Overview of Forensics
Although millions of people watch the popular show CSI every week, many don’t realize that the same amazing technology and speedy results are not found in real crime labs. Forensic science and police work is much more complicated than what television shows make it out to be and doesn’t produce the instantaneous results that many seem to expect.
Forensics in Criminal Investigations
First, forensic science is the application of physics, biology, chemistry, engineering, and computer science in matters of law (McCartney). Forensic science helps investigators understand an enormous amount of what took place at the scene of the crime by analyzing evidence such as the composition of an unknown substance, if a person was under …show more content…
Fingerprints can help identify suspects, prove a person innocent, and help build cases in court. In most television crime shows, it is portrayed that as soon as a print gets put into the system it takes a matter of seconds and maybe a minute before a single sure result pops up on the screen with the face of the man or woman to whom the print belongs. However, this is not the case. Before a fingerprint can even get tested and verified there are a series of steps that have to be followed through first. A print cannot be just put into the computer and tested to see if it’s the one or not. An operator has to first carefully edit the image to remove any dust or dirt that may be on the fingerprint. Failure to do so can reduce the accuracy of the test by almost 30% …show more content…
The search would be for drugs such as opiates, marijuana, and alcohol. If something shows up in the test, then the sample goes through a more sophisticated test that uses a technique called mass spectroscopy, which can detect the substance by its mass and charge. It also allows the lab to detect smaller amounts of the substance. More complicated tests can detect exactly what the concentration of the substance is. Experts have to determine if the substance was taken in which dose, medicinal, toxic or lethal, in order to deduce if it is the cause of death
Although millions of people watch the popular show CSI every week, many don’t realize that the same amazing technology and speedy results are not found in real crime labs. Forensic science and police work is much more complicated than what television shows make it out to be and doesn’t produce the instantaneous results that many seem to expect.
Forensics in Criminal Investigations
First, forensic science is the application of physics, biology, chemistry, engineering, and computer science in matters of law (McCartney). Forensic science helps investigators understand an enormous amount of what took place at the scene of the crime by analyzing evidence such as the composition of an unknown substance, if a person was under …show more content…
Fingerprints can help identify suspects, prove a person innocent, and help build cases in court. In most television crime shows, it is portrayed that as soon as a print gets put into the system it takes a matter of seconds and maybe a minute before a single sure result pops up on the screen with the face of the man or woman to whom the print belongs. However, this is not the case. Before a fingerprint can even get tested and verified there are a series of steps that have to be followed through first. A print cannot be just put into the computer and tested to see if it’s the one or not. An operator has to first carefully edit the image to remove any dust or dirt that may be on the fingerprint. Failure to do so can reduce the accuracy of the test by almost 30% …show more content…
The search would be for drugs such as opiates, marijuana, and alcohol. If something shows up in the test, then the sample goes through a more sophisticated test that uses a technique called mass spectroscopy, which can detect the substance by its mass and charge. It also allows the lab to detect smaller amounts of the substance. More complicated tests can detect exactly what the concentration of the substance is. Experts have to determine if the substance was taken in which dose, medicinal, toxic or lethal, in order to deduce if it is the cause of death