forensic banner2

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

1 - A Summary of Forensic Technology

Forensic Science is the term often used to describe the science used at crime scenes. The science of forensics is growing all the time, and there are new innovations being brought into the forensic world every day. Forensics uses many different types of technologies, from computer systems that store informational files on past convicts to specialized equipment used to test DNA. The world of solving crimes is still developing even today, and soon enough will be mainly technologically based. Specialized and new forensic programs are being introduced at universities and colleges, and TV productions, like Crime Scene Investigations (CSI) are publicizing the modern technology used in investigating crime scenes.
Toxicology (the branch of science concerned with the nature, effects, and detection of poisons), entomology (the branch of zoology concerned with the study of insects), and anthropology (the science of human zoology, evolution, and ecology) are all common tools used to connect suspects to crime scenes, make timelines, and finally sentence felons. Forensic processors, analysts, and field workers all use some sort of technologic devices. For example, if a hair that is found at the crime scene that is different than that of the victim’s, the forensic field workers take it into evidence and get an analyst to test for the unique DNA. Not only the machines that are used to extract relevant DNA strands from the hair follicle, but also the computer system called CODIS (Combined DNA Index System) – used to store DNA profiles of individuals convicted of sex offenses and other violent crimes, such as homicide – is very technological.
From fraud and corporate theft, to other crimes such as murder, computers are now playing a large role in decoding criminal puzzles. Without these programs, systems, and tools, solving crimes and convicting people would be very difficult.

2 - Photographic Enhancement

As many pieces of technological equipment or devices as there are, there are some that are more important or more useful than others. From the computer system AFIS and CODIS (which has been around for about fourteen years) to a new machine that can lift fingerprints off dangerous or explosive objects, there are new pieces of technology that are helping move the science of forensics forward every day.
One simple but highly effective technology is photographic enhancement. When the police or criminal investigators take or obtain photos from the crime scene, sometimes they are not always distinguishable, and can be difficult to see objects, people, or written elements in the picture. With computers and specific programs, investigators and policemen can magnify, brighten, darken, or adjust the color settings of images to make them clearer and discernible. The specialists who enhance photos in the lab use software that is very similar to what many people use at home with their own digital cameras.
Image enhancement is generally used to enhance defaced, blurred, or latent prints and has also been successfully applied to questioned or suspicious documents, tool marks, bite marks, photographic evidence, and fracture matches. Image enhancement is also used in medical examination cases (for example, to enhance tattoos and scars on decomposed bodies). And with the developing technology in computers these days, photo enhancement can be very effective, helpful, and reliable.

3 - Setbacks in Photo Enhancement

But as useful as photo enhancement is, digital restorative imaging in court is often raised into question. The fact that digital photographs are more easily altered than film-based photographs is usually brought up, and some believe that digital photographs are not permissible in court.
Another drawback to digital imaging photography in forensics is the amount of time required to take multiple exposures (exposure is the total amount of light allowed to fall on the image sensor during the process of taking a photograph). There can be a two to fifteen second time delay before taking the picture due to the shutter speed, checking the auto focus, and then triggering the flash (if needed). If the photo needs to be taken quickly, sometimes digital photography can be too finicky to use. There is also normally a four to nine second delay when the camera is converting the image into digital form, compressing and saving the image. With so much time being taken to adjust itself, sometimes it can be too late to photograph something that was important or needed.
While digital cameras are fairly inexpensive these days, the cheap cameras don’t have the greatest image resolution, and cameras that have better image resolution can be three hundred dollars or more. And most forensic labs don’t have a very large budget to spend on equipment; so buying an expensive camera might not be the best way to spend their money.

4 - The Future of Forensic Science

Every day, forensic science is advancing in new technologies that are used to help solve crimes. These new inventions or enhanced techniques are making it easier to figure out if someone was at the scene of the crime, or who murdered whom.
Some new technologies that have been improved or developed are fingerprint recovery methods from metals such as gun cartridges and bomb fragments, using the chemistry of colour to identify chemical and biological weapons, portable DNA profiling techniques that could be used at the scene of a crime, and more accurate ways of ascertaining the age at death of victims of crime. Also, years ago it took six to eight weeks to get a DNA sample back from the lab, slowing the whole case down greatly. But now it can take only one or two days, which is a great advancement. They have even built a machine that can extract fingerprints or trace off of dangerous or explosive material, without destroying the evidence. Before, there would have been no way to remove important evidence without risking someone else’s life.
The future of forensic science, as stated many times before, is always growing and uses large amounts of different pieces of technology. With such helpful and practical discoveries and inventions, it has made solving crimes so much easier, as well as excluding suspects and connecting people to the crime scenes. Without the technology used in forensic science, we would not be living in such a safe world we are today.