...Forensic Science in the 21st Century By: Crystal Lyle AJS/584 - FORENSIC SCIENCE AND PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILING STEVEN HOENIG 2-29-16 This paper will examine my perception and concept of forensic science in the 21st century. It will also examine the importance of forensic science to policing criminal investigation court process, and the efforts of various levels in security. In addition to analyzing the importance of forensic science, I will give a historical approach. I will discuss the accuracy of the media representation of forensic science and how issues. Lastly, I will discuss the influence the CSI effect have on the judicial process. Forensic Science is the application of science to criminal and civil laws that are enforced by law enforcement agencies in a criminal justice system. Another definition of forensic science is principles and techniques to matters of criminal justice, especially as it relates to the collection, examination, and analysis of physical evidence. In 1929, a Los Angeles police department establish the first American forensic lab. Forensic science has been around over 300 years or more and it continues to improve and emerge today as science and technical knowledge find more improved and accurate techniques. Forensic science has come to be a critical instrument in allowing guilt or demonstrating innocence in the system of criminal justice. In the late 80’s (DNA), society was accepting of (DNA) and forensic science continues to develop and unfold...
Words: 1265 - Pages: 6
...incorporating a narration voice over for dramatic effect. Other shows that are even more popular that are helping the media to blur the fine line between reality and fiction, even further, are the forensic dramas like: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Cold Case and Bones. These shows however, are not reality and create what is commonly known as “the CSI effect” and in my opinion have caused jurors to wrongly acquit guilty offenders when no scientific evidence has been presented to the jury by the prosecutors. The CSI effect is a phenomenon brought about by popular television shows such as: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Cold Case and Bones. and other forensic shows that are raising crime victims' and jury members' real-world expectations of the field of forensic science and type of forensic evidence that is presented by the prosecution. Much of these concerns come from the writers of forensic science television glamorizing the field, overstating the accuracy of forensic techniques, and exaggerating the abilities of forensic science. The CSI effect seems to skew public perceptions of real-world forensic science, as well as the behavior of criminal justice system actors; this is of particular concern in the courtroom setting, where many prosecutors feel pressured to deliver more forensic evidence, in order to convince the jury that the defendant is guilty. For example, 48 Hours Mystery filmed for months to capture all pretrial hearings as well as the 2-week trial on a case...
Words: 1313 - Pages: 6
...Forensic Science in the 21st Century Gertrude West Forensic Science and Psychological Profiling /CJA590 May 30, 2011 Edward Baker Forensic Science in the 21st Century Forensic science has various influences on crime, investigation and the people that are involved. Forensic science has a connection with the courts to ensure crimes are getting solved and justice is being served to those that commit crimes. With the help of forensic science, crimes are being solved from a human and technological aspect. This paper highlights numerous discussions on how forensic science plays a role in criminal justices system, security, media and the law. Forensic science is a separate entity from the police; although a large portion of the work is obtains through law enforcement. Forensic science is a recognizable component of policing during criminal investigation. The successful resolution from a crime scene involves preventing the site from being contaminated. This helps assures a great deal of gathering and interpreting evidence that could lead to an accurate interpretation of the event. The advances in technology are being applied to forensic science; a field in which technical is achieved by many factors such as including training, experience, continued education, and scientific methodology (NYSP, 2007). Forensic Science continues to develop in the 21st Century. It blends science and technology that has been useful for law enforcement to solve crimes and prosecute...
Words: 1454 - Pages: 6
...Forensic Science in the 21st Century AJS/592 Aug 2012 Forensic Science in the 21st Century Forensic science is regarded as an essential component in the resolution of crimes and law enforcement. Collecting and deciphering evidence properly and preserving crime scenes are two of the most important elements in crime-solving. Consequently, technological advances are relevant to the limited and challenging forensic science field. Also, it is a field wherein technical aptitude is attained only by the amalgamation of various dynamics. For example, supervision, continuing education, proficiency, training, experience, coupled with appreciativeness of scientific protocols and methods proposed against a setting of harsh professional beliefs. This submission delves into forensic science’s contributions to policing and criminal investigations, court processes, and security efforts. Also it explores the media’s representation of forensic science, influence on popular opinion for justice-related issues, and “CSI” effect on the judicial process. Forensic Science Contributions to Policing and Criminal Investigations The geneses of criminalistics or forensic science are mainly European. Forensic science is an amalgamation of various disciplines, such as chemistry, mathematics, geology, physics, and biology to examine physical evidence associated with crime. Previously, the employment of forensic...
