This document discusses the history and development of forensic science. It begins with early methods used in ancient times and progresses to modern developments. Key events and figures mentioned include the first use of forensic techniques in China in 1248, the contributions of Ambroise Pare in the 16th century, the founding of toxicology and ballistics analysis, and the pioneering work of Bertillon, Gross, Locard and others in the late 19th/early 20th centuries. The document also outlines the subfields of forensic science and bodies that foster its development.

1. FORENSIC SCIENCE: A BASIS FOR FORENSIC
INVESTIGATION
Compiled and Presented
Chief Technical Consultant/Managing Partner
OGE Professional Services Ltd
GOE Professional Practice
Chairman, IIFCFIP Nigeria
President, ACFE Lagos Nigeria Chapter
Being a paper presented at
3RD ANNUAL GLOBAL FORENSIC CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION OF IICFIP
•August 9 – 11, 2016
By:
Chief Godwin Emmanuel, Oyedokun
ND (Fin), HND (Acct.), BSc. (Acct. Ed), MBA (Acct. & Fin.), MSc. (Acct.), (MSc. Fin.), MTP (SA), ACA,
FCTI, ACIB, AMNIM, CNA, FCFIP, FCE, CICA, CFA, CFE, CPFA, ABR, CertIFR

2. FORENSIC SCIENCE: A
BASIS FOR FORENSIC
INVESTIGATION

3. CONTENTS
This presentation will be discussed from the following major sub-topics :
 Introduction
 Gathering evidence
 Analyzing evidence
 Collaboration
 Describing their findings
 Etymology
 History
 Origin of forensic science
 Bodies fostering forensic science
 Sub classifications of forensic
 Forensic science and humanitarian work
 Summary

4. INTRODUCTION
 Forensics is the study and use of science and technology to resolve
criminal, civic and regulatory matters. A background in the biological
sciences, medicine, chemistry and DNA analysis prepares you for a career
in forensic science.
 The application of science to criminal and civil laws.
 Forensic scientists collect, preserve, and analyze scientific evidence during
the course of an investigation.
 Forensic scientists travel to the scene to collect the evidence themselves,
other forensic scientists occupy a laboratory role, performing analysis on
objects brought to them by other individuals.

5. GATHERING EVIDENCE
 Forensic scientists visit the scene of a crime to search for and collect
possible evidence.
 Forensic scientists also catalog everything they remove from the
scene and make detailed notes describing each item and noting its
location at the scene.
 Forensic scientists also preserve each item they remove and they
often photograph or sketch the scene and all evidence collected.

6. ANALYZING EVIDENCE
 Forensic scientists spend most of their time at the forensic
laboratory testing evidence collected from the scene.
 A serologist, for instance, might test a victim’s blood for the
presence of illegal drugs or toxins.
 A firearms examiner might test bullet fragments to determine what
kind of gun they were fired from, or might match them to a gun
belonging to a suspect.
 A DNA analyst might compare DNA found on a victim’s body to
that of a suspect to determine if he was the one who assaulted her.

7. COLLABORATION
 Solving a crime requires teamwork from a sometimes diverse group of
investigators.
 Forensic scientists often work closely with fellow law enforcement
professionals, including FBI, CIA, DEA, immigration officers, police
officers, detectives, other forensic science professionals, prosecutors
and defense attorneys.
 Forensic scientists keep investigators updated of their findings and
explain their results in a way that helps officers determine whom to
question and how to structure their investigation.

8. DESCRIBING THEIR FINDINGS
 Forensic scientists they complete their analysis
 Forensic scientists explain their conclusions in detailed written
reports.
 These reports become part of the permanent case file, and are used
by detectives to help them target their investigation.
 Forensic scientists often testify as expert witnesses in criminal trials,
where they must explain their findings in a way that a lay audience
can understand.

9. ETYMOLOGY (The study of the origin of words)
 Forensic which is a Latin word ‘forēnsis’means of or before the forum.
 Both the person accused of the crime and the accuser would give speeches
based on their sides of the story.
 The case would be decided in favour of the individual with the best
argument and delivery. This origin is the source of the two modern usages
of the word forensic – as a form of legal evidence and as a category of
public presentation.
 In modern use, the term “forensics” in the place of forensic science can be
considered correct, as the term forensic is effectively
a synonym for legal or related to courts

10. HISTORY
Early methods
 Forensics in antiquity
 The ancient world lacked standardized forensic practices, which aided criminals in
escaping punishment.
 Criminal investigations and trials heavily relied on forced confessions and
witness testimony.
 However, ancient sources do contain several accounts of techniques that
foreshadow concepts in forensic science that were developed centuries later
 The first account of using medicine and entomology to solve criminal cases is
attributed to the book of Xi Yuan Lu (Washing Away of Wrongs), written in China
by Song Ci in 1248. Here, the case of a person murdered with a sickle was solved
by an investigator who instructed everyone to bring his sickle to one location.

