Criminalistics

Chuahiock, Brian
Escueta, David
Panday, Pierre
Tangonan, Julius
Yu, Smile
1. Definition of criminalistics.
Criminalistics is one of many divisions in the field of forensic science. Forensic
science includes forensic pathology, odontology, entomology, engineering,
criminology, and other disciplines. All of these are specialized sections in forensic
science.
It is also known as forensic science and it is the application of various sciences to
answer questions relating to examination and comparison of biological evidence,
trace evidence, impression evidence (such as fingerprints, footwear impressions,
and tire tracks), controlled substances, ballistics, firearm and toolmark
examination, and other evidence in criminal investigations. In typical
circumstances evidence is processed in a Crime lab.
Criminalistics should not be confused with the field of criminology. Criminologists
are sociologists, psychologists, and others who study the causes and effects of
crime on society.
2. What does a criminalist do?

A criminalist (or also known as a crime scene technician, examiner, or investigator)
is a person who searches for, collects, and preserves physical evidence in the
investigation of crime and suspected criminals [see job description]. They typically
work in city or regional crime labs and are expected to do more than the forensic
scientists and crime lab technicians there.
They are expected to be on call 24 hours a day to go out to crime scenes, frankly
when and where detectives are stumped. Some jurisdictions require the presence
of a criminalist at all major crime scenes. The services of a criminalist are used at
the beginning of a case. By contrast, the services of a forensic scientist are
primarily used at the end, or courtroom testimony phase, of a case. All crime lab
employees must be ready to offer expert testimony in court, however.
For the criminalist, crime scene investigation involves the recognition,
documentation, collection, preservation, and interpretation of physical evidence
which may be as big as a truck or as small as a diatom or pollen grain. Recognition
of items out of place, articles improperly located or items added to the crime scene
are an important part of crime scene processing. The criminalist collects,
preserves, and makes interpretations about the evidence and their relation to the
series of events resulting at the crime scene.
The criminalist brings evidence back to the laboratory where examinations will be
conducted. Interpretations are made about the relevance of a particular item from
the crime scene by associating particular items of evidence to specific sources and
reconstructing the crime scene. This means not only associating a suspect with a
scene but also the telling of a story about what transpired before, during and after
the crime. The criminalist must draw on a wide spectrum of scientific knowledge
including chemistry, biology, genetics, molecular biology, physics, statistics and a
working knowledge of civil and criminal law. Applying this knowledge, criminalist
will associate and identify evidence, interpret the results, reconstruct the crime
scene, and write a report summarizing the findings.
Finally, the criminalist testifies in courts of law, teaching the judge and jury about
the conclusions reached in the laboratory.
3. What role do they play in legal proceedings?

Criminalists usually get called to testify about matters of contamination, crosscontamination, and chain of custody, but many of them (senior criminalists) have
developed an interpretive expertise, for example, in blood spatter analysis, trace
evidence, impression evidence, or drug identification, as well as skills at crime
reconstruction and sometimes profiling (Levinson & Almog 1989).
The criminalist tells the truth in an unbiased manner, educating the jurors about
the techniques that were used, the results obtained and interpretations derived
from those conclusions. The criminalist must answer the question posed so that
their answer is not misleading the jurors. If the question posed requires a yes or no
answer but an explanation is needed to explain the yes or no answer, they are
obligated to give an explanation. Professionally, the criminalist does not care
whether the defendant is found guilty or not guilty. Presentation of the evidence in
a fair and unbiased manner and telling the truth are the primary obligations of the
criminalist.
4. Case where criminalistics was vital to the legal proceeding.

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Criminalistics

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Chuahiock, Brian

2. What does a criminalist do?

3. What role do they play in legal proceedings?

4. Case where criminalistics was vital to the legal proceeding.

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