Words: 1778 - Pages: 8
...known as CSI? I am not sure why people choose to work in this field but, I do know why I decided on this career. This is my career of choice because the job itself is very interesting and inspiring to me. This strong passion that I have for figuring out crimes and causes of death will fit perfect for this job. My mother reminds me all the time that when I was a little girl, I always wanted to know how and why people got killed. Now as a grown up I want to finally be able to figure out how or why people die. I want to put my critical thinking skills, knowledge and medical background to good use. After researching about this career, I made it clear to myself that it is not going to be easy but I will fulfil my dream. Just this thought of knowing that I will be making a difference gives me the strength to continue. If you are interested in this career like me, make sure that you know the following. The easiest way for becoming a crime scene investigator is to become involved with law enforcement. In some cases some police departments hire civilian crime scene investigators, but most are looking for investigators with a police background. In order to be qualified to get a job you need at least a two year associate's degree. However, there are many police departments that require applicants to have a bachelor’s degree. There are a lot of colleges that offer majors for crime scene investigation degrees including criminal justice, criminology, and forensics. This particular...
Words: 953 - Pages: 4
...1) Which article did you choose? The “CSI effect” | The Economist 2) What is the CSI effect? The CSI effect relates to the American legal system as jurors are susceptible to mistakes, such as wrongfully acquitting guilty defendants, due to inaccuracies in mainstream television crime dramas. Monica Robbers, an American criminologist, defines it as “the phenomenon in which jurors hold unrealistic expectations of forensic evidence and investigation techniques, and have an increased interest in the discipline of forensic science” (The Economist). 3) According to your article, how has the phenomenon affected various groups in the criminal justice system? Various groups within the criminal justice system have been affected by this phenomenon, both in and out of the courtroom. Prosecutors now often need to spend additional time explaining to juries why certain kinds of evidence are not relevant. Mr. Durnal explains that prosecutors have even introduced a “negative evidence”...
Words: 871 - Pages: 4
...choose crime scene investigation as my career because when I was a little girl my dream was to figure out why and how people died. I enjoy watching crime scene investigation shows on television, elusively the ones involving elderlies and children. One of my favorite crime scene investigation shows is called 48 hours on A&E. This show inspires me to have the wanting to help those who are in need of help. I am aware that in most cases, I will experience death at a crime scenes but I am prepared for the duties in this job. This is not an easy career to accomplish but is well worth it for those who enjoy this field. The easiest way for becoming a crime scene investigator is to become involved with law enforcement. In some cases some police departments do hire civilian crime scene investigators, but most are looking for investigators with a police background. In order to be qualified to get a job you need at least an associate's degree. However there are many police departments that require applicants to have a bachelor’s degree. There are a lot of colleges that offer majors for crime scene investigations including criminal justice, criminology, and forensics. This career requires a valid driver's license and a valid license to carry a weapon. Like any other career you must complete CEU’S to maintain your certificate/licensing up to date. Continuing education requires a person to complete four courses online, crime scene investigation, forensic photography, perspectives...
Words: 656 - Pages: 3
...STUDENT NUMBER 2014OSC58443 Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) Level 3 STUDENT NUMBER 2014OSC58443 Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) Level 3 COURSE CODE – OSC532(V1.0) COURSE CODE – OSC532(V1.0) UNIT 5 – EVIDENCE HANDLING zoe wRIGHT UNIT 5 – EVIDENCE HANDLING zoe wRIGHT 2015 2015 Introduction This unit will be discussing the various packaging techniques in handling evidence taken away from crime scenes with the most appropriate ones being considered for each type of evidence found. It will be discussed having the implications of poor packaging and the results which lead to contamination of all evidence if not packaged properly and the outcome when it is taken to court also the reliability of the CSI’s involved. It is also the job of the CSI to make sure all health and safety procedures are in place before handling and taking any piece of evidence as there are varying risks involved like sharps, contamination of evidence, weather conditions other witnesses interfering with the scene, other personnel and any form of biological hazards. These must be taken seriously and analysed before any search. Unit 5 1. Detail the forensic evidence that would have been taken away from the scene by the perpetrator. The crime scene is probably the most important part of any criminal investigation. It is where forensic science starts. Locard’s Principle states that every...