11. HISTORY
Early methods
 Methods from around the world involved saliva and examination of the mouth and
tongue to determine innocence or guilt, as a precursor to the Polygraph test.
 In ancient India, some suspects were made to fill their mouths with dried rice and
spit it back out
 In ancient middle-eastern cultures, suspects were made to lick hot metal rods
briefly.
 NB: GUILTY => If rice was sticking to their mouths in abundance or if their
tongues were severely burned due to lack of shielding from saliva.

12. ORIGIN OF FORENSIC SCIENCE
Ambroise Pare (A French army surgeon)
 In 16th-century Europe, medical practitioners in army and university settings began to gather
information on the cause and manner of death. Ambroise systematically studied the effects of violent
death on internal organs.
 Two Italian surgeons, Fortunato Fidelis and Paolo Zacchia, laid the foundation of modern pathology
by studying changes that occurred in the structure of the body as the result of disease.
 In the late 18th century, French physician, Francois Immanuele Foder and a German medical expert
Johann Peter Frank wrote on “A treatise on forensic medicine and public health” and “The complete
system of police medicine” respectively.

13. TOXICOLOGY AND BALLISTICS
 A method for detecting arsenious oxide simple arsenic (food poisoning), in
corpses was devised in 1773 by the Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm
Scheele.
 His work was expanded, in 1806, by German chemist Valentin Ross, who
learned to detect the poison in the walls of a victim's stomach.
Apparatus for the arsenic test, devised by James Marsh. (First to apply this science
to the art of forensics in 1832)

14. Anthropometry
Bertillon's Identification anthropométrique (1893), demonstrating the
measurements needed for his anthropometric identification system.
 The French police officer, Alphonse Bertillon in 1893 was the first to apply the
anthropological technique of anthropometry to law enforcement, thereby creating
an identification system based on physical measurements.
 Before that time, criminals could only be identified by name or photograph. His
other contributions which still remain in place today are “the mug shot” and the
systematization of crime scene photography.

15. FORENSIC TECHNIQUES BY BERTILLION
Forensic document examination
The use of galvanoplastic compounds to preserve
footprints, ballistics
The dynamometer which is used to determine the
degree of force used in breaking and entering.

16. FINGERPRINTING
 Sir William Herschel was one of the first to advocate the use of fingerprinting
in the identification of criminal suspects.
 While working for the Indian Civil Service, he began to use thumbprints on
documents as a security measure to prevent the then-rampant repudiation of
signatures in 1858.
 Other scholars in subsequent years also revamped on the application of
fingerprinting
 1859
Fingerprints taken byWilliam Herschel in 1859

17. DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid)
 DNA fingerprinting was discovered by Sir Alec Jefferys in 1984. He realized
that variation in the genetic code could be used to identify individuals and to
tell individuals apart from one another.
 The application of DNA profiles was used few years after the discovery in rape
and murder cases by getting evidence of semen, blood from the suspect(s)
 Because of this case, DNA databases came into being. There is the National
(FBI) and International databases as well as the European countries (ENFSI).
 These searchable databases are used to match crime scene DNA profiles to
those already in database.

18. MATURATION
Police brought to bear the latest
techniques of forensic science in their
attempts to identify and capture the
serial killer Jack the Ripper.

19. MATURATION
 In the 20th century, the science of forensics had become
largely established in the sphere of criminal investigation
 Scientific and surgical investigation was widely
employed by the Metropolitan Police during their pursuit
of the mysterious Jack the Ripper, who had killed a
number of prostitutes in the 1880s.
 This case is a watershed in the application of forensic
science.
 Large teams of policemen conducted house-to-house
inquiries throughout White chapel.
 Forensic material was collected and examined.
 Suspects were identified, traced and either examined
more closely or eliminated from the inquiry.
 Police work follows the same pattern today.

20. MATURATION (CONT’D)
The popular fictional character Sherlock Holmes was in
many ways ahead of his time in his use of forensic
analysis.

