Forensic Science

Forensic Science has contributed to our world a great deal. People often misunderstand Forensic Science and believe it is much more capable than it really is. As a matter of fact what you see on T.V. is around 80% false or over exaggerated in some way. To Start of, Criminal Investigation is the largest and most known form of Forensic Science. Some of the more known areas include; Fingerprinting, Ballistics, DNA Identification, Fiber Samples, Computer Animation, Documentation analysis, etc. To get this out of the way in the beginning, what you saw on last night’s law and order is far from the truth. Things they do in a matter of hours take months at a time, and most of the time aren’t even plausible concepts.

Fingerprinting information varies in numerous ways. Each person’s fingerprints are different in someway (Unique). The technical term is actually “DNA fingerprinting” because us as a person obviously cannot

just take a look at a fingerprint and see the difference; we must analyze the actual DNA behind it. Sometimes a miss concept of most people is, that fingerprints stay perfectly fresh for extended periods of time. Partial fingerprints and even degraded full fingerprints can turn up to be useless sometimes. Fingerprints are not admissible if they are 99.9% sure, they must be 100% or a Forensics lab will not support them. DNA Fingerprinting, and the fingerprints that are at the tips of your actual fingers are two different things. The ones we actually use in court are DNA because there is a 1 in 50 billion chance that these are maybe wrong and with actual fingerprints it’s just an experts opinion.

Computer Animation is another valuable aspect in Forensics. Many People believe that they are getting “virtually framed”, and that computer animations are inconclusive. This has been shown to be wrong and is said to be much more accurate then an actual man reenactment. Computers are able to precisely pinpoint every single aspect of the reenactment. Some argue that this may “Create reality” and not illustrate it, but that’s up to the court to decide. An example of how this works was used when a snowplow struck an Iowa State basketball players car killing him. The plow driver was going 10 miles over the speed limit. This video was recreated and showed a fatal blow the side of the deceased’s car. Although he was speeding this movie was recreated with the plow going the speed limit and he still would have been fatally killed. The Iowa student didn’t look when pulling out into the intersection if you’re wondering. Also, Forensic Scientists use computer animation to simulate the aging or appearance change in a criminal