Forensic History Essay

The history of forensics science has continued to evolve throughout history in today’s ever changing society. The beginning of this field began in the eighth century during the uprising of the Tang Dynasty in modern day China. The chinese began to use fingerprints to identify documents, and clay sculptures from other empires. The start of this field brought together more skills that were created to undermine those sought at damaging empires throughout history. As this field began to grow so did other forensics techniques that evolved the science. One technique that proved to be one of the most valuable throughout history, was the creation of the document examiner which goes back to around the same time of the Tang Dynasty. Most people do
not understand the significance of a master writer, as the french called them dating back to the seventeenth century. The first real presence of a document examiner was in the third century by the Roman Empire. It is believed a group of Roman jurists set up protocols for the detection of forgeries of important documents. In the sixth century Emperor Justinian established further guidelines for the use of examiners in courts. People who were very skilled in writing could give testimony of a questioned document, at a judge's request. The roman approach to forensic science prevailed in europe for the next millennium. As technology would advance, so did the technique of the document examiners and their methods. Throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, England and a majority of the european nations would follow the roman approach of document examination.
During the seventeenth century the french handwriting experts, known as the master writers developed a more systematic based standard in the examination of documents. The advocation of the manner in which this was done, was prevailed by two frenchmen who became well known for their efforts in advancing the system.
Francios Demelle, and J. Raveneau. These men created a more focused effort on the penmanship of the individual. For instance the quality of the line that was made when an individual signed a document, or the speed at which his hand moved as he wrote. These advances in the examination process brought forth a revolution for document examination, that allowed the capture of thousands of individuals. At the same time it also caused those same individuals to focus their skills, and create more devious ways to infiltrate someone's information. The advancements continued with much of Europe following in the footsteps of the English, and French. Across the Atlantic America stayed on the same path to a certain extent. America was following the same examination protocols as the English, until the revolution happened some years before. State jurisdictions began to allow the testimony of experts, which had never been acknowledged before. In 1887 the state of Ohio recognized handwriting as a means of identifying individuals. A few years after in 1894 the first significant scientific text giving a guide for questioned documents, and chemical test for detecting alterations was presented to the world. This recognition opened up further into the nineteenth century with an increase in the amount of experts giving testimony in courts in the eastern United
States.
The Adam v Ristine case in 1924 was the landmark case for document examination that drew all eyes in the United States, with Europe also drawing a peak inside. The case drew attention to the many aspects of a document examiners expertise in a court case. The key points were the qualification of the examiner, use of photographic evidence, and the scope of the cross examination involved during the trial. These efforts opened a doorway into the future with the