21. MATURATION (CONT’D)
 In 1909, Archibald Reiss founded the Institut de police
scientifique of the University of Lausanne (UNIL), the first
school of forensic science in the world.
 Dr. Edmond Locard, became known as the "Sherlock Holmes
of France". He formulated the basic principle of forensic
science: "Every contact leaves a trace", which became known
as Locard's exchange principle.
 In 1910, he founded what may have been the first criminal
laboratory in the world, after persuading the Police
Department of Lyon (France) to give him two attic rooms and
two assistants.

22. Late 19th–early 20th century’s figures
 Hans Gross applied scientific methods to crime scenes and
was responsible for the birth of criminalistics.
 Edmond Locard expanded on Gross' work with Locard's
Exchange Principle which stated "whenever two objects come
into contact with one another, materials are exchanged
between them". This means that every contact by a criminal
leaves a trace.
 Alexander Lacassagne, who taught Locard, produced autopsy
standards on actual forensic cases.

23. Late 19th–early 20th century’s figures
Alphonse Bertillon was a French criminologist and
founder of Anthropometry (scientific study of
measurements and proportions of the human body).
He used anthropometry for identification, saying each
individual is unique and by measuring aspect of
physical difference, there could be a personal
identification system.

24. 20th Century
 Later in the 20th century, British pathologists, Alec Jeffreys pioneered the
use of DNA profiling in forensic science in 1984.
 He realized the scope of DNA fingerprinting, which uses variations in
the genetic code to identify individuals.
 The method has since become important in forensic science to assist police
detective work, and it has also proved useful in resolving paternity and
immigration disputes.
 DNA fingerprinting was first used as a police forensic test to identify the
rapist and killer of two teenagers, Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth, who
were both murdered in Narborough, Leicestershire, in 1983 and 1986
respectively.

25. BODIES FOSTERING FORENSIC SCIENCE
Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences
American Academy of Forensic Sciences
The Canadian Society of Forensic
Sciences
British Academy of Forensic Sciences
Ausralian Journal of Forensic Sciences

26. SUB CLASSIFICATIONS OF FORENSIC
 Forensic Investigation: is the examination of documents
and the interviewing of people to extract evidence.
 Forensic investigation is fast emerging as a lucrative
professional practice field.
 With increased sophistication of white collar criminals, there
is demand for well trained experts to carry out investigations
and also institute preventive, deterrence and detective
measures.

27. SUB CLASSIFICATIONS OF FORENSIC CONT’D
 Forensic Investigation

1. Agents of the USA. CID investigating a crime scene
2. Police forensic investigation in Ashton-under-Lyne, England, using a tent to protect
the crime scene

28. SUB CLASSIFICATIONS OF FORENSIC (CONT’D)
 Art forensics: The art authentication cases to help research the work's authenticity. Art
authentication methods are used to detect and identify forgery, faking and copying of art
works, e.g. paintings.
 Computational forensics: The development of algorithms and software to assist forensic
examination.
 Criminalistics: The application of various sciences to answer questions relating to
examination and comparison of biological evidence, trace evidence, impression evidence.
 Digital forensics: The application of proven scientific methods and techniques in order to
recover data from electronic/digital media. Digital Forensic specialists work in the field as
well as in the lab.
 Ear print analysis: A means of forensic identification intended as an identification tool
similar to fingerprinting.

29. Sub Classifications of forensic (Cont’d)
 Forensic accounting: The study and interpretation of accounting evidence.
 Forensic aerial photography: The study and interpretation of aerial photographic
evidence.
 Forensic anthropology: The application of physical anthropology in a legal
setting, usually for the recovery and identification of skeletonized human remains.
 Forensic archaeology: The application of a combination
of archaeological techniques and forensic science, typically in law enforcement.
 Forensic astronomy: The methods from astronomy to determine past celestial
constellations for forensic purposes.

30. Sub Classifications of forensic (Cont’d)
Forensic botany: The study of plant life in order to
gain information regarding possible crimes.
Forensic chemistry: The study of detection and
identification of illicit drugs, accelerants used
in arson cases, explosive and gunshot residue.
Forensic dactyloscopy: The study of fingerprints.
Forensic document examination or questioned
document examination: Answers questions about a
disputed document using a variety of scientific
processes and methods.

