History of Forensic science Flashcards
(26 cards)
Kin Policing
In early clans, all members helped decide punishments for offenders.
Serious crimes (like murder): punishment included banishment or death.
Less serious crimes: corporal punishment or loss of property.
Offenders were sometimes branded or mutilated as a mark.
In Ancient Hebrew society, kings, high priests, and elders handled law enforcement.
Specific individuals were appointed to catch and punish wrongdoers.
These practices continued under Roman rule.
Ancient Babylon – Laws of Hammurabi (c. 1700s BC)
One of the earliest and most complete written legal codes (282 laws).
Laws were codified—clear rules for everyone.
Messengers enforced the laws.
Laid the foundation for the judicial system.
Harsh punishments (e.g., cutting off tongue or hands).
Included the idea of “innocent until proven guilty.”
Ancient Rome – Twelve Tables (5th Century BC)
First written Roman laws: the Twelve Tables.
Covered citizens’ rights/responsibilities, legal procedures, property laws, and crime punishments.
Questores Parricidi: early police officials who tracked murderers—foundation of modern detectives.
Roman law spread across Western Europe through conquest, heavily influencing modern legal systems.
Post-Roman Empire to Early middle ages
Formal law enforcement collapsed—little organized policing.
Social control relied on individual punishment methods:
Trial by ordeal (painful tests to prove innocence)
Trial by combat (fighting to settle guilt)
Court of the Star Chamber: enforced royal authority.
Torture was legalized to extract confessions.
Law and justice were controlled by the king.
13th Century – Structured Law Enforcement in Europe
Emerging powers began creating organized law enforcement systems.
Introduced crime classification and the legal age of reason (age when children are seen as capable of understanding right from wrong).
Today’s equivalent: the juvenile vs. adult court system.
Enforcement Methods in Early England:
Hue and Cry System: citizens shouted to alert others and collectively pursue criminals.
Watch and Ward System: night guards monitored gates and suspicious activity—basis for modern night watch.
Office of the Sheriff: early law enforcement leader—ancestor of today’s police authorities.
History of policing England
1750: Henry Fielding creates the Bow Street Runners in London – first professional police force.
Known as thief-takers; only worked for those who could pay.
Tackled robbery gangs.
Introduced methods still used today: informants, criminal raids.
1829: Creation of the Metropolitan Police of London – model for modern policing.
1942: Official investigative unit founded.
History of policing France
1810: French Sûreté founded by Eugène François Vidocq.
First formal use of modern detectives.
Believed “only a criminal can catch a criminal”.
Used undercover investigators, especially in prisons.
Focused on both prevention (patrols) and investigation.
History of policing Canada
Adopted formal, uniformed police forces:
1834: Toronto
1838: Montreal
1840: Quebec City
1867: Provincial police created in rural Eastern Canada.
1873: Creation of North-West Mounted Police (precursor to today’s RCMP).
Criminology
Study of crime within society
Exploration of criminals and their treatment
Criminalistics
Study of evidence to investigate crimes
Known today as forensic science
Atavism
Idea that criminals are born, not made—due to biological deviance.
Proposed by Cesare Lombroso (psychiatrist, called the Father of Modern Criminology).
Positivism
Belief that crime is caused by social factors, not just biology.
Championed by Alexandre Lacassagne (professor of legal medicine, known as the Father of Forensic Science).
P&A connection to criminalistics
These ideas influenced the development of forensic methods.
Helped form the foundation of modern systems used to analyze crime scenes and criminal behavior.
Alphonse Bertillon
Built on Lombroso’s ideas, but with a different focus.
Lombroso: studied criminal biology (criminology).
Bertillon: aimed to identify repeat offenders (criminalistics).
Developed anthropometry:
11 body measurements used to ID individuals.
Known as the Bertillonage method, officially used starting 1883.
Widely accepted until the 1920s (later replaced by fingerprinting).
Problems: not always reliable due to measurement errors.
Legacy: laid the foundation for the modern mugshot.
Edmond Locard
Major figure in the history of forensic science.
Influenced by positivism and his predecessor Alexandre Lacassagne.
Encouraged to study law and medicine together.
Developed methods to examine:
Cause of death
Associated physical evidence
Helped bridge criminology and criminalistics through scientific investigation.
Late 1800s-early 1900s Key forensic classification and ID advances
1883 – Alphonse Bertillon:
Developed anthropometry (body measurements for ID).
1892 – Sir Francis Galton:
Introduced fingerprint identification.
1898 – Paul Jesrich:
Linked bullet striations to specific firearms.
1901 – Karl Landsteiner:
Discovered the blood grouping system (A, B, AB, O).
All advances were influenced by criminology pioneers and positivist philosophy.
Together, these breakthroughs laid the foundation of modern criminalistics.
Hans Gross (1847–1915)
Professor of criminal law who emphasized the role of science in legal investigations.
Published the Handbook for Examining Magistrates – one of the first texts to systematize criminology.
Advocated that legal professionals must understand scientific methods for studying crime.
Unified law and science in criminal investigations.
Coined the term “criminalistics”, laying the groundwork for the modern forensic field.
Sir Edward RIchard henry 1850-1931
Worked with the Metropolitan Police Force.
In 1890, developed a fingerprint classification system based on Francis Galton’s ideas.
Created the Henry Classification System to organize and identify fingerprints.
System based on three main patterns:
Loop
Whorl
Arch
Edmond Locard (1877–1966) – Father of Forensic Laboratories
1910: Started forensic work in an attic above law rooms in Lyon, France.
Focused on microscopic evidence like dust.
1912: Helped solve the Marie Latelle case, gaining formal recognition.
His lab became the first dedicated forensic laboratory in the world.
1920 – Locard Exchange Principle:
“Whenever two objects come into contact, they exchange material.”
Henry T.F. Rhodes (1893–1969)
Promoted use of the scientific method in crime scene investigation.
Published Clue and Crime.
Emphasized the goal of crime scene work:
Understand how the crime was committed.
Reconstruct the order of events.
Stressed that scientific investigation is foundational to these conclusions.
Paul Kirk (1902–1970)
Known as the founder of American criminalistics.
Published Crime Investigation.
Applied forensic science to real cases, including the Sam Sheppard case.
Helped shape evidence analysis in U.S. forensics.
Sir Alec Jeffreys (1950– )
British geneticist who revolutionized forensics in the 1980s.
Discovered DNA profiling, also known as genetic fingerprinting.
Proved that individuals can be uniquely identified by their DNA.
Transformed criminal investigations and legal proceedings worldwide.
Montreal FL
Montreal:
Laboratoire de sciences judiciaires et de médecine légale
Founded by Dr. Wilfrid Derome
Based on the Locard model
First forensic lab in Canada, third in the world