Words: 2900 - Pages: 12
...Robin B. Arslanian Professor Long English 122 12 October 2011 How to Succeed in Becoming a Crime Scene Investigator (CSI) The career as a Crime Scene Investigator, better known as CSI, can be very rewarding. To help catch the “bad guys”, to me, can be very satisfying. My goal is by the end of this paper you will learn how to become a CSI, the first steps to take once you get to a crime scene, what to expect in the courtroom and hopefully how much fun a career as a CSI can be. Being a CSI is definitely not for the faint at heart, some crime scenes can be gruesome. If you think being a CSI is like you watch on television you are sadly mistaken. Television glamorizes the long hours it takes to get DNA results or fingerprint identification. These types of results can take days to weeks. This can be very frustrating to the investigator who is being pressured by the prosecutors, the lead detective on the case and by the families for information. How you analyze the crime scene and what you find out in the lab can mean the difference between a conviction and an acquittal. Your education is the most important quality and resource you can have in any career. However, for a CSI it is of utmost importance. You will need at the very least an Associate’s degree in either Criminal Justice with a forensics background, or better yet a Bachelor’s degree in Forensic Science. It is suggested that if you have a Bachelor’s degree you should go for your Masters; it will make you a more...
Words: 2085 - Pages: 9
...CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is a drama television series about procedural forensics crime. Like much other television series, it packages those tedious work procedures with the dramatic storyline and tv technique. Make the crime scene investigation more attractive and excite to the audience. Although the cases are mostly based on the real crime scenes and the process of the investigation, however, there are parts that are dramatized by the television. The following is an analysis for how much of the real-life processes of the crime scene investigation technique have the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation season 1 episode 22: Evaluation Day, kept and how much they changed. One of the inaccuracies in the series that occurs repeatedly is that...
Words: 1182 - Pages: 5
...The main difference of the two TV shows, CSI and NCIS, is that CSI consists murders of the general public and NCIS consists of only military based murders. Both TV shows are unrealistic compared to the real world. CSI shows how dangerous the job can be by agents getting killed in a crime scene, which also shows how it can affects the investigations. NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigation Service), on the other hand, is a real government agency that only focuses on crimes that involve the military and the show NCIS is deals with many of the same cases as the real life agency. In my opinion, the more realistic show between CSI and NCIS would be NCIS. The show CSI is unrealistic to the real world because the crime scenes are really convenient, such as figuring out the time of death as quickly as they do and finding evidence that is scattered across the scene, which is very rare realistically. Each episode of the show the cases are very unique, where in real life, investigators are handed a lot of paperwork and the cases are always very similar. The fingerprint information and DNA comparisons are matched and returned to the investigators very quickly, which in reality it takes weeks to make a fingerprint match to a suspect that is unknown and breaking things down to genetic material will take even longer. Teams are usually very small and move very slow in investigations, in the show, they have teams of five or six to solve a crime and they move much quicker in solving the case. Also...
Words: 609 - Pages: 3
...Homicide Homicide Forensic science plays a huge part in our criminal justice system today. But where did it get its start? What procedures are utilized today to help investigators solve our everyday mysteries when it comes to crimes? In addition, what forensic aspects in the video “Welcome to Homicide” were used to finally get a confession of murder? This paper will discuss these topics and elaborate on some of the key evidence that was used to close this particular case. First, let’s begin with where and when forensics is aid to have gotten its start. The basic sciences began to develop in the late 18th century, and many of the early developments in forensic sciences took place during the 19th century (Gaensslen & Larsen, 2013). People long ago did not have technological and scientific advancements that we take for granted in the forensic sciences today. Instead, they mostly relied on forced confessions and testimonies of witnesses. This, naturally, allowed for many criminals to walk free while a lot of innocents were wrongfully convicted. The first known instance of forensics being used was in the year 1248. A Chinese man, called a death investigator, used experimentation to determine that a victim's fatal blow had resulted from the strike of a sickle (Dirkmaat, 2012). What we think of today as forensic science may have been born in China, but truly developed in Europe during the 1700's. German medical experts, Swedish chemists, and Italian surgeons wrote...
