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The Casebook of Forensic Detection: How Science Solved 100 of the World's Most Baffling Crimes Evans entertains and instructs the reader with 100 cases that exemplify the use of 15 different forensic techniques (ballistics, fingerprinting). Some (like the Lindbergh case) are famous, others are barely known, yet each has some unique twist that sets it apart. Many "firsts" are included, such as the first murder conviction without a body, the first use of psychological profiling, and the first use of DNA typing. Evans also brings out the distinct (often flamboyant) personalities of the pioneering experts of forensics and some of their more notable courtroom theatrics. Each case is labeled by name of criminal, forensic technique, date, location, and significant feature(s), making this a useful reference as well as a fun book to read.

Faces Of Evil -- Every day, Lois Gibson is able to put power, control and a sense of justice back into the hands of victims of violent crime, heinous rapes, kidnappings and murders. Gibson, herself the victim of a violent rape, uses her skills to coax from the memories of victims the most intimate details possible and, with the stroke of a pencil, reconstructs the faces of their tormentors. Lois Gibson is a twenty-two-year veteran forensic artist with the Houston, Texas police department and affiliated with the FBI and U.S. Marshall's Service.

Cold Case Files #9-Investigative Reports

Crime Scene: The Ultimate Guide to Forensic Science
by Richard Platt
Revealing the very latest high-tech techniques of forensic detection, case studies and amazing digital imagery to show how science helps uncover the truth about how crimes were committed and who carried them out.

Blood Evidence: How DNA is Revolutionizing the Way We Solve Crimes
A look at how breakthroughs in DNA testing impact on criminal investigations. From OJ Simpson to the disappearance of Chandra Levy and the reopening of the Edward De Salvo case, the collection and use of DNA in criminal investigations has become a controversial and often confusing burden of proof. Blood Evidence explains the principles and science behind DNA testing and shows how it has both helped solve some of the most puzzling criminal cases in recent history and been used to discredit eyewitness accounts and physical evidence found at the crime scene.

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In 1985, in England, Alec Jeffreys, discovered, each human has unique DNA with the exception of identical twins. DNA is found in white blood cells, which are in blood, skin, saliva, semen, and hair follicles. When the National Research Council said in a 1992 that DNA testing was a reliable method to identify criminal suspects, the technology rapidly entered the mainstream court system. Dolan DNA Learning Center

How DNA Works

Determining who a DNA sample comes from is a 5-step process that can take 36 hours - 3 weeks

Howard Coleman, Director of Genelex, a DNA lab in Seattle, Washington and an expert who has been a witness for the court, shares the power of DNA and where he believes the future of this technology lies.

Art and Science of Criminal Investigation

DNA Forensics: Crime

What Every Law Enforcement Officer Should Know About DNA Evidence

Interpol Forensics

Taking DNA to Court: The Ultimate Lie Detector

The Unrealized Potential of DNA Testing -- The admissibility of DNA test results in the courtroom has become routine. More than 200 published court opinions Support this use, and DNA testing standards have been developed. The National Institute of Justice

The case for innocence -- The DNA revolution: Innocent men sitting on death row freed by evidence.

US Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics -- Survey of DNA Crime Laboratories -- Reports findings from a survey of publicly operated forensic crime labs that perform Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) testing.

What Jennifer Saw: An examination of false eyewitness identification in crimes and how DNA evidence is setting the innocent free.

December 2000, after spending 14 years on Florida's death row, Frank Lee Smith was cleared of the rape and murder of Shandra Whitehead, 8. Like nearly 100 prisoners before him, Smith's exoneration came as a result of DNA testing unavailable when he was convicted. 10 months before he was proven innocent, Smith died of cancer in prison, just steps away from Florida's electric chair.

