Forensic Science for Criminal Tracking and Crimes Prevention - Research Paper Example

FORENSIC BOTANY Forgery and evil acts have been part of every society. They have existed in different forms and have been implemented and executed in various ways over centuries. It is a known fact, that where ever there is human population, there will be counterfeit incidents. Counterfeit acts have existed and travelled along every civilization of time in one form or another. Those who execute them have worked on exploring ways to break the locks and laws, while those who aim at comprehending the ill acts work on bringing the culprits to justice and stop the mal practices. A quest has been in practice in form of new ways of pursuit against new ways of escape. Mankind in this regard has always aimed at exploring ways that can counteract all the ill acts that are being performed in various forms. With furtherance in technological field, the spectrum of forgery and ill acts has also expanded at the same pace and various methods have been introduced and adopted for executing the crimes. The paradigm of offensives has increased by large proportions, however at the same time the 21st century has brought about revolution in the field of criminal tracking and crimes prevention. The F.B.I itself started using the tool of D.N.A in the last few years of 20th century and it has been only after that, the progress in hunting down crimes and criminals has taken pace (Horn, 2005). Forensic science is one of those skills that have been used on a large scale to counteract all those activities that have been going on under the carpet and that target the innocent civilians. The scope of forgery and deceit is not limited to the individuals, the target could be a multinational organization, a private enterprise, an education department, government department or accounts and assets related department which is mostly the bank. Forensic Botany in specific: Since the scope of forensic science is quite broad it even applies to the field of botany as well. Forensic botany includes the study of plants and their species. Since the criminals and victims both are part of the environment and get to interact with the plants in an un controlled manner, these plants in an un intentional manner provide the platform for collecting evidence.Plants often prove very vital in leading to the criminals and providing information about the time of incident, the time till the victim lives and all other variables that can be helpful in reaching to the clue and solution. The traces of plants species at times stay on the body and clothes of people involved in the incident at either end. Many times it has been seen that the plants have provided a vital lead towards the resolution of issue .Various cases have come to forefront where the plants parts namely the pollens and beans have helped getting to the criminals(Milne, 2005). Introduction: Forensic science is the field specialized in dealing with tracing the evidence and later working on the evidence to reach to the culprit and crime through use of scientific methods and techniques. In other words it is the application of technological means to comprehend and understand the crime committed. Usually the crime so committed involves the use of scientific equipment in form of the internet used, the phone line used, transaction made, and the possible use of computer. It may also include the digital media used in form of hard drives, portable drives and other electronic devices that can be used for unlawful means. The use can be either by the perpetrators or by the victims themselves. The scope of forensic science is not limited to computer and digital material. Its scope extends to tracing of finger prints, footsteps, facial features, location tracking. Forensic science in itself is a broader term that has various other fields and specialties merged into it. It encompasses chemistry in form of the chemicals used occasionally for tracing out the evidence, study of biometric features through photographs and extracts, physics, biological study for purpose of D.N.As. The use of photography and digital images containing maps is another paradigm being covered by forensic science. The entire process usually contains three major steps, which have sub branches beneath them but these three define and describe the activity. These activities include retrieval, analysis and finally execution and elimination. Brief History: Through thorough study of history it can be revealed that forensic science existed through different ages and in various forms. Improvements kept creeping into the field and the progress has been steady and firm. The history of forensic science can be traced back to earlier centuries and through study of history It can be found out that field of forensic study existed even in the times of Julius Caesar .In 44 B.C Julius Caesar suffered 23 blows in his body, after his demise the expert was called upon to examine the body. After a critical examination and through the use of forensic procedure, it was revealed that only one of them proved fatal and resulted in the death (Tilstone, Savage et al. 2006). The last century can be marked by remarkable improvements and advancements in the field of forensic science and have given a new dimension to the incumbent field. The use of latest equipment and state of the art technology has further enhanced the field and