Words: 1318 - Pages: 6
...Both, CSI and X Factor have been huge successes in their own respective genres. This essay will examine the similarities and differences in the ways and techniques that X Factor and CSI use to attract their audiences. Both texts attract a worldwide audience with over 30 countries having their own version of ‘X Factor’, and in 2006, CSI was named the most popular show in the world in a study of ratings in over 20 countries. These stats connote a measure of the popularity and dominance of these shows within their genres, and generally within the TV industry. The Uses and Gratifications theory can be applied to both these texts to show how they attract audience using the 4 stages. Firstly, personal identity, as X Factor is a contestant based show, and the people start the show as average everyday people, and this is connoted in their interview before their audition where they talk about their current life, and have very casual dress codes in a public and busy mise-en-scene. As the show progresses some of these contestants start to turn into ‘celebrities’ by gaining publicity, and this is connoted due to their change in dress codes, which is now smart and classy compared to casual before. Also connoted through their confidence, as at the start they are very nervous and modest, and as the competition progresses, depending on good results a person will gain self-confidence and gain more and more fans. An example of contestants that used the X Factor as a way to gain fame is One Direction...
Words: 1523 - Pages: 7
...Joel yawili Forensic science Vincent Maher Spring 2010 The CSI: New York episode “down the rabbit hole” starts off with a maintenance guy discovering a body lying on the floor of a inventory room full of mannequins. Next, the first officer arrives on the scene of the crime and, as explained on page 39 of the textbook, he isolates and secures the crime scene and we also see the maintenance guy being questioned. Later, the walk through of the scene is made and the photography unit proceeds in the capture of photos (p.). the forensic pathologist examines the stage of decomposition of the body and determines by evaluating the rigor mortis (p.21) that the victim has been dead for 5 hours. They also find out that the victim was shot in the head and discover a surgical tubing around the wrist of the victim. After a blood sample is taken, two dashes around the neck are noticed. Later in this episode we see two physical criminalists doing a spiral search of the crime scene with flash lights. A latent fingerprint(p.) is retrieved. During the body analysis, the pathologist in charge of the case finds a tick ( blood sucking insect found only in the woods) in one of the victim’s wounds. He reveals that the cuts on the neck were made by a surgical scalpel and that the tick was bloodless meaning, that it entered the wound prior to death. The ballistics unit (p.) identified the bullet as a 45 caliber weapon bullet which might have been mounted with a silencer. Also found at the crime...
Words: 637 - Pages: 3
...Crime Scenes Crime scene investigation is the meeting point between science, logic and law. Processing a crime scene is and long and tedious process and is the job of crime scene investigators (CSI). CSI has the responsibilities of collecting, documenting, preserving, reconstructing and presenting evidence. It is their job to examine any physical evidence that could remotely shed any light on what happened and who is responsible. There are no typical crime scenes, evidence or investigative approaches and every crime scene should be approached in a systematic sense. According to Robert R. Ogle Jr., a crime scene search is defined as a systematic, methodical search for any physical evidence at a crime scene. When a crime has been committed, law enforcement team members use many scientific methods, along with their natural intuition and skill, to discover who is responsible. In modern crime scenes, finger and shoeprints, hair, blood, bones, and even DNA are used to help solve the puzzle and catch the criminal. Criminals find newer, cleaner, and smarter ways to kill, while the criminal investigators and forensic scientists, find newer, cleaner, and smarter ways to catch the criminal. Investigating a crime scene can take hours, sometimes days. Scene processing is the term applied to the series of steps taken to investigate a crime scene. Although the methods and techniques may differ between the experts involved, their goals are the same: to reconstruct the exact...
Words: 1051 - Pages: 5
