CHAPTER ONE

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

1.1 INTRODUCTION

The ancient Greeks and Romans were the first to practice forensic science. The system of criminal adjudication in ancient Roman societies consisted of the presentation of cases before a group of persons in the forum. Both parties were allowed to say their side of the story, after which the outcome of the case was determined based on the best argument. Despite the beliefs of forensics being used in ancient times, the concept of using science to combat crime did not develop until the late Middle Ages, particularly, during the frequency of human poisonings across Europe. This led to the practice where corpses were analyzed to check for toxic substances in the 19th century. 1 At some point, it became necessary to document the identity of offenders in order to identify repeat offenders. The first attempt to document the identities of offenders was called Anthropometry. It consisted of measuring and documenting the body (fingers, ears, head, legs, etc.) of the offender. However, due to similar characteristics and measurement errors, this was found to be unreliable and was replaced by Dactylography; the use of fingerprints for identification due to the uniqueness of finger prints, even in identical twins. In 1892, Francis Galton propounded upon calculation, that the chances of identical prints were 1 in 64 billion.2 This method has been extremely successful and is still used today. The next major advancement occurred in 1980 when scientists became able to decode human deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). DNA is till date, a reliable way to link a suspect with a crime scene and also to identify human remains. The role of science in the criminal justice system increases daily. Evidence can be linked to its source through forensic science.

The term “forensic science” encompasses a wide range of disciplines, and each discipline with its own different practices. These disciplines present wide variability in regard to techniques and methodologies. Some of the disciplines are laboratory based (drug analysis, and toxicology), while other disciplines are based on interpretation of observed patterns by the experts (fingermarks, writings, tool marks). Some of the activities requires the expertise of people trained as scientists in analyzing them (chemists or biologists); also there other activities are conducted by both people trained in law enforcement and scientists (blood spatter experts, crime scene investigators, crime reconstruction experts), medicine (forensic pathologists), or laboratory methodologies by lab technologists. Empirical application of science is the main process that forensic scientists use. The main aim of forensic science is to gather intelligence and enable the judge in making decisions in court by means of a scientific approach through evaluation of evidence (Cardinetti and Cammarota, 2005:80).

Crime scene investigation is traced as far as 1750. It is in that year that Henry Fielding created a small group of volunteers in London, referred as the “Bow Street Runners”. These volunteers hurried to scenes of reported crimes and began investigations, thus becoming the first modern crime scene detectives (Swanson et al., 2003:4). Crime scene investigation, as it is known today, dates back to the 17th century in China, where a Chinese team of investigators evaluated crime scenes, examined physical evidence and interviewed witnesses and suspects (Owen, 2000:13). However, it was only during the 1970s that crime scene investigation gained popularity. In the 1970s many court decisions severely constrained investigators in their use of traditional interrogation techniques, and both scientists and investigators had to search for alternative sources to provide them with information. During these new developments investigators realised that the crime scene contains a tremendous amount of information. As a result, investigations today rely greatly on crime scene experts to gather clues and evidence to prove the crime and the suspect‟s involvement (Lee et al., 2001:20).