Forensic Science and Penal Code

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Introduction   
Forensic science is the application of science to criminal and civil laws, mainly on the criminal side during criminal investigation, as governed by the legal standards of admissible evidence and criminal procedure.  Forensic scientists collect, preserve, and analyze scientific evidence during the course of an investigation. While some forensic scientists travel to the scene of the crime to collect the evidence themselves, others occupy a laboratory role, performing analysis on objects brought to them by other individuals. In addition to their laboratory role, forensic scientists testify as expert witnesses in both criminal and civil cases and can work for either the prosecution or the defense. While any field could technically be forensic, certain sections have developed over time to encompass the majority of forensically related cases.[2] Forensic science is a combination of two different Latin words: forensic and science. The former, forensic, relates to a discussion or examination performed in public. Because trials in the ancient world were typically held in public, it carries a strong judicial connotation. The second is science, which is derived from the Latin word for ‘knowledge’ and is today closely tied to the scientific method, a systematic way of acquiring knowledge. Taken together, then, forensic science can be seen as the use of the scientific methods and processes in crime solving.

What is Forensic Science?
While investigating a homicide, Mike carefully dusts a window for fingerprints. As the black powder is spread across the glass, a faint fingerprint begins to appear. Mike carefully lifts the print and takes it back to the lab. When the fingerprint is entered into the computer, a possible match is identified, and the suspect is picked up for questioning. When the suspect is asked how his fingerprints could have ended up at the crime scene, he confesses to the murder. This is an example of using forensic science to solve a crime. The simplest definition of forensic science is any science used within the criminal justice system. While this definition may be simple, the field of forensic science is anything but simple. Crime scene investigators and lab technicians use specialized skills and tools to collect, analyze, and present evidence in order to solve a crime or successfully convict the offender. The increased use of scientific methods to collect and examine evidence has led to the closure of many criminal cases that could not be solved through old-fashioned detective work alone. New testing methods are even being applied to cold cases, or cases from many years ago that remain unsolved.
Forensic science can be used to:
  • Prove elements of a crime
  • Verify or discredit victim or suspect statements
  • Identify decedents or suspects
  • Establish a connection to a crime or crime scene


History of Forensic Science
Medical exams to determine cause of death have been used for centuries, but the use of science to investigate crimes and identify criminals began in the mid to late 1800s. The first attempt to document the identity of offenders was called anthropometry, which consisted of measuring and documenting the offender's body. By keeping these records, repeat offenders could be identified, even if they gave a false name. It was soon discovered that due to similar characteristics and measurement errors, this method was not as reliable as was hoped. This method was replaced by dactylographic, or the use of fingerprints for identification. Because everyone has different fingerprints, this method has been extremely successful and is still in use today. The next major advancement in forensic science did not occur until the 1980s when scientists were able to decode human deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). This allowed for the identification of a suspect through hair, skin cells, saliva, blood, and semen. DNA has become a reliable way to connect a suspect with a crime scene and to identify human remains. As this science progresses, new collection and testing methods have allowed investigators to get useful DNA samples from very small or degraded specimens.  Forensic science is not only used to identify people but also to locate or recreate a crime scene. Chemicals such as luminol and Hemident have been developed to identify blood in a crime scene, even if it has been cleaned.  Once the blood is located, blood spatter analysis can be conducted to recreate the scene. Based on the size and shape of a drop of blood, investigators can determine which direction the droplets were traveling or how far the drops fell before hitting the floor. Information from several drops of blood can be used to locate where the victim or suspect was standing when the blood hit the floor.
   
Importance
The word “forensic” has its roots in the Latin word “forenses” which means a forum. Back in early Rome, a forum referred to a public place where judicial proceedings and debates were held, thus, the origin and the very definition of ‘forensic science’ points to its close association with the legal system. Forensic Science involves the collection, preservation, and analysis of evidence suitable for prosecuting an offender in the court of law. The application of forensic science in the criminal justice system is, therefore, an apparent picture.  The legal system widely recognizes the role of forensic evidence in the trial of criminal offenders. This is because when scientific techniques and methods are used, there is not much scope for bias or injustice. That is why DNA profiling and a host of other forensic evidence are widely accepted in courts across the world. Interestingly, the first forensic technique ever used involving finger and palm print identification dates back to the Chinese (650 A.D.). Forensic evidence is extensively used worldwide to both convict and exonerate defendants. Thus, forensic science laboratories have mushroomed up all over the globe in the past couple of decades. In fact, special acts have been enacted in the US, Canada, and Australia to improve the rendering of forensic services.
This would ensure that crimes are detected with greater certainty and consequently conviction rates can increase. Such acts place a great emphasis on time-efficient and quality management of crime scene. Role of Forensic Science in Criminal Investigations Forensic Scientists analyze physical evidence (fingerprints, blood, hair etc.) collected from the incident scene to identify suspects. Additionally, forensic professionals use image modification tools to search for criminals absconding from the law for a long time.

