Criminalistics: An Introduction to Forensic Science (7th Edition) - Hardcover

Richard Saferstein

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0130138274 ISBN 13: 9780130138279

Publisher: Prentice Hall, 2000

Synopsis

Revised and up-to-date, the renowned authority on forensic science introduces the non-scientific reader to the field of forensic science through an exploration of its applications to criminal investigations while explaining the techniques, abilities and limitations of the modern crime laboratory. The book covers all areas of forensic science including: the crime scene; physical evidence; organic and inorganic analysis; hairs, fibers and paint; drugs; forensic toxicology; DNA; firearms; tool marks and other impressions; and document and voice examination plus case readings. For individuals in criminal justice, law enforcement and related law professions.

About this title

About the Author

RICHARD SAFERSTEIN, Ph.D., retired in 1991 after serving 21 years as the Chief Forensic Scientist of the New Jersey State Police Laboratory, one of the largest crime laboratories in the United States. He currently acts as a consultant for attorneys and the media in the area of forensic science. During the O.J. Simpson criminal trial, Dr. Saferstein provided extensive commentary on forensic aspects of the case for the Rivera Live show, the E! television network, ABC radio, and various radio talk shows. Dr. Saferstein holds degrees from the City College of New York and earned his doctorate degree in chemistry in 1970 from the City University of New York. From 1972 to 1991, he taught an introductory forensic science course in the criminal justice programs at the College of New Jersey and Ocean County College. These teaching experiences played an influential role in Dr. Saferstein's authorship in 1977 of the widely used introductory textbook Criminalistics: An Introduction to Forensic Science, currently in this seventh edition. Saferstein's basic philosophy in writing Criminalistics is to make forensic science understandable and meaningful to the nonscience reader, while giving the reader an appreciation for the scientific principles that underlie the subject.

Dr. Saferstein presently teaches a course on the role of the expert witness in the courtroom at the law school of Widener University in Wilmington, Delaware. He has authored or co-authored more than 30 technical papers covering a variety of forensic topics. He has also edited the widely used professional reference books Forensic Science Handbook, Volumes I-III (Prentice Hall, 1982, 1988, 1993) dealing with important forensic science topics. Dr. Saferstein is a member of the American Chemical Society, the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the Forensic Science Society of England, the Canadian Society of Forensic Scientists, the International Association for Identification, the Mid-Atlantic Association of Forensic Scientists, the Northeastern Association of Forensic Scientists, the Northwestern Association of Forensic Scientists, and the Society of Forensic Toxicologists.

From the Back Cover

The application of science to criminal investigation is described in a style that is easily comprehensible, even to the reader with no background or skills in science. Through actual case histories and with the aid of over 200 illustrations, the reader will explore how forensic science impacted on the "crimes of the century"—the Lindbergh kidnapping and the Simpson criminal investigation—as well as other noted criminal cases.

Criminalistics focuses its attention on the up-to-date technologies police rely on to apprehend criminal perpetrators and to link them through trace evidence to crime scenes. The new edition emphasizes the latest DNA profiling technologies, which include STR and mitochondrial DNA. This book details how the creation of a new, nationwide DNA data bank has been designed to apprehend the mobile criminal. Today, the ability to detect less than one billionth of a gram of DNA means that forensic scientists can extract critical information at crime scenes from stamps and envelopes licked with saliva; a cup or can that has come in contact with a person's lips; chewing gum; the sweat bank of a hat; or a bedsheet containing an individual's skin cells.

As forensic science enters the new millennium, the impact of the digital revolution has led to the development of data banks for fingerprints, fired bullets, hair, paint, and shoeprints. This updated revision of Criminalistics emphasizes the new high-tech advances being made in crime scene investigation, as well as in arson and explosion investigation. A major portion of the text is devoted to how common items of physical evidence are located at crime scenes, processed in the crime lab, and preserved for presentation in the courtroom.

Like all facets of modern life, forensic science has been touched by the Internet. This new edition introduced the reader to basic concepts of Internet use and encourages exploration of the latest Web sites particularly relevant to forensic science and criminal investigation.

In addition to this book's comprehensive coverage of forensic science, a newly revised laboratory manual has been separately designed to supplement this edition.

Edition details

• Publisher: Prentice Hall
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0130138274
• ISBN 13: 9780130138279
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 676