In the course of the last 100 years, the way in which crime is detected and criminals are identified and caught has changed fundamentally, owing to the development of forensic science. Where once the Victorians identified likely criminals by phrenology, the study of head shape, now we have fingerprinting and even more recently, DNA typing.
Starting from the fundamental principle of forensics, that “every contact leaves a trace”, Dr Erzinçlioglu presents a fascinating study of the techniques which we have all heard about in countless trials and on television dramas and crime reconstructions, but until now have remained mysteries to the outsider. Chapters on poisons, alcohol and drugs, document and handwriting analysis, sudden death, blood and other bodily fluids, identity, trace and contact evidence, ballistics, criminal psychology, the handling of forensic evidence and terrorism and forensic science in the twenty-first century present a complete and fully up-to-date picture of a science which involves much more than post-mortems.