General Procedure
Forensic science is the application of science to criminal and civil laws, mainly—on the criminal side during criminal investigation, as governed by the legal standards of admissible evidence and criminal procedure. The former, forensic, relates to a discussion or examination performed in public. Forensic entomology examination of insects in, on, and around human remains to assist in determination of time or location of death.. Forensic identification – technology and procedures to identify specific objects from the trace evidence they leave, often at a crime scene or the scene of an accident. This needs no introduction as we have often encountered its use in popular television series such as Criminal Minds, Law & Order, Profiler and the film, Silence of the Lambs. Criminal profiling dates back to 1888 and is believed to have been originally used and adapted by the FBI. Criminal profiling enables forensic scientists to zero down on suspects by determining a criminal’s patterns and personality. It is based on a psychological evaluation of the belongings seized from an offender. This helps in drawing a complete social and psychological assessment of the offender. Although it is often questioned for its accuracy, effectiveness and scientific validity, its role in the criminal investigation cannot be neglected. The basic steps of criminal profiling include in-depth analysis of the crime scene, analyzing the incidence and drawing comparisons with similar events in the past, evaluation of the victim’s background and activities, considering all possible motives and preparing a detailed description of the suspects in order to compare it with previous cases.

Common Law
Forensic Science today makes an important contribution to the operation of the Criminal Justice System providing evidence which could help decide the guilt of a suspect. Forensic Science is able to do so because it has developed to operate within the reality determined by the Criminal Justice System. Changes that are occurring today seem to upset the relationship between Forensic Sciences and the Criminal Justice System by the creation of communication problems. Examples of these problems exist in the changes occurring in the concept of death made necessary by organ transplants. These changes have shifted the focus from the quantity of life to the quality of life and make it impossible for the Forensic Scientist to answer honestly the questions that might be put him.  The need for reforms in the law in view of social changes has been recognized and in many countries attempts at such changes are afoot. With these changes a new reality is being defined.
Forensic Science, being a discipline that comes first in contact with a multitude of emergent problems, has a part to play in the definition of this reality. Forensic science is defined as the application of science to the law. In criminal cases, forensic scientists are often involved in the search for and examination of physical traces which might be useful for establishing or excluding an association between someone suspected of committing a crime and the scene of the crime or victim. Such traces commonly include, among others, blood and other body fluids, hairs, textile fibres from clothing etc, materials used in buildings such as paint and glass, footwear, tool and tire marks, flammable substances used to start fires. Sometimes the scientist will visit the scene itself to advise about likely sequence of events, any indicators as to who the perpetrator might be, and to join in the initial search for evidence. Other forensic scientists analyze suspected drugs of abuse, specimens from people thought to have taken them or to have been driving after drinking too much alcohol, or to have been poisoned. Others specialize in firearms, explosives, or documents whose authenticity is in doubt. In civil cases forensic scientists conduct similar examinations and analyses but assist in resolving civil disputes, such as the cause of a fire or a road accident for which damages are being claimed. Forensic scientists can appear for either side - prosecution or defense in criminal matters, and plaintiff or defendant in civil ones. They tend to present their findings and opinions in written form either as formal statements of evidence or reports. Sometimes they are required to attend court to give their evidence in person.

Application Criminalize  
The way to medico legal identification was open at the end of the twenty‐first century by the “digital fingerprinting” represented by the multifactorial phonotypical trait, determined by both polygenic and environmental factors, followed by group‐specific antigens, or with specificity for blood and tissue, and ending with the DNA molecule in use today. Because of this aspect, the framework of modern forensic medicine includes a new field, that of forensic genetics, that mostly involves working with investigations that have human genotype identification as a goal.

Forensic identification is a universal method used to establish the truth in the process of forensic investigation. The evidence includes, among other components, the identification but without being mistaken for it or being reduced to just this. Both medico‐legal and criminalities identification are integrative parts of forensic identification, having probative value. The value of an identification method resides in the expert's ability to compare traces left at the crime scene with traces found on other materials such as reference evidence. Through this method, one can compare: traces of blood left at the crime scene with those found on a suspects’ clothes and with samples from the victim. Furthermore, the rifling can be compared with fingerprints left on the weapon and with the rifling of other weapons.

Medico‐legal identification is based on intrinsic scientific methods or scientific methods absorbed from other sciences, usually bio‐medical sciences. Scientific progress from the last 30–40 years has highlighted and continues to highlight the role of the specialists in identification. Their role proves its importance in cases that have to do with civil and criminal law, family law, as well as in cases of catastrophes with numerous victims (natural, accidents, wars, terrorist attacks). Together with the discovery by Mullis in 1983 of the polymerized chain reaction (PCR), Sir Alex Jeffreys will introduce in the field of forensic genetics this technique by studying a set of DNA fragments that proved to have unique characteristics, which were nonrecurring and inherent for each individual, the only exception being monozygotic twins. Alec Jeffreys named these reaction products “genetic fingerprints”.