31. Sub Classifications of forensic (Cont’d)
 Forensic DNA analysis: Takes advantage of the uniqueness of an
individual's DNA to answer forensic questions such as paternity/maternity
testing and placing a suspect at a crime scene, e.g. in a rape investigation.
 Forensic engineering: The scientific examination and analysis of
structures and products relating to their failure or cause of damage.
 Forensic entomology: The examination of insects in, on and around
human remains to assist in determination of time or location of death.
 Forensic geology: Deals with trace evidence in the form of soils, minerals
and petroleum.

32. Sub Classifications of forensic (Cont’d)
 Forensic geomorphology: The study of the ground surface to look for
potential location(s) of buried object(s).
 Forensic geophysics: The application of geophysical techniques such as
radar for detecting objects hidden underground or underwater.
 Forensic intelligence: starts with the collection of data and ends with the
integration of results within into the analysis of crimes under investigation.
 Forensic Interviews are conducted using the science of professionally
using expertise to conduct a variety of investigative interviews with
victims, witnesses, suspects or other sources to determine the facts
regarding suspicions, allegations or specific incidents in either public or
private sector settings.

33. Sub Classifications of forensic (Cont’d)
 Forensic limnology: The analysis of evidence collected from crime scenes in or around
fresh-water sources.
 Forensic linguistics: Deals with issues in the legal system that requires linguistic expertise.
 Forensic meteorology: A site-specific analysis of past weather conditions for a point of loss.
 Forensic Odontology: The study of the uniqueness of dentition, better known as the study of
teeth.
 Forensic optometry: The study of glasses and other eyewear relating to crime scenes and
criminal investigations.
 Forensic pathology: A field in which the principles of medicine and pathology are applied to
determine a cause of death or injury in the context of a legal inquiry.

34. Sub Classifications of forensic (Cont’d)
 Forensic podiatry: An application of the study of feet footprint or footwear and
their traces to analyze scene of crime and to establish personal identity in forensic
examinations.
 Forensic psychiatry: A specialized branch of psychiatry as applied to and based on
scientific criminology.
 Forensic psychology: The study of the mind of an individual, using forensic
methods. Usually it determines the circumstances behind a criminal's behavior.
 Forensic seismology: The study of techniques to distinguish the seismic signals
generated by underground nuclear explosions from those generated by earthquakes.
 Forensic serology: The study of the body fluids.

35. Sub Classifications of forensic (Cont’d)
 Forensic social work: The specialist study of social work theories and their
applications to a clinical, criminal justice or psychiatric setting. The practitioners of
forensic social work are often termed Social Supervisors, forensic social
worker, approved mental health professional or forensic practitioner.
 Forensic toxicology: The study of the effect of drugs and poisons on/in the human
body.
 Forensic video analysis: The scientific examination, comparison and evaluation of
video in legal matters.
 Mobile device forensics: The scientific examination and evaluation of evidence
found in mobile phones, e.g. Call History and Deleted SMS, and includes SIM
Card Forensics.

36. Sub Classifications of forensic (Cont’d)
 Trace evidence analysis: The analysis and comparison of trace evidence
including glass, paint, fibres and hair (e.g., using micro-
spectrophotometry).
 Wildlife forensic science: Applies a range of scientific disciplines to legal
cases involving non-human biological evidence, to solve crimes such as
poaching, animal abuse, and trade in endangered species.
 Bloodstain pattern analysis: The scientific examination of blood spatter
patterns found at a crime scene to reconstruct the events of the crime.
 Litigation science: Analysis or data developed or produced expressly for
use in a trial versus those produced in the course of independent research.

37. FORENSIC SCIENCE AND HUMANITARIAN WORK
 The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) uses forensic
science for humanitarian purposes to clarify the fate of missing persons
after armed conflict, disasters or migration.
 Forensic science is used by various other organizations to clarify the fate
and whereabouts of persons who have gone missing.
 The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) uses forensic
science to find missing persons for example after the conflicts in the
Balkans.

38. SUMMARY
Distinguished colleagues and participants, from this paper, it can be concluded that:
 Forensic science plays a vital role in the criminal justice system by
providing scientifically based information through the analysis of
physical evidence.
 While detectives interview suspects, witnesses and victims, forensic
scientists remain primarily behind the scenes, collecting and
analyzing evidence.
 The role of forensic science is so crucial, because their findings can
help guide the direction of the investigation and even definitively
link a suspect to a crime.
 Forensics is also important in identifying the culprits of various
cyber crimes.

39. THANK YOU