Chem
Basic Terms
• forensic (adj)
1. pertaining to, connected with, or used in court of law or public discussion and debate 2. adapted or suited to argumentation; rhetorical
Forensic Chemistry
• Forensic science (n.)
– the application of science to criminal and civil laws. – Emphasizes the application of science to criminal and civil laws that are enforced by police agencies in a criminal justice system.
• Adversarial system
– owes its origins to individuals such as Bertillon, Galton, Lattes, Goddard, Osborn, and Locard, who developed the principles and techniques needed to identify or compare physical evidence.
Basic Terms
• criminalistics (n)
– the science dealing with the detection of crime and the apprehension of criminals – derived from the German “Kriminalistic”
• coined in early 1900’s to attempt to better describe the emerging discipline of “police science”.
• Forensic CHEMISTRY
– Applied analytical chemistry
• Qualitative, quantitative AND Comparative
– LOTS OF STATS AND PROOF!
• Identify, classify and qualify
What makes a Science Forensic?
• An experimental result has no standing until it is disseminated to the rest of the scientific community
– peer-reviewed journal – allows the experiment to be repeated & the results reproduced
What makes a Science Forensic?
• A product of the scientific community not individuals • Review of forensic experiments
– another analyst in the laboratory – an analyst assisting opposing counsel
• Review necessary
– to catch any clerical errors – establish that conclusions are supported by data
• Data is not considered valid until reproduced by an independent source
The Null Hypothesis
• The stated idea is untrue • Often assumed in forensic science
– “bullet didn’t come from this gun”
The Scientific Method
1.State an hypothesis (What is the question?)
– “I think that this bullet came from that gun” – we often set out to prove the null hypothesis – formulating a hypothesis is not
• forensic (adj)
1. pertaining to, connected with, or used in court of law or public discussion and debate 2. adapted or suited to argumentation; rhetorical
Forensic Chemistry
• Forensic science (n.)
– the application of science to criminal and civil laws. – Emphasizes the application of science to criminal and civil laws that are enforced by police agencies in a criminal justice system.
• Adversarial system
– owes its origins to individuals such as Bertillon, Galton, Lattes, Goddard, Osborn, and Locard, who developed the principles and techniques needed to identify or compare physical evidence.
Basic Terms
• criminalistics (n)
– the science dealing with the detection of crime and the apprehension of criminals – derived from the German “Kriminalistic”
• coined in early 1900’s to attempt to better describe the emerging discipline of “police science”.
• Forensic CHEMISTRY
– Applied analytical chemistry
• Qualitative, quantitative AND Comparative
– LOTS OF STATS AND PROOF!
• Identify, classify and qualify
What makes a Science Forensic?
• An experimental result has no standing until it is disseminated to the rest of the scientific community
– peer-reviewed journal – allows the experiment to be repeated & the results reproduced
What makes a Science Forensic?
• A product of the scientific community not individuals • Review of forensic experiments
– another analyst in the laboratory – an analyst assisting opposing counsel
• Review necessary
– to catch any clerical errors – establish that conclusions are supported by data
• Data is not considered valid until reproduced by an independent source
The Null Hypothesis
• The stated idea is untrue • Often assumed in forensic science
– “bullet didn’t come from this gun”
The Scientific Method
1.State an hypothesis (What is the question?)
– “I think that this bullet came from that gun” – we often set out to prove the null hypothesis – formulating a hypothesis is not