Object
Forensic science is any kind of science used in the legal or justice system to support and uphold the law. When a crime has been committed and evidence is collected at the scene, scientists analyze it, arrive at scientific results and give expert court testimony about their findings. The following objectives:
  • To be the voice of forensic science providers within the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, recognized as such by other key stakeholders, including the Regulator, legislators, investigators, lawyers and the judiciary.
  • To influence, for the more effective delivery of justice, the application of best practice and appropriate standards for forensic science within the criminal justice system.
  • To exchange good practice in the delivery of forensic science to the appropriate standards.
  • To develop and promote continually improving standards in forensic science.
  • To influence the development of forensic science end-to-end service delivery policies in relation to scientific quality.
Forensic science is any kind of science used in the legal or justice system to support and uphold the law. When a crime has been committed and evidence is collected at the scene, scientists analyze it, arrive at scientific results and give expert court testimony about their findings. Forensic science concentrates on facts that prove something did or did not happen in a criminal or civil case. The use of scientific principles to prove guilt or innocence in criminal matters dates back at least to 700 A.D., when the Chinese discovered that every human fingerprint is unique and used this fact to resolve disputes. In the 1800s, scientists developed chemical tests for the presence of blood and began comparing bullets ejected from different firearms. In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt established the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the analysis of criminal cases. In 1985, Sir Alec Jeffreys of England developed a process for profiling the genetic material, or DNA, of any human being. Today, scientific analysis is central to determining a suspect’s guilt in almost any criminal case.

The American Academy of Forensic Sciences lists 10 categories of forensic science, including biology (life science), psychiatry and behavior science, toxicology (the study of poisonous substances) and anthropology (the study of human remains). However, almost any scientific discipline can be used to analyze evidence in a criminal matter. Insect scientists (entomologists), for example, may study fly larvae (maggots) on a murder victim to help investigators determine time of death. Plant scientists (botanists) analyze plant matter collected at crime scenes and on victims or suspects. Computer science is another discipline increasingly called on to retrieve and analyzes digital evidence in criminal cases.

Regardless of their scientific specialty, all forensic scientists have the same goal: examining evidence from a crime scene using strictly scientific knowledge and principles in order to find facts about a criminal case. Because the outcomes are objective facts, forensic science can be useful both to the prosecution and the defense. Any discipline of forensic science can prove whether and how suspects and victims are linked to each other or to the crime scene itself.

Forensic science has become one of the most important parts of any criminal case. Experts who study evidence collected at a crime scene and who explain their scientific findings to a jury make it possible for juries, in turn, to make good decisions about guilt or innocence. Courtroom verdicts are based not on circumstantial evidence or eyewitness accounts but on solid, scientific fact. The more advanced different fields of science become, the more important forensic science will be in court cases and in the role of the justice system to convict the guilty and acquit the innocent.

Forensic scientists must concern themselves with science itself, not the crime. To be useful in a court of law, their testimony must be objective, reliable and based only on scientific fact. If the facts show that no clear conclusion can be drawn, they must state this as their finding. Forensic scientists are not on the side of the law. They are on the side of scientific truth and fact and must stand behind whatever outcome their findings show.










Conclusion   
Forensic science is used by various other organizations to clarify the fate and whereabouts of persons who have gone missing. Examples include the NGO Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team, working to clarify the fate of people who disappeared during the period of the 1976–1983 military dictatorship. The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) uses forensic science to find missing persons, for example after the conflicts in the Balkans. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) uses forensic science for humanitarian purposes to clarify the fate of missing persons after armed conflict, disasters or migration, and is one of the services related to Restoring Family Links and Missing Persons. Knowing what has happened to a missing relative can often make it easier to proceed with the grieving process and move on with life for families of missing persons.

Recognizing the role of forensic science for humanitarian purposes, as well as the importance of forensic investigations in fulfilling the state's responsibilities to investigate human rights violations, a group of experts in the late-1980s devised a UN Manual on the Prevention and Investigation of Extra-Legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions, which became known as the Minnesota Protocol. This document was revised and re-published by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2016. The popularity of forensic science has increased in recent years. Various popular television shows have highlighted the use of science to investigate and solve a variety of crimes. This lesson will define forensic science and explore the history of this essential investigative field.

Finally, it should be stated that popular representations of criminal investigation and the justice system are frequently based on a comparison between real-life cases and the imaginary projected by fictional representatives of the police, in which the use of sophisticated technology, scientific methods and brilliant deductions can solve the most complicated cases speedily and without error (Machado and Santos, 2012). As we have seen, the narratives of fictional criminal investigation series, specifically the television series Crime Scene Investigation (CSI), may create a disproportionate belief in the efficiency of criminal investigation work supported by DNA identification technologies. In this sense, the creation of unrealistic expectations may lead to an increase in negative assessments of the work of the Portuguese police amongst the general public in Portugal, and thus reduce confidence in the criminal justice system (Machado and Santos, 2012). In fact, real-life criminal cases widely covered by the media in Portugal that remain unsolved – of which the case of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann is a prime example – may reinforce images of the inefficiency of the Portuguese police that also coincide with negative representations of the justice system in Portugal, which is seen as slow, inefficient and discriminatory.



References   
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