Anthropology 2235A/B Lecture : Lecture 1, Part 1 - What is Forensic Science?

• School: Western University
• Department: Anthropology
• Course: Anthropology 2235A/B
• Professor: Eldon Molto

Document Summary

Course objectives: key methods of individuation used in forensic science, critical thinking about forensic science and legal issues in forensics, the forensic mindset. Bone and tooth analyses are the cornerstones of cold cases and mass disaster analyses and dna is the cornerstone of forensic biology. Forensic science motto: we speak for the dead to protect the living . Individuation: to make an individual, to give individuality to a person, in forensics, to use biological evidence to reconstruct the identity of a specific individual. What is forensic science: definition: the application of science to those criminal and civil laws that are enforced by police agencies in the criminal justice system. Physical evidence and methods of individuation: direct: human remains and or body fluids. Hairs: indirect: aspects that can point indirectly to a person. Locard"s principle, circa 1928: when any two objects come into contact there is always a transference of material from each object onto the other, equals physical evidence.