Forensic Science in 21st Century

Forensic Science in 21st Century

Introduction

Forensic science is defined as the application of events of science in conjunction with the law. It is the combination of scientific procedures related to crime and provides its evidence and also shows us the way crime was committed. It consists of various scientific tests including DNA, fingerprints, fibers and bodily fluid that are collected and stored with confidentiality and special care in order to make it easy for police to use them later as an evidence for further investigation for a particular crime or a series of crimes.

Forensic science has been playing a vital role in bringing criminals to the justice and law or in prison depending on the type of crime conducted. It does not only important for crimes related to death or killing but also covers the cases related to sexual bodily assault and other serious cases that require scientific proofs and evidences (Davies, 1986).

Discussion

Importance of forensic science for policing and criminal investigations

The ancient world had not much emphasized on forensic practices which led criminals to escape from punishment. Criminal trials and investigations relied heavily on witness testimony and forced confession. But after many centuries, the concept and techniques of forensic science has started developing rapidly such as “Eureka” legend of Archimedes during 212 BC. The first method by Archimedes was related to the method that determines the volume of an object with irregular shape. If we look at the history of forensic science, it will take us back to the ancient times in 700 BC, but here we will discuss about the history of forensic science from 1950 onwards (Schafer, 2008). In this field of criminology, there have been remarkable progress and advancements that have changed the way we look at cases to solve for criminals and victims. Several advancements have helped the officers to clean up their stations. Police reports, file, etc that was all written by hands on papers in law enforcements before 1950s have come in the advanced forms of computer databases and more solid form. Computers came in 1940s and this arrival of the computer made it easy to sort and put on the records of the criminals in a more proper way and now everything is stored in the computer memory. By the time of 1955 and by 1958, there were about more than 2500 computer been used in the whole America and a more prominent amount was being used by the police departments. All branches of police and law enforcements are now able to easily communicate with all the branches. Internet and Intranet has helped us a lot.

Due to scientific changes and methodologies being used in finding out the evidences in forensic science, the knowledge of average man has increased in recent years tremendously. It is getting refined as the years are passing by; the officers and FBI are using latest and modern methods to combat the modern criminal (Embar-Seddon, A., & Pass, A. D., 2009). Now we are finding international criminals ...