CRIME SCENE TO COURT THE ESSENTIALS OF FORENSIC SCIENCE
(2nd Edition)

Edited by White, P.C.
Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry, 2004

This edited book was first designed as a relatively non-technical text to assist in the teaching of forensic science degree programs in Great Britain. This second edition has updated earlier information and has also expanded the breadth of subjects covered. The expertise of the British contributors covers a wide range of forensic disciplines found from crime scene to laboratory.

The text begins with a general chapter outlining the history of forensic science in Britain and worldwide, the duties and responsibilities of the forensic scientist, issues surrounding the important subject of quality assurance and laboratory accreditation as well as personal accountability and standards of competence. These are issues that pertain not only to the UK, but also to Canada and the rest of the world.

The subsequent chapters go on to describe the crime scene and the laboratory handling and analysis of the recovered physical evidence. Information about attending and processing a crime scene is presented in an extremely interesting manner by describing in detail the step by step handling of two very different crime scenes: a burglary and a homicide. The information includes not only detailed information about the collection of evidence and it’s value, but also the backgrounds and training of all of the major participants. This clearly illustrates how painstaking and meticulous a true crime scene analysis must be for it to have any validity in court. It is interesting to note the differences between the personnel used in the UK as opposed to those in North America. In particular, many more specialist civilians are employed at the actual crime scene in the UK, whereas in Canada, and much of the US, the actual crime scene investigators are almost invariably highly specialized police officers.

Subjects covered include the collection and analysis of trace evidence (such as hair and fibres), toolmarks, fingerprints, bloodstain patterns, questioned documents, computer crimes, arson, explosions, firearms, gunshot residue, drugs, alcohol and body fluids. The chapters include not only the details of the evidence itself, but also information about the training and backgrounds of the different people involved in each area. The latter is particularly important as, with the growing popularity of forensic science on television, many young people aspire to be forensic scientists, but lack knowledge about the types of careers available, the work itself, and the backgrounds required.

The chapters do not simply present hard, clinical scientific facts but rather describe each subject in a generally understandable and interesting manner, while at the same time discussing the evidentiary value of the evidence, the methods used in the analysis, the lengths that must be gone to in order to eliminate contamination and to maintain continuity, and finally ways the scientist determines and presents the significance of the evidence. Much of the evidence is illustrated with scenarios or case histories to relate the science to real life.

The book is very easily understood by a non-scientist as it does not go into great scientific detail concerning the evidence or the analytical techniques used. It provides enough information to be understandable, without an in-depth presentation of the techniques found in other similar texts. This makes the book much more easily understood by a non-scientist and provides an excellent introduction for the more specialized scientist. The book concludes with a chapter on the presentation of forensic science in court.

Forensic Science, like all science, is rapidly advancing and expanding, and any text in this field needs to be extremely up to date, accurate and informative. This text will be of value to students, practitioners, lawyers and anyone who is interested in this intriguing field. The unarguable proliferation and popularity of forensic science in television shows and books has resulted in tremendous media and public fascination with this field. Although such public popularity is not necessarily a bad thing, the frequent media and television misrepresentation of the field is disturbing, and good, easily read texts such as this are required to correct such misinterpretations and to inform students and the pubic. It will be of particular value to those seeking to present or argue a forensic science in a court of law. Although the book is designed for a British audience so primarily focuses on British law and forensic science, it is applicable worldwide. While there are some differences on a global scale, forensic science is based on pure science, and scientific fact holds true in any country.