The truth is that polygraphs lie -- In May 1978, 4 men were arrested by Chicago police for murdering a suburban man and raping and murdering his fiancee. All of the suspects claimed they were innocent, but there was no doubt about their guilt: 3 of them failed a polygraph exam. Eventually, the Ford Heights 4, were convicted for these brutal slayings, and 2 of the defendants were sentenced to death. But in 1996, DNA evidence exonerated all 4. They had spent 18 years behind bars, partly because the lie detector lied.

Humans are constantly shedding something: hair, skin, fingernails, often blood. But forensic experts can use these bits of evidence left inadvertently behind to reconstruct what happened and who did it.

Hair from a crime scene can tell investigators much about the victim or criminal. -- Analysis can reveal the presence of poison or dye, and even racial differences. Hairs with roots and tissue attached may not only make DNA testing possible, but indicate a struggle took place. Hair from animals can also provide important evidence.

Dust -- We carry on our skin everything from our cat's fur to lint from the towel. It's a combination of matter as unique to our home as a fingerprint is to an individual and just as traceable. It is the job of forensic experts to study dust fibers, hairs and other trace materials found at crime scenes and on victims and see if it can be used to connect a crime.

Techniques of Crime Scene Investigation, Sixth Edition
by Barry A.J. Fisher Examines concepts, field-tested technique, procedures and technical information that constitute the backbone of crime scene investigation. Includes check-off lists, crime scene investigation processes after the OJ Simpson trial, case studies, illustrated photos, and an appendix on equipment for crime scene investigations. This text has been widely adopted by police academies, community colleges and universities. The International Association for Identification, the American Board of Criminalistics, and the Forensic Science Society-recommend this book to prepare for their certification examinations.

Forensic Science: An Introduction to Scientific and Investigative Techniques by Stuart H. James , Jon J. Nordby First introductory text to present forensic science in its broadest sense, encompassing classic criminalistics and beyond. Offers a cutting-edge presentation of criminalistics and related laboratory subjects.

An Introduction to Forensic DNA Analysis, Second Edition
by Norah Rudin, Keith Inman The 1997 first edition of the published volume was expanded again to gather forensic DNA analysts into the readership net. In the second edition, they acknowledge short tandem repeat (STR) typing as the current system of choice, and emphasize the growing importance of DNA databases. General readers should find here a better understanding of the process as well as technical material.

Forensic Science: Crime and Detection by Charlie Fuller

No Stone Unturned: The True Story of the World's Premier Forensic Investigators by Steve Jackson NecroSearch International volunteers expertise to locate murder victims for the police and prosecutors.

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Books

The Real Body Farm: Inside the Legendary Forensics Lab Where the Dead Do Tell Tales by Bill Bass

The Crime Scene: 50 True Stories from the Forensic Science Files by Editors of Popular Science Magazine

Criminalistics: An Introduction to Forensic Science (7th Edition)
by Richard Saferstein
Presents techniques, skills, and limitations of the modern crime laboratory, for students or criminal investigators with no background in forensic sciences. The nature of physical evidence is emphasized. This edition is updated with the current technologies available to crime laboratory personnel. Focuses on the up-to-date technologies police rely on to apprehend criminal perpetrators and to link them through trace evidence to crime scenes. New edition covers the latest DNA typing procedures.

Crime Scene Investigation and Reconstruction
by Robert R., Jr. Ogle

Handbook of Autopsy Practice by Jurgen Ludwig
Ludwig has updated and expanded his "masterpiece" to create an indispensable source of procedures for successful autopsy diagnosis and documentation. The section on autopsy has been modernized with current laboratory methods, processing autopsy data, quality assurance procedures, and increased safety precautions for dealing with potentially fatal infectious diseases. An updated alphabetical listing of diseases and conditions-tabulates, for reference in the autopsy room, the technical procedures recommended for specific diseases, conditions and the expected findings. Critical guidance on what to look for in each case and how to dissect and preserve it. Updated appendices detail organ and body weights and sizes, conversion factors, fetal development tables, and all manner of esoteric information.