Forensics Science
More commonly known as forensics, forensics science includes all the applications connected to crimes and their legal investigations. Over the last years, life-based documentaries and television crime series have made forensics science a part of popular culture. It seems like forensic investigations are not that difficult to understand. Everything that is to be used in the court of law for conviction, has been gathered by the forensic experts at the site of the crime.
Forensics science has a very long tradition in the history of mankind, as it seems to have been practiced by the Romans for example. Records do exist in Europe and in some Far East countries such as China. In the early 18th century, there were even treatises of forensic medicine and police medicine in support of the investigations for criminal acts, particularly violent deaths. This is how medical practitioners were able to detect arsenic intoxication, thus, getting a proof of poisoning. Every discovery in police diagnosis thus had a share in the growth of forensics science in its present day form.
The sub-divisions or applications that are presently belonging to the wider domain of forensics science include toxicology, criminalistics, forensic geology, forensic anthropology, applied science and so on. As it results from these examples, forensics serves for more than the act of justice alone. Some subdivisions thus serve well for archaeological, ethnological and geographical purposes. Forensic anthropology analyzes human remains, allowing the understanding of various cultural and historical aspects depending on the context and the exact place where the evidence was found.
There are some aspects of forensics science that have caused a lot of debate, and they still remain less scientific than they were believed to be. Forensic dentistry for instance causes problems because it is no longer considered viable for the conviction of criminals based on bite marks. People charged and convicted starting from such evidence were released as in 1999, the American Board of Forensic Odontology showed that the possibility of false identification was higher than 60% in all such cases. Although it has come a long way, forensics science has a sinuous path to cover before reaching perfection.