system for measurements of people) t ▪ There are still people that do this for biology purposes, or for people to design things for the dimensions of human body ◦ Standardization of the mug shot • Francis Galton (1822-1911) - Charles Darwin's cousin ◦ Galton wrote a book called Finger Prints (1892) ◦ First statistical proof of uniqueness of each print ◦ Eugenics - idea that you should encourage people with favorable characteristics to breed- these people were mostly rich white males saying that gay or mentally ill people should not be allowed to mate which lead to forcible sterilizations ▪ At the turn of the century (1929) in U.S. these ideas lost traction (unfortunately, not so in Germany) • Hans Gross (1847-1915) ◦ Father of criminal investigation ◦ Wrote a book called Criminal Investigation (1893) ◦ Book was about how forensic science could aid investigation ◦ Founded institute of criminalistics at University of Graz (Austria) • Edmond Locard (1877-1966) ◦ "Sherlock Holmes of France" ◦ Showed how Gross principals could be applied ◦ Founded an institute of criminalistics, University of Lyons ◦ Locard's exchange principle Exchange of materials between two objects in contact with each
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