2.2: Scientific Methodology and the Forensic Sciences

In the aftermath of the Daubert and Kumho Tire Company decisions, one might ask how the various disciplines of the forensic sciences are deemed to be based on scientific methodology. To answer this question, we need only look at two disciplines: Fingerprint technology and crime scene reconstruction.

As you will soon learn, the science of fingerprint technology, which includes the development of latent fingerprints and the individualization of fingerprints during comparison, has a long history of research and study dating as far back as the 17^th century through the efforts of Dr. Nehemiah Grew in Germany and Dr. Marcello Malphigi in Italy, who independently studied and recorded ridges on the hands and feet of humans. Dr. Henry Faulds and William Herschel argued in the late 19^th century for the use of fingerprints in the identification of criminals and the use of fingerprints to solve crimes. Sir Francis Galton provided the unique detail or minutiae that existed within the fingerprint patterns in the late 19^th century. Dr. H. H. Wilder and Dr. Inez Whipple conducted research on the development of fingerprint patterns during the volar stage of fetal development in the early 20^th century. The Will and William West Case in 1903 in Leavenworth Prison discovered the flaws in the Bertillon System of Anthropometric Measurement. Sergeant Scott Ferrier from London’s Scotland Yard encouraged the use fingerprint science to identify criminals and solve crimes in the United States of America during his attachment to guard the Crown Jewels at the Saint Louis World’s Fair in 1904. Sir Edward Henry developed a system of cataloging and retrieving ten-print fingerprint cards between 1896 and 1925. The International Association for Identification was established in 1915 by Inspector Harry H. Caldwell, an identification specialist with the Oakland Police Department, Bureau of Identification, who wrote letters to "Criminal Identification Operators" in the United States of America asking them if they would like to gather to discuss and further develop the science of fingerprint development and comparison. The first meeting was held in that year when twenty-two analysts got together in San Francisco. Since that time the International Association for Identification has been instrumental in furthering not only the science of fingerprint technology, but also the other forensic disciplines. Fingerprint technology has been studied and researched, with a myriad of published studies, scientific papers, and books. These efforts have been discussed, debated, and peer reviewed. Experiments in latent fingerprint development have been conducted and successfully repeated. There is no doubt that fingerprint development and comparison is a forensic science that is respected and accepted by the scientific community. There is also no doubt that those who provide expert witness testimony regarding fingerprints greatly assist the trier of fact to understand a fact at issue involving the development or comparison of fingerprints associated with either criminal or civil litigation.

Crime scene reconstruction utilizes the documentation of a crime scene, as well as the evidence that was collected, to determine the sequence in which events associated with a crime occurred. Crime scene reconstructionists use logic, deduction, observations, and, interestingly, the principles of stratigraphy as provided by Nicholas Steno in the 17^th century; in particular, the laws of superposition and continuity. By example, a lamp, which is free of bloodstains, is found on top of a pool of blood. It is logical to assume that the pooled blood was deposited first, which also means that a passive blood-letting event occurred before the pool of blood was formed. One could argue that the first application of crime scene reconstruction, although in a fictional sense, was performed by Sherlock Holmes in The Adventure of the Norwood Builder, published in 1903, when the bloodied thumb print of the young solicitor who was accused of the crime appeared in a hall closet. Upon inspecting the blood-print, Holmes knew the builder, who was thought to be murdered, was still alive. The deduction had been made based on observations by Holmes, who had carefully inspected the closet on the previous evening, and the blood-print was not present. The short story is also a prime example of crime scene staging. Dr. Edmond Locard’s principle of evidence transfer is essential to crime scene reconstruction. In the 1930’s and 1940’s, Frances Glessner Lee, a New England forensic scientist, recreated miniature dioramas of actual crime scenes using dollhouse materials. This allowed her to visualize and manipulate sequential events. Paul Kirk and Professor Herbert MacDonell conducted reconstructive observations of crime scenes in the 1960’s and 1970’s. The Association for Crime Scene Reconstruction was founded in 1991, and it remains the primary association where studies and publications are subjected to discussion and peer review.

Your author recommends the reader conduct an internet search of the life and works of Frances Gessler Lee, and her contributions to the forensic discipline of crime scene reconstruction