Dr. Edmond Locard: Determining The Cause Of Death

Dr. Edmond Locard is considered to be the father of forensics. He was a French criminalist who had created a principle called the Locard's exchange principle. Before he started working on his law career, he had began working as an assistant to Dr. Alexandre Lacassagne; he passed his bar exam in 1907. During World War I, Locard began to worked as a medical examiner with the French Secret Service. By examining the stains and damages on the soldiers and prisoners uniforms, he could determine the cause of death and where they had died. In 1910, Locard got an opportunity to form the first forensic laboratory at the Lyon police department where any evidence collected from crime scenes could be examined. The police department didn't recognize the laboratory until 1912, making this the first forensic science laboratory. Dr. Edmond Locard is well known for his theory, the Locard’s Exchange Principle. The theory states that when two objects come into contact with each other, an exchange with occur leaving evidence behind. …show more content…
Physical evidence can help solve crimes. Physical evidence can be used to fill in the gaps in witnesses stories. Evidence is used to draw conclusions, find the truth. It can also verify pieces of the stories that the witnesses tell. Physical evidence is what can make a case come full circle. Without evidence there is no backup to what the witnesses says. There also isn't anything that can prove what exactly happened at the scene without evidence. Without evidence it is very hard to solve a crime with just what the witnesses say; and even harder if there aren't any