made it ever useful. The introduction of D.N.A for evidence has totally revamped the structure and working of the field and has made the entire world dependent on the field of forensic study for resolving the crimes (Newton, 2008). D.N.A is a very strong tool that has been added to the archery of forensic field in the late 20th century. There were challenges faced in form of D.N.A approval in different sections of society and it did face some opposition in the beginning but since a dominating and revolutionary force it was, it made it to every part of the world and strengthened the field of detective science. In modern times the history of first forensic laboratory can be traced back to 1923 when the first of its kind, a forensic laboratory was established in the year 1923 in Los Angles (ref).By mid 20th century the court systems and judicial proceedings started accepting the forensic evidence as admissible evidence. A rapid change over and revamping of entire structure of the subject has been noticed since advanced techniques of tracing, latest methods of finger prints detection, high quality digital cameras availability, all these traits have made this field more fruitful and colorful at the same time. Through the establishment of laboratories, experts from different regions of the world started working and contributed in their capacity towards the incumbent discipline which served as the stepping stone for the rest of the people who took this field as a profession. Later on in the century the forensic science was taken up as a degree subject and many universities started offering the discipline of forensic studies. The beginning of 21st century is marked by massive growth and development in the field of forensic science. This is made possible through state of the art technology, tools and techniques implementation and knowledge .Features like geo tagging, data bases, global positioning systems and facial recognition softwares have made things considerably easy. An advantage of database bank is the record keeping and retrieval of information based on previous incidents. At times the D.N.A and other biometric records noted can lead to crimes and criminals from the past. Hence the centralized databanks containing the personal information in form of distinctive features have made the task relatively less pain staking. Examples: Over period of time dangerous criminals have been brought to justice through use of forensic evidence. At times the physical evidence might be weak, for this reason tracing down other clues requires using the services of forensic science. A case came to forefront in 1970 when an American Army doctor’s family. The doctor Jeffrey MacDonald was slightly injured with minor bruises while his family suffered damages and the offensive resulted in the death of his pregnant wife and kids. By the look of it, the doctor was acquitted and no real evidence was proved, however when Forensic team got into it, they found traces while lead to the finding of real culprit, the doctor himself (Evans, 1998). This is not the one off example where forensic discipline has helped finding the real evidence and reaching to the culprits. The Green river incident is another of its kind (Bell, Fisher et al. 2008). The perpetrator could not be comprehended with physical evidence and was at large for a long while due to lack of evidence. The events took place in mid 1980s .However when the D.N.A tool became available, the man was busted and exposed and put behind the bars. Hence, forensic science and its subsequent advancements have enabled getting to the real culprits who would otherwise have not been brought to justice. It can be easily said, that the forensic science has given the justice system and court proceedings a total new dimension and has expanded the options and has made things possible that were once impossible. Another similar incident took place in Kansas, United States. The massacre took place for series of years from 1974 to 1991 which resulted in death of as many as ten people at least. The criminal remained on large for number of years and ironically always questioned the police’s ability to hunt down the culprits. This could not go on forever and ultimately he got caught through use of a portable flash drive which had the data recorded in it once (Gaines & Miller, 2007). The forensic team through special software retrieved the data that once existed on the drive and it served as the key to the lock and finally the criminal was comprehended. The forensic crackdown is not limited to personnel only. Every year across the world large number of bank scams and other fraudulent means are being investigated through use of forensic tools. Many credit cards are being forged and secret information is been leaked, lockers are being accessed. At times the offenders are thousands miles away from the site of action and perform the activities online. The forensic team takes into consideration all these options and work on all the areas possible in bid to get to the conclusion. Rules of Conduct: Like every other discipline forensic science has certain rules of conduct that must be followed, field of forensic science operates under certain rules and regulations. There are certain pre-requisites to its working. The first and foremost rule that is followed across the world is the protection of privacy and personal data. Any operation so performed must