fo-ren-sic: involving the application of scientific knowledge to legal matters.
—Webster's New World Dictionary
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The SilentWitness |
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Craigslea State High School Forensic Science Homepage A crime is committed. The deed is done. Out of sight. Out of hearing. But there is always the silent witness to testify. It is impossible for the criminal to act without leaving traces, some which are so minute they need the most advanced scientific technology to detect. The first person to formally state this principle was Dr. Edmond Locard. Like a tribesman who can track the spoor of animals, forensic scientists use all their intuition, and scientific skills to patiently observe the evidence of a crime. This evidence is the silent witness. What do you think of when you hear the word forensics? An "FP" or forensic Pathologist in a TV drama? But Forensics is a very diverse field, using the skills of mathematicians to anthropologists, accountants to psychologists, locksmiths to artists, engineers to computer and photographic experts, knot-tyers to handwriting analysts. The domain of forensic applications will involve any useful scientific and rational process. On these pages you will hopefully learn more about what these dedicated experts do, and how it all fits together, and exercise your own thinking skills. Remember that behind the definition lies a whole realm of good scientific thinking and research. Sherlock Holmes 7 rules of scientific thinking: (compiled by John C. Sherwood) |
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 1: “One should always look for a possible
alternative and provide against it. It is the first rule of criminal
investigation."2: "I never guess. It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts." 3: "Use your time sparingly. Determine what you have. Then determine what you need. Then look for what you need in the place where it must be." 4: “There is nothing so important as trifles. Never trust to general impressions, but concentrate yourself upon details." 5: "Singularity is almost invariably a clue." 6: "It is a mistake to confound strangeness with mystery. The most commonplace crime is often the most mysterious, because it presents no new or special features from which deductions may be drawn." 7: "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." |
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Last updated: 30 November 2000
