Forensic Science: A Very Short Introduction

Description

Jim Fraser explains the forensic techniques used in the investigation of crime, such as DNA profiling, toxicology, trace evidence, digital forensics, fingerprints, and crime scene management, and how forensic scientists work alongside criminal investigators and lawyers.

• Explains how forensic science is used in the investigation of crime, covering DNA profiling, toxicology, trace evidence, digital forensics, and fingerprints
• This new edition has been fully updated with new developments in the areas of DNA analysis, drug analysis, and the growing field of digital forensics
• Draws on the author's extensive experience in the field, and personal accounts of high profile cases
• Explains the principles and processes of crime scene management
• Part of the Very Short Introductions series - over ten million copies sold worldwide

About the Author(s)

Jim Fraser, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow

Jim Fraser has 40 years' experience in forensic science and has worked on many high profile cases, in various roles, including as an expert witness, case reviewer, senior police manager, policy adviser, and researcher. He has also advised many public agencies including police organisations in the UK and abroad, the Home Office, the Scottish Parliament, and the UK Parliament. He is a Research Professor in Forensic Science at the University of Strathclyde, as well as a member of the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission and Independent Chair of the United Kingdom Accreditation Service technical advisory committee on forensic science.

Table of Contents

Preface and acknowledgements to second edition
1:What is forensic science
2:Investigating crime
3:Crime scene management and forensic investigation
4:Laboratory examination: search, recovery, and analysis
5:DNA: identity, relationships, and databases
6:Prints and marks: more ways to identify people and things
7:Trace evidence
8:Drugs and toxicology
9:Science and justice - a case study
Further reading
Index

Reviews

"Well written and accessible... [and] does not shy away from the various controversies that have come to plague the discipline of forensic science in recent years." - Professor David Wilson, author of My Life With Murderers