ensure that there is no violation of civil rights or any infringement of personal data. Accessing through the personal data and records is routine part of many forensic investigations. The obligation that falls upon the investigating team is the careful handling of the private data and ensuring the fact that the data should be used only for investigation purposes and any vulnerable information or part must not land into the hands that can hamper personal lives and security. In case of any misdeed performed in banks, the entire records are checked at times, which as a result enables the investigating team to get to know the bank account details and more dangerously, the personal bio data of the accounts holders. Working in the frame of ethics and moral values is vitally important (Downs & Swienton, 2012). C.S.I and real world operations: A debate is often seen at places that questions the role being performed by media and dramas that are based on crime scenes and forensic evidence. It is being argued that in real world such achievements and perfection might not be possible to the same degree. In another way it may put the pressure on the jury inclining them to speed up the process and reach the conclusion even if immature. Working mechanism: The working mechanism involves the steps that are undertaken during the performance of operations intended for resolving the issues. The first step in this regard is the permission from authoritative body over the performance of operation. Only after the legal permission should any activity be launched. Once the permission is granted, homework should be done in form of the strategies devised for scheme of action. The scheme of action includes defining the roles, setting the deadlines, identifying the areas of interest, isolating the regions that are vulnerable. This is followed by the launching and practical performance. This step can be in different forms, it can be either in shape of on the field inspection, monitoring of traffic from the office, retrieval of data from the crime scène. Often the crime scene serves as point of vital importance since the finger prints and other biometric information is contained in the crime sight. After the practical data gathering step is performed it is followed by the organizing and arranging of data in form that is readable and admissible. While all these activities are performed an important point must be kept in consideration which is the fact that any data and record so collected and retrieved must remain in its original shape and must not be tampered or mishandled (Dale & Becker, 2007). Admissibility in court of law: In the earlier 20th century forensic field saw some challenge in form of acceptance. Many people could not relate to it in real world scenario. Even the courts did not accept all the evidences presented by the forensic experts as admissible. Gradually the forensic science and its evidence started getting accepted. However the courts still demand the evidence to be in form that is presentable and can be tested (Shelton, 2010). Any evidence and clue collected must be presented in its original form and should be formatted and presented in a manner that is understandable and comprehendible by the law and common man. Conclusion: Forensic science as a discipline has become an integral part of every society. Every law and order department would welcome the services of forensic teams who can help them instigate the process of findings and in an oriented manner. Though this field like every other field is not void of improvements and there is always margin for improvement. The issue of private data responsible handling and ensuring not to misuse authority should be ensured every time forensic team is assigned a task. R&D should be established and nurtured since what is an invention today could be a relic tomorrow hence there is space for improvement. Another improvement could be in the area of time taken over an investigative process and the tests and samples being tested and compared in the laboratories. Usually the D.N.A testing takes considerable amount of time in verification process. Efforts need to be brought up to speed up the entire processing activity (Pyrek, 2007). Bibliography: 1-Horn, S. (2005). The restless sleep: inside New York Citys Cold Case Squad. Viking. 2-Milne, L. A. (2005). A grain of truth: how pollen brought a murderer to justice. New Holland. 3-Tilstone, W. J., Savage, K. A., & Clark, L. A. (2006). Forensic science: an encyclopedia of history, methods, and techniques. ABC-CLIO. 4-Newton, D. E. (2008). DNA Evidence and Forensic Science. Infobase Publishing. 5-Evans, C. (1998). The Casebook of Forensic Detection: How Science Solved 100 of the Worlds Most Baffling Crimes. Wiley. 6-Bell, S., Fisher, B. A., & Shaler, R. C. (2008). Encyclopedia of Forensic Science. Infobase Publishing. 7-Gaines, L. K., & Miller, R. L. (2007). Criminal Justice in Action: The Core. Cengage Learning. 8-Downs, J. C., & Swienton, A. R. (2012). Ethics in Forensic Science. Academic Press. 9-Dale, W. M., & Becker, W. S. (2007). The Crime Scene: How Forensic Science Works. Kaplan Publishing. 10-Shelton, D. (2010). Forensic Science in Court: Challenges in the Twenty First Century. Rowman & Littlefield. 11-Pyrek, K. (2007). Forensic science under siege: the challenges of forensic laboratories and the medico-legal death investigation system. Academic Press. Read More