WHAT IS FORENSIC SCIENCE?
Forensic Science can be defined as “The utilization of science to those criminal and civil laws that are enforced by the police agencies in an illegal justice system”. Forensic science is employed everywhere round the world to protect public health, to enforce criminal laws and regulations and to resolve disputes. Forensic Science handles with the exercise of the knowledge and methodology of different disciplines of science to judicial matters. It involves the use of different subject field such as physics, biology, computer science, chemistry, and engineering for evidence analysis. For instance, physics is used to interpret the pattern of a blood spatter, biology to establish the rootage of an unknown suspect and chemistry to determine the mixture of drugs. Thus, the role of forensic science in criminal justice and the legal system is hypercritical but is often underestimated.
The word ‘Forensic’ is derived from the Latin word ‘forensis’ which means, a public forum , constituted during Roman times, belonging to authorities of justice for legal proceeding, or for debates by senators and public discussion .
The scope of Forensic Science
Forensic odontology: Forensic odontology helps to find the identity of victims when the body is left in an unidentifiable state. This is achieved through an interrogation of their teeth, the alignment, and overall anatomical structure of the mouth. Forensic dentists aid in the comparative identification of a person by examining the development and anatomy of the teeth including any revitalising dental corrections such as filling. This includes “street drugs” such as ecstasy or heroin and prescription drugs such as oxycodone. The ability to find and identify such controlled substances plays an important role in assisting law enforcement agencies in their fight against drug abuse and drug-based violence.
Forensic Biology/DNA: Apart from fingerprint investigation, DNA identification is the other commonly used forensic proficiency in criminal investigations. DNA being as specific to an individual as fingerprints, help forensic professionals identify or confirm an anonymous person, or to obviate suspects from a list of accused. The biological evidence commonly used for DNA profiling include blood, semen, skin, urine, saliva and hair. However, DNA fingerprints are usually never used as the single piece of evidence in the court of law.
Forensic Toxicology: Forensic Toxicology involves analysis of biological samples to check for the presence of toxins and drugs. This division of forensic science is important in road accidents, poisoning, sexual violence etc. The reports furnish central information about the nature of substances present in an individual pertaining to an incidence. It also determines whether the abstraction of substances are normal as per a therapeutic dosage or exceed the tolerable level. Since newer variants of drugs are formulated every day, this branch of forensic science is ever-evolving and needs up-to-date approach.
Forensic Anthropology: Forensic Anthropology with the examination of compromised human dead body or skeletons to find out the age, height, gender, and ancestry. It also helps to find the time since death by identifying and examining injuries, if any. These analyses give important leads to investigators on identifying victims, especially in cases where the dead bodies are beyond recognition.
Forensic Pathology and Medicolegal Death Investigation: Forensic pathology helps determine the cause of death by examining a corpse. Forensic drug thus involves the collection and analysis of medical samples to deduce facts permissible in the court of law. For instance, recognition of wound patterns can help to mold the weapon used to inflict the wound. A forensic pathologist can, therefore, draw important inferences on whether the death is natural, criminal or accidental.
Impression and Pattern Evidence: The evidence created when two objects come in contact with enough force to create an “impression” is known as Impression evidence. This could relate a two-dimensional impression such as a fingerprint or three-dimensional one such as the marks on a bullet. Pattern evidence involves identification and analysis of extra information within an impression. Impression and pattern evidence when used together can help establish essential links between a suspect/tool to a crime scene.
Trace Evidence: It derives its name from its tendency to be easily moveable between objects, people or the environment during a crime. Evidence such as fibers, hair, gunshot residue, and pollen are some of the many illustration of trace evidence. Trace evidence often plays a crucial role in establishing a prime connection between a suspect and the victim. For instance, a soil sample found from the shoes of a victim can give critical evidence on the location of the crime and can help to trace the culprit.
Cyber Forensics: It involves the analysis of evidence found in computers and digital storage media like pen drives, hard disks etc. Its major objective is identifying, preserving, recovering, analyzing, and presenting facts and opinions about the digital information. Although it is mostly used for the investigation of cyber crimes, it also widely used in civil proceedings.
Role of Forensic Science in Criminal Investigations
Forensic science is that piece without which the problem of a criminal investigation is incomplete. Without the usage of forensic science, criminals can never be condemned unless an eyewitness is present. While detectives and law enforcement agencies are engaged in the collection of evidence, be it physical or digital, it is forensic science that deals with the analysis of those evidence in order to establish facts permissible in the court of law.
The duty and responsibilities of a forensic scientist in a criminal investigation is pivotal as it involves the detailed examination of an evidence while ensuring that it is not tampered with. A different pool of forensic scientists and forensic tools go into the investigation of a criminal act.
For instance, forensic pathologists are expert at determining the cause of a death by performing post-mortem. A post-mortem examination helps establish the cause and manner of death through the examination of body fluids and tissues. Forensic Scientists analyze physical evidence collected from the incident scene to identify suspects. Additionally, forensic professionals use image alteration tools to search for criminals absconding from the law for a long time. This tool enables them to digitally age a photograph to understand how the respective would look at aging.
Criminal Profiling – Getting inside a criminal’s mind
Criminal profiling enables forensic scientists to zero down on suspects by determining a criminal’s patterns and personality. It is based on a mental evaluation of the possession seized from a wrongdoer. This helps in drawing a complete social and psychological assessment of the wrongdoer. Its role in the criminal investigation cannot be neglected even if it is often questioned for its accuracy, effectiveness and scientific validity.
Criminal profiling include in-depth analysis of the crime scene, analyzing the incidence and drawing similitude with similar events in the past, evaluation of the victim’s past and activities, considering all possible motives and preparing a detailed description of the suspects in order to compare it with former cases.
Importance of Forensic Science in Law
Forensic Science involves the collection, preservation, and analysis of grounds suitable for prosecuting an wrongdoer in the court of law. The usage of forensic science in the criminal justice system is, therefore, an apparent picture.
The legal system widely acknowledge the role of forensic evidence in the legal proceeding of criminal offenders. This is because when scientific methods are used, there is not much scope for injustice. That is why DNA profiling and a host of other forensic evidence are widely unquestioned in courts across the globe..
Forensic evidence is extensively used worldwide to both convict and acquit defendants. Thus, forensic science laboratories have mushroomed up all over the world in the past couple of decades. In fact, special acts have been enacted in the US, Canada, and Australia to improve the performance 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.
CONCLUSION:
Crime has been prevalent in the society and with advancement of technology, the concept of crime as well as methods employed by the criminals in committing crimes have changed too. In this scenario, age old techniques of investigation as well barbaric methods of detecting crime are no more aiding in the investigation. Therefore, the existence of forensic science has proved an efficient and powerful tool in the hands of law enforcement agencies as well as judiciary in curbing crimes as well as detecting the crimes by aiding in the investigation process.
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