In 1998 the American Academy of Forensic Sciences celebrated its first 50 years of operation at its Golden Anniversary Meeting in San Francisco. In anticipation of that event, in 1991 the Academy created a committee to prepare a history of the organization. One of the products of that committee was a book, the principal author of which was one of the authors of this review (KSF). The theme of t...

§13.1 The Forensic Sciences §13.2 The Admissibility of Forensics-Only Science §13.2.1 “General Acceptance” in Forensic Science Should Not Be a Sufficient Condition for Admissibility §13.2.2 “General Acceptance” in Forensic Science Should Not Be a Necessary Condition for Admissibility §13.3 Trace Evidence and Identification §13.3.1 Matches, Non-Matches, and Hypotheses §13.3.2 Exclusions §13.3.3 ...

As part of the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences’ natural, mathematical, and biomedical sciences programs, forensic sciences provides an understanding of the integration of forensic disciplines with the investigation of criminal activity, while providing an overview of the analytical methods, procedures, equipment, and data used by forensic specialists. Coursework emphasizes the identifica...

Background: DNA markers are inevitable tools of human identification in forensic science. Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) are one category of these markers which is concerned to use especially in the case of degraded DNA because of their short amplicons. Objectives: Detection of highly informative SNPs by the criteria is the essential step to devel...

The dominant conception of forensic science as a patchwork of disciplines primarily assisting the criminal justice system (i.e. forensics) is in crisis or at least shows a series of anomalies and serious limitations. In recent years, symptoms of the crisis have been discussed in a number of reports by various commentators, without a doubt epitomized by the 2009 report by the US National Academi...

Previous research into pollen content of tobacco resulted in a debate. We address this debate and determine that pollen analysis may be able to assist with identifying geographical origin of tobacco. However, the value of any results should be assessed on a case-by-case regional basis until sufficient database information is available for an objective interpretation to be undertaken on a global...

Forensic anthropology can provide detailed information regarding the perpetrator's treatment of a homicide victim. This data may inform The Depravity Standard (DS), a forensic science inventory used to assess the severity of a homicide's intent, actions, victimology, and attitudes. Skeletal data enabled the reconstruction of a homicide case involving mutilation and possible torture. Using The D...