Police Lab: How Forensic Science Tracks Down and Convicts Criminals - Hardcover

Owen, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1552976203 ISBN 13: 9781552976203

Publisher: Firefly Books, 2002

Synopsis

Is there such a thing as the perfect crime?

In 1979, US Army captain, Jeffrey MacDonald claimed that three "hippies" broke into his house and attacked him and stabbed his wife and daughters. Despite the Army Captain's careful attempts to conceal evidence, forensic scientists were able to prove that MacDonald himself was guilty. Police Lab shows how forensic scientists gather and analyze evidence, examine weapons and bodies and use DNA testing and other techniques to help solve crime. Twenty real-life case studies show forensic scientists in action and demonstrate the fascinating secrets of police labs.

Police Lab includes:

analyzing physical evidence and weapons
fraud and forgeries including handwriting analysis
DNA testing and the future of forensic science
"forensic facts" sidebars throughout the book explaining how even the smallest detail and shred of evidence can help solve crime
20 real-life case studies including: The World Trade Center bombing, O.J. Simpson trial, assassination of John F. Kennedy and the conviction of serial killer Ted Bundy
more than 200 color photographs

About this title

About the Author

David Owen is the author of Hidden Evidence and Hidden Secrets. He has written extensively on military deception, espionage, and written and produced television documentaries on computer crime and electronic intelligence.

Reviews

Grade 6-8-What with CSI one of the more popular shows around, forensic-science methods have made an entrance into many living rooms around the country, and there has been corresponding activity in the previously placid 363.25s. This addition to the genre discusses current methodology interspersed with actual forensic investigations into crimes as diverse as a brutal murder in 1889 to the causes of the gun turret explosion on the USS Iowa in 1989. Poison, strangulation, burning, drowning, shooting, and stabbing are some of the murderous methods explored in the readable text, as are such forensic tools as facial reconstruction, bite matching, ballistics, DNA screening, and the old standby, fingerprinting. Color photos abound, as do "Forensic Fact" and "Crime File" boxes. This title is on a comparable level with Andrea Campbell's more stolid Forensic Science (Chelsea, 1999) and Brian Lane's Crime & Detection (DK, 2000), and more difficult than Charlotte Foltz Jones's chattier Fingerprints and Talking Bones (Delacorte, 1997). Couple Owen's book with Mark P. Friedlander, Jr., and Terry M. Phillips's competent When Objects Talk (Lerner, 2001) and Donna M. Jackson's superb The Bone Detectives (Little, Brown, 1996) and put CSI on TiVo.
Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 6-12. Part forensics lesson and part historical crime review, this book blends fascinating and manageable detail with specific examples of famous cases most readers will recognize. Owen does an excellent job of explaining how forensics experts gather, analyze, and assess data on forgery, poisoning, suicides, explosions, and murder by fire, water, suffocation, and various weapons. Detailed descriptions of the forensics process are always put into historical context, with brief, gripping summaries of many famous cases and historical events, including the assassination of JFK, the discovery of diaries attributed to Hitler, the crimes of such serial killers as Ted Bundy, individual high-profile murders, and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The durable, glossy pages contain eye-catching color photos of criminals, crime scenes, and lab work, as well as occasional gruesome shots of victims. Whether moved by morbid curiosity or by Owen's command of his topic, both middle- and high-school readers will find this book an exciting, enlightening read. A lengthy glossary is appended. Roger Leslie
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Firefly Books
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1552976203
• ISBN 13: 9781552976203
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 128