Does Forensics have a big impact in the criminal justice system? Forensics plays a important role in every aspect of criminology. The evidence that forensics provides can make a big difference in a trial case. The role that forensics evidence takes in a criminal case is an important one. Forensics plays a primary role in the criminal justice field because of how the data from the evidence can help determine if a person is innocent or guilty . Its helps with figuring out the elements to the crime scene to try and find key factor of the crime and how the crime was committed. Evidence that is found at a crime scene can help investigators figure when, where, and what time the crime took place. The evidence can also help establish in what of events occured before and after the crime. Forensics contributes a lot to the criminal justice field. Its impact in a trial case can be very vital and important due to the evidence the forensic examiner finds. The collection of forensic evidence and the application of forensic sciences have become essential to criminal investigations and prosecutions. forensics fulfills several roles in a criminal investigation. (Fisher,2004). The crime scene investigators and forensic examiners do a careful and step by step process to collect all the evidence or data from a crime scene to help a case. So to say that forensics doesn’t have a huge impact in criminology is absurd.
One of the main reasons for the focus of forensics evidence in solving crimes is the emergence of local, state, and national database systems with forensic evidence information.( McEwen, p.14) In 1975 the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) introduced its automated fingerprint identification system (IAFIS). a nationwide installation print card for computerized print matching in various police departments across the country. The states and their own jurisdictions would maintain their own AFIS system. This new technique would become vital to criminal investigations matching fingerprints, latent prints and palm prints from crime scenes to the right suspect or suspects of the crime.(McEwen, p.14). The advancement of forensic evidence since 1975 had let to countless arrests and prosecutions against offenders. This type of technology was brand new and fresh to the criminal justice field. Thus making forensics a highly required and recommended source to use in criminal cases and trials. Which is why Forensics is most important part in criminal justice.When its comes to a trial a testimony from a suspect and or evidence from a crime scene are the two main sources that are the key factors in a case. “ In law, evidence has probative value if it is sufficiently useful to prove something in a trial”. (Garner,2004) Everything found at a crime scene is important because it can used against the person who is being prosecuted. When Diamond Bracken was asked what’s the most important part of a trial case, she replied :“when a lawyer presents the evidence is in the courtroom”. A lawyer can decide to or to not present evidence to help their client be sent free or have a lesser sentence. When the evidence is presented to the courtroom the suspect has an opportunity to explain why their prints or any of their belongings were at the crime scene. The evidence can either hurt or help the suspect in a trial case. Diamond Bracken, who takes a criminal justice class,when asked how does forensics impact a trial case, she replied “it’s all about the evidence and what it can prove in a case for the suspect it can either be make that person look guilty or it can make that person innocent’’. After all in a trial is not about who’s telling the truth and who’s not telling the truth. It’s about what you can prove and what evidence can prove in a trial case. There to say that forensic evidence has a major impact in the courtroom.
When asked what is the most part of a Forensic examiner job, Diamond Bracken replied, “when the crime scene is being investigated”. There are many jobs in the Forensic department but one of the most important jobs is being a Forensic examiner. A Forensic examiner is an professional who takes part in Forensic examinations in any of the fields of Forensics. They perform a orderly investigation to obtain the truth behind a crime and form an opinion that is of an expert. They do an ordeal of analysis to make sure the information they have is correct. At a crime scene a Forensic examiner inspects every aspect of the crime scene. When asked does an Forensic examiner have to go through a great ordeal of evidence at a crime scene to figure out the truth, Diamond Bracken replied :“ they do because despite what everyone one else is doing the Forensic examiner has to go back to lab and put together clues to figure out the truth of the crime”. While the detectives are trying to obtain the truth from a witness or suspect. It’s the Forensics department who put together the evidence to try to establish facts and put together the truth.who is As seen in this photo above the examiners are collecting evidence and examining the crime scene for clues. Every clue or piece of Forensic evidence counts towards what happens in the case. The Forensics department are an important factor in what happens to the evidence from the crime scene.
Forensic is very much needed in the criminal justice field. Forensics provides scientific based information from the analysis of evidence that is physical. While an investigation is going on the evidence collected at a crime is being carefully monitored and analyzed by the Forensic department. Forensics science helps the other parts of the criminal justice field in multiple ways. Without the science of Forensics there would be no finding the suspect or prosecution of a person who is seen as guilty of the crime. Unless they have a eye witness who sent everything but even when you have witnesses you still can’t obtain the truth from them. Forensics admissible clues to figure out the truth. So they are definitely needed in the criminal justice field. Even The Legal System can say that Forensics plays a high valued role in their field. When asked why does Forensic science play a major part in the criminal justice system, Diamond Bracken replied “because Forensic Science is the piece that completes the puzzle”. This is true because an investigator can have a eye witness and suspect but without evidence to prove who committed the crime they have nothing. The case would be closed and considered a cold case. So in summary Forensics is indeed needed
“How Forensic Science Is Used In A Criminal Investigation | Orlando Criminal Defense Lawyer.” The Baez Law Firm, www.baezlawfirm.com/understanding-how-forensic-science-is-used-in-a-criminal-investigation/.
McEwen, Tom. The Role and Impact of Forensic Evidence in The Criminal Justice System. Nov. 2011.
US Legal, Inc. “Forensic Examiner Law and Legal Definition.” Fraud Law and Legal Definition | USLegal, Inc., definitions.uslegal.com/f/forensic-examiner/.
Bracken, Diamond. “Forensic Science Knowledge.”