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History of Forensic Science

Research · March 2023

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.26207.23202

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 History of Forensic Science
Nigar Aliyeva, Faculty of Law, Baku State University, Azerbaijan

Introduction

Crime has always existed in society since the dawn of time. This manifested itself in the form
of the good against the evil, the criminals against the law.

In the ancient world, the king used to decide on the culprit and punish them, which was very
cruel in nature. These punishments were applied in favor of their existence, just to show how
powerful they are. Gradually everything changed; the man with knowledge replaced the king,
and punishments were given with respect to the intensity of the crime the culprit had
committed. Now when a crime occurs, the court of law decides the culprit, and punishment is
based on the evidence and statements produced by the authorized officials in front of the court.1

As mentioned above the content of crime and punishment has changed over time, and the
concept of the perpetrator and punishment is now based on evidence and statements. This
evidence can be hair follicles, microfibers, and DNAs that help to unmask murderers, solve old
crimes, and set innocent free. This is the forensic science that balances the scales of criminal
justice.

Our ancestors applied forensic science in various fields, without knowing the science behind
it. Now, forensic science has turned into a wide branch, which is used to solve crimes and for
other purposes also.2

I. Origins of Forensic Science

First of all, it is very important to give information about what is forensic science and the origin
of the word “forensic” in order to understand it fully.

Forensic science refers to the application of natural, physical, and social sciences to matters of
the law. Most forensic scientists hold that investigation begins at the scene, regardless of their

1
Kavya Hemanth, Maithri Tharmavaram, and Gaurav Pandey, History of Forensic Science, Technology in
Forensic Science: Sampling, Analysis, Data and Regulations, 3 (2020).
2
Ibid.

1
associated field. The proper investigation, collection, and preservation of evidence are essential
for fact-finding and for ensuring proper evaluation and interpretation of the evidence, whether
the evidence is blood stains, human remains, hard drives, ledgers, and files or medical records.3

When it comes to the word “forensic”, is derived from the Latin word “forensis” which means
“of or before the forum”, and the term science has been derived from the Latin word “scire,”
which means “to know”.

The history of the term forensic originates from Roman times. In 44 BCE, Brutus and Cassius
led a group of Roman senators; they violently plunged their blades into Julius Caesar. Antistius,
who was a Roman physician at that time performed an autopsy and found out that there were
23 wounds that are stab wounds; out of the 23 wounds, none of them caused death, except the
second wound in the breast. This was the first record in history where a pathologist gives his
opinion as an expert. This crime and the autopsy report that took place more than 2000 years
ago is still important and used by many historians, criminologist, and doctors to seek
knowledge about the evolution of forensic science and medical discovery; this was the first
homicidal investigation that occurred. Antistius delivered his opinion in an open court before
the forum, which gives rise to the term “forensic” meaning “before the forum” in Latin .4

Moreover, the religious rite of mummification marks the birth of forensic science. Even as
early as 3000 BC, ancient Egyptians removed, analyzed, and preserved the internal organs of
deceased leaders for sacred ceremonies. This is the first autopsy, which is still an important
part of forensic research today.

After death, the body reaches a stage called decomposition by a process called autolysis; in this
process, the organic substances are broken down into simpler organic matter. In order to
prevent a body from decomposing, it is necessary to deprive the tissues of moisture and oxygen.
This can be done by the procedures of mummification. This particular practice had started in
ancient Egypt 3500 BCE. Mummification was a ritual practice done by the ancient Egyptians
believing that there is life after death, and the preserved body is required to live in their next
world. This preserved body is called mummy. Those civilizations provided a significant
contribution to the field of forensic under medicine. This can be considered as an example of

3
Marie-Helen Maras and Michelle D. Miranda, Encyclopedia of Law and Economics, 1 (2014).
4
See supra note 1, 6.

2
autopsy in history or the procedure that led to the development of autopsy to determine the
cause of death.5

Ancient Greece, the origin of modern logic, medicine, and pharmacology, should come as no
surprise as the first major actor in forensic science. The Ancient Greeks were able to establish
the cause of a murder in a basic way by examining toxins and their effects on the body, maybe
the first instance of recognized forensic science. Notable Greek autopsists were Erasistratus
and Herophilus of Chalcedon, who lived in 3rd century BC Alexandria, but in general,
autopsies were rare in ancient Greece.6

The basis of the present judicial system was developed by the Ancient Romans, who
contributed to forensic science as mentioned above. Quintilian, a Roman orator, used forensics
in court as early as the first century.

In an instructional judicial case authored by the Roman jurist Quintilian or one of his students
in the early 2nd century AD, a bloody handprint loomed big. The case is dubbed "Paries
Palmatus," which translates to "The Wall of Handprints," and it features a blind son who is
accused of killing his father in his sleep to obtain his inheritance. The blind man allegedly
grabbed his sword from his chamber, strolled across the house in the dark of night, into his
father and stepmother's bedroom, and killed his father once, instantly killing him and not
waking up his stepmother, who discovered her husband dead in bed when she awakened. From
the parents' room to the blind son's room, a trail of bloody handprints led back. Quintilian's
proposed defense is that the stepmother did it because she was furious that she would lose out
on the father's riches if his blind son got it, so she framed the blind man with his own father's
blood:

“It was the stepmother, yes, the stepmother who set this up with her sure sight; it was she, with
her right hand, who brought that poor blood there and made the imprint of [her] hand [on the
wall] intermittently! The wall bears the imprints of one palm, has them at intervals, with a
certain empty space in the middle, and everywhere the palm-print is intact; a blind man, on the
other hand, would have dragged his hands [along the wall].”7

Quintilian goes on to describe how the stepmother's grip on the sword's hilt prevented her palm
from getting blood on it, and how the handprints along the wall - with an empty space in the

5
See supra note 1, 6.
6
See supra note 1, 6.
7
Pseudo-Quintilian, Declamationes Maiores, 1.11-12.

3
middle - suggest the person who killed the father was also the one who made the prints. This
is an example of a bloodstain pattern interpretation that could be presented in court today.

