To crime reduction
Name
Institution
Forensic Science is the use of science and technologies for the purpose of law by providing impartial scientific evidence for use in the court of law. Forensic science is widely used in crime analysis, investigation and conviction. This paper will evaluate how diverse uses of Forensic Science contribute positively to crime detection and reduction rates.
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The development of Forensic Science techniques for identifying individuals by their fingerprint is one of the widely use and trusted means of personal identification Saferstein, R. (2009). Through its use, criminal crack down and identification was improved. DNA fingerprinting (for example hair, sperm, and blood) assist to either exclude a suspect absolutely or establish guilt with a very high degree of probability. This has the overall impact on crime reduction.
According to Hough J. M., Tilley, N., & Great Britain (1998), proactive use of forensic science can help to catch and convict prolific offenders. Use of forensic evidence as part of crime pattern analysis helps to identify series of offences. This aids the detection of sequences of incidents once a suspect has been identified. Patterns of repeat victimization show that those victimized in many crime categories, such as domestic and commercial burglary, are at increased risk of further victimization particularly in the short term. This clearly offers scope for targeted proactive use of forensic science to assist in the apprehension of offenders.
Study has found that the conviction rate for cases with scientific evidence is significantly higher than those without Turvey, B. E. (2011). For burglary, this amounted to the presence of forensic evidence yielding an increased likelihood to convict of 20 percentage points. One other clear finding was the association between the presence of forensic evidence and longer sentence
References: Saferstein, R. (2009). Forensic science: From the crime scene to the crime lab. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson Prentice Hall. Hough, J. M., Tilley, N., & Great Britain. (1998). Getting the grease to the squeak: Research lessons for crime prevention. London: Home Office Police Research Group. Roberts, P., & Zuckerman, A. A. S. (2010). Criminal evidence. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Turvey, B. E. (2011). Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis. Burlington: Elsevier Science.