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CHAPTER-5 Written Response

SACR-2600

Prisha Surti, ID-110052890

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According to the text, the exact definition for criminalistics is - The science of crime

detection and investigation, including such areas of specialization as weapons and DNA analysis.

Also known as Forensic Science, it plays an essential role in the organization of crime scenes,

victim assistance, justice and service to the public. Until much recently, criminologists in North

America paid very little attention to what happens between the time Associate in Nursing offence

is committed and therefore the time the bad person is sentenced. The section of the justice

method once crime is detected and investigated was generally seen as peripheral to sociology.

This basic cognitive process mirrored the actual fact that for a protracted time social science and

science were deemed the sole acceptable approaches to learning crime and criminality. However,

to attain an integrated and knowledge domain perspective, criminology should embrace all

aspects of the criminal justice process. Alphonse Bertillon is usually acknowledged because the

1st contemporary criminalist to apply this social science technique to law and sociology. whereas

North yank criminologists targeted on science and sociology, European criminology has been

dominated by the legal profession. Austrian professional person Hans Gross determined that

while the police were smart at maintaining order, several were less adept at determination

crimes, usually looking forward to proof from informers who were engaged in criminal activity

themselves. Henceforth, this is how criminalistics came about (Winterdyk, 2019).

Advantages to forensic science are plenty. They are fairly useful in most investigations

conducted. The alcohol content contained in a person’s blood is often determined by analyzing

the blood and different body fluids like saliva, excretory product and so on It additionally

includes social science and helps in sex determination. Clinical forensic pathology is helpful find

out kid abuse, defensive wounds on a victim, shot wounds, injury patterns in violence victims,

self-inflicted injuries, sexual assault, and humor persistence. With the assistance of bound laptop
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tools, it's doable to manage cyber-crime. this can be done through packet sniffing (sensing

crucial info within the knowledge packets), informatics address tracing (to get the address from

wherever the criminal was accessing), email address tracing (to get the small print of the e-mail

server and in cases of email bombs). this can be known as laptop forensics. It helps in deciding

the reason behind death by examining the postmortem changes, blunt injuries, burns and scalds

on the body, and also the scene of death. If it’s fulminant natural death, the case is investigated

by the medical examiner or a medical examiner. rhetorical analysis is employed to analyze

accident cases and to work out its cause by analyzing the vehicle condition, tire and different

marks, eye witnesses, hard the vehicle’s speed and so on. Nevertheless, criminalistics has its own

shortcomings as well which are legal, ethical, and knowledge constraints at large. Some being -

Analyzing a person's DNA is considered unethical of humans because it reveals private

information about an individual. The equipment used in forensic medicine is expensive.

Scientific analysis takes a long time, which delays the verdict. It requires precise and precise

analysis; even if a minor error occurs in the scan, it may result in a bad number. The proof

cannot be accessible in any respect times. proof is liable to manipulation, which can find yourself

in a guilty verdict. Interpretation of the analysis differs from one forensic individual to another.

Criminalistics will be prevented by strong influences (political or monetary factors). there's no

specific customary to verify the results of the experiment. It needs wide knowledge and intensive

study. Innovation is hindered because the approach is generally the same. Misconceptions and

mental object will mislead the experimental analysis. Maintaining privacy and secrecy of the

knowledge gathered through rhetorical analysis is sort of difficult.

Although, wrongful convictions are rare, they do happen. I have come across this case

where a forensic science professor helps exonerate man wrongly convicted of murder. The
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professor always emphasized on evidence being the core basis for serving justice. With the help

of cutting-edge software program, the professor reexamined the DNA evidence involved in the

case. The results of the testing did not match with the alleged perpetrator and was set free. The

actual murderer with a long criminal history later confessed to committing the crime and was

convicted (Chmiel, 2021). Another case wherein wrongful conviction took place due to faulty

forensic results – DNA result at a murder crime scene matched to a boy who was too young to

commit a murder; later the boy’s uncle confessed to having committed the crime and was

sentenced to life imprisonment. Here, we notice how forensic evidence could have led to youth

criminal charges and proceedings directed towards an innocent individual. Forensic evidences

can provide us with the required information but cannot reliably prove the needful (Elster, 2017).

Potential problems with regard to expecting guilt/innocence when scientific data is

involved is put into place by the CSI effect. Prosecutors often complain that CSI has made their

job more difficult as the jurors today demand high-tech forensic evidence and cutting-edge

technology results in order convict suspects. These tests take time and these processes are not

quickly undergone as they are portrayed on television. Legal experts are worried as jurors may

have facts confused with fiction; this could make having released a guilty/innocent decision

harder and faulty. Jurors could also be under the potential impression that high-tech forensic tests

always take place under an investigation; this could be further problematic as legal experts are

concerned actual murders could slip away due to juries’ misconceptions like these (Herzog,

2016).

The CSI effect, additionally called the CSI syndrome and therefore the CSI infection, is

any of many ways in which during which the exaggerated portrayal of rhetorical science on

crime tv shows akin to CSI: Crime Scene Investigation influences public perception. CSI Effect
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affects Canada in the modern day as the portrayal of television shows and movies with regard to

forensic sciences and justice systems are still prevalent. Television shows have sparked the

interest of millions who want to be forensic scientists. Therefore, a study was conducted based

on 605 surveys of Canadian college students who would be considered jury-eligible; the data

from Canadian jurors has shown statistically significant results that jurors are clearly biased in

their treatment of certain forensic evidence by their television viewing habits, it is therefore

reassuring that no study has found support for the operation of a damaging CSI as defined above

(Fordham, 2011).
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References

Chmiel, R. (2021). Forensic Science Professor Helps Exonerate Man Wrongly Convicted of

Murder. The Charger Blog. https://www.newhaven.edu/news/blog/2021/forensic-

science- professor-helps-exonerate-man.php

Elster, N. (2017). How Forensic DNA Evidence Can Lead to Wrongful Convictions. Jstor Daily-

where news meets its scholarly match. https://daily.jstor.org/forensic-dna-evidence-can-

lead-wrongful-convictions/

Fordham, J. (2011). The CSI Effect and the Canadian and the Australian Jury. Journal of

Forensic Sciences.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227831022_The_CSI_Effect_and_the

_Canadian_and_the_Australian_Jury

Herzog, K. (2016). From the CSI Effect to Making a Murderer: Will True-Crime Docuseries

Change How Jurors Think? Vulture. https://www.vulture.com/2016/01/making-a-

murderer-jurors-csi-effect.html

Winterdyk, J. (2019). Canadian Criminology. Oxford university press, 4th edition.