The application of scientific method to the recognition, collection and analysis of physical evidence, established as a discipline by Hans Gross and given its founding principle by Edmond Locard, that every contact leaves a trace. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
What It ExaminesSourced to the subject's own accountPhysical evidence of all kinds recovered from a crime scene, examined under Locards exchange principle that contact between two objects transfers material between them. 1 Formalized YearSourced to the subject's own account Known LimitationThe 2009 National Academy of Sciences report found that the forensic science disciplines gathered under criminalistics vary widely in their scientific foundation, and that several pattern-matching methods had not been validated by rigorous statistical research. 2 Connections
Associated With
Cases Where Used
Source Wikipedia: Atlanta Child Murders
Source Wikipedia: Lindbergh Kidnapping
Pioneered By
Source Wikipedia: Alphonse Bertillon
Source Wikipedia: Edmond Locard
Edward Oscar Heinrich, dubbed "America's Sherlock Holmes," was an early American forensic scientist who applied chemistry, microscopy and physics across hundreds of criminal cases, helping establish criminalistics as a general applied discipline in the United States.
Source Wikipedia: Hans Gross
Source Wikipedia: Paul L. Kirk
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Edmond Locard
Legacy section
His Exchange Principle is the basis of all forensic work; the principle stipulates that when any two objects come into contact, there is always a transference of material between each object.
Career section
In 1910, Locard succeeded in persuading the Police Department of Lyon to give him two attic rooms and two assistants, to start what became the first police forensic laboratory.
- Pioneered By: Edmond Locard
View the Source2. Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward
table of contents, chapter listQuote, table of contents, chapter list
5 Descriptions of Some Forensic Science Disciplines
Wikipedia: Hans Gross
Contributions to criminalistics section
Gross fully introduced the concept of criminalistics in 1893, a period in which the notion of criminology expanded.
- Pioneered By: Hans Gross
View the SourceWikipedia: Paul L. Kirk
Wikipedia: Atlanta Child Murders
Wikipedia: Lindbergh Kidnapping
Wikipedia: Alphonse Bertillon
Pioneered By: Alphonse Bertillon, Lead sectionQuote, Pioneered By: Alphonse Bertillon, Lead section
Anthropometry was the first scientific system used by police to identify criminals.
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