The duality of Forensics
Forensic science is the application of natural science to matters involving the law. Forensic science consists of many branches, and though they all differ, they relate in the aspect of their attempts to find out the truth in a criminal investigation, But just how effective and reliable is forensic science? And if effective, is it for better or worse? Of course, opinions on this vary greatly. Here’s mine.
The good
It can be accurately claimed that forensic science does the world a lot of good. In criminal justice, when evidence is available, forensic scientists and their work may: Help to determine if, when and how a crime has been committed,determine what sequence of events occurred at a crime scene, Identify victims …show more content…
For starters, many of the methods used to actually incriminate someone are not scientific at all. Polygraphs, Eye witness testimony, Fingerprint,bite mark and hair strand analysis are just a few examples. The worst part is, many people do think these methods are reliable, and these alone have been the basis of many criminal cases, have put many innocent people in jail, had them killed, or in the line of fire of being accused of a crime, which alone can ruin someone’s life. “What exactly makes these methods unreliable?”, you may ask. Well, Polygraphs are the most known to be unreliable, and this is because the test measures heart rate/blood pressure, respiration, and skin conductivity, NOT specifically if an individual is actually lying, as there is no way to prove that. though these can be indication of a lie, there are multiple ways of passing a lie detector test, even if you’re lying your way through. Eyewitness testimony is unreliable because the human memory is not infallible. Not only that, but cops unknowingly change victim’s memories all the time. Fingerprint analysis isn’t an exact science whatsoever. There is no special computer to scan fingerprints like there is on T.V., which means an individual looks over the prints, and as we all know, human error is extremely common. Another problem with fingerprint analysis is the claim that“no
Forensic science is the application of natural science to matters involving the law. Forensic science consists of many branches, and though they all differ, they relate in the aspect of their attempts to find out the truth in a criminal investigation, But just how effective and reliable is forensic science? And if effective, is it for better or worse? Of course, opinions on this vary greatly. Here’s mine.
The good
It can be accurately claimed that forensic science does the world a lot of good. In criminal justice, when evidence is available, forensic scientists and their work may: Help to determine if, when and how a crime has been committed,determine what sequence of events occurred at a crime scene, Identify victims …show more content…
For starters, many of the methods used to actually incriminate someone are not scientific at all. Polygraphs, Eye witness testimony, Fingerprint,bite mark and hair strand analysis are just a few examples. The worst part is, many people do think these methods are reliable, and these alone have been the basis of many criminal cases, have put many innocent people in jail, had them killed, or in the line of fire of being accused of a crime, which alone can ruin someone’s life. “What exactly makes these methods unreliable?”, you may ask. Well, Polygraphs are the most known to be unreliable, and this is because the test measures heart rate/blood pressure, respiration, and skin conductivity, NOT specifically if an individual is actually lying, as there is no way to prove that. though these can be indication of a lie, there are multiple ways of passing a lie detector test, even if you’re lying your way through. Eyewitness testimony is unreliable because the human memory is not infallible. Not only that, but cops unknowingly change victim’s memories all the time. Fingerprint analysis isn’t an exact science whatsoever. There is no special computer to scan fingerprints like there is on T.V., which means an individual looks over the prints, and as we all know, human error is extremely common. Another problem with fingerprint analysis is the claim that“no