In general, the Romans appear to have been reasonably good in bloodstain pattern analysis and
reconstruction, despite their lack of modern understanding of the properties and classification
of blood.

For centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire, court justice was dormant. Forensic science
got increasingly abstract as a result of it. Pathology, on the other hand, was employed by the
ancient Chinese to solve crimes, contributing to the development of forensic science at the
time. They cleansed and studied the bodies of the deceased, and they were even able to
distinguish between accidents and murders.

By the thirteenth century, the first literature to determine cause of death was written by Song
Ci in China, and the literature work was named as Xi Yuan Li (Asen 2017). This book is widely
known as Collected Cases of Injustice Rectified or Washing Away of Wrongs (Asen 2017).
This book was written based on the real incidents and experiences that are linked to his
scientific knowledge to avoid injustice in the future. Most of the topics covered are based on
scientific knowledge, and few of them are post‐mortem examination, emergency treatment,
causes of death, different kinds of death, procedures of receiving the victims after hanging, etc.
This book is considered as the handbook of coroners.8

II. Development of Forensic Science

In general, we can take the 16th-19th centuries as the most developed period of forensic
science. But it is more understandable and appropriate to touch on specific parts of forensic
science to explore this period.

Firstly, medical practitioners were the first to collect information on the cause and manner of
death in 16th century Europe. Ambroise Paré, a French army surgeon, examined the effects of
violent death on internal organs in great detail.

8
See supra note 1, 6.

4
In addition, Fortunato Fidelis and Paolo Zacchia, two Italian surgeons, created the groundwork
for contemporary pathology. They were able to do so by studying the changes in the body's
structure as a result of sickness.

The relevance of forensic science increased with the advent of the 17th century, owing to other
scientific advancements.

The achievements in the following specific areas are even more remarkable:

A. Fingerprit Analysis

In 1880, the use of fingerprint analysis to link occurrences to suspects was a huge step forward
in forensic science. The revolutionary notion of Henry Faulds and William James Herschel
based on the uniqueness of fingerprints led to fingerprint analysis. This study drew widespread
support from specialists throughout the world, and it was eventually acknowledged as essential
evidence in the legal system. At the same time, for the identification of business documents,
the ancient Chinese used fingerprint analysis.

Francis Galton and Edward Henry were the ones who put Herschel's fingerprinting techniques
into practice in criminal investigations. Sir Francis Galton pioneered the first fingerprint
classification method.

After that, the direction, flow, pattern, and other characteristics in fingerprints were employed
by Sir Edward Henry, the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police of London, to build a
system.

It is important to emphasize the case related to these innovations at that time. There is a notable
example of forensic science in the 18th and 19th centuries. This document demonstrate how
forensic investigators used reasoning and scientific processes to conduct criminal
investigations during that time period.

A person called John Toms was found guilty in Lancaster of murdering Edward Culshaw with
a handgun. The precise matching of a handgun was a vital element that turned the case around.
This was discovered beside Culshaw's body, along with a torn newspaper found in Toms'
pocket.

B. Forensic Ballistics

The analysis of evidence from firearms that may have been used in a crime is known as forensic
ballistics. When a gun fires a bullet, microscopic markings are left on the bullet and cartridge

5
casing. These marks have the appearance of ballistic fingerprints. If forensic examiners find
bullets at a crime scene, they can test-fire a suspect's gun and compare the marks on the crime
scene bullet to the marks on the test-fired bullet. Henry Goddard of Scotland Yard was the first
to use physical analysis to link a bullet to a murder weapon in 1835.

C. Forensic Toxicology

Toxicology; is the study of the toxic effect of chemicals or xenobiotic on living organisms,
particularly the humans, or animals. Toxicology involves studying the symptoms, mechanisms,
detection and treatments of poisoning of a living body.9

In clinical toxicology, the end user is a physician using the findings to treat and care for an
intoxicated or poisoned patient, while in forensic toxicology, the end user can be a physician,
a non-medical professional such as a lawyer, an employee, or police officer using the results to
interpret a cause of death, employment eligibility, or compliance with workforce laws and
terms. Hence, based on such situation the toxicologist may be a Physician, pharmacist,
scientist, laboratory specialist or technician.10

Carl Wilhelm Scheele, a Swedish chemist, invented the first chemical test for detecting arsenic
in bodies in 1773. In 1806 a German chemist, Valentin Ross, expanded on his findings in order
to identify poison in stomach walls.

The first application of this forensic science technique was by Scottish chemist James Marsh
in 1836. At the time, this test had been effectively employed in a murder case.

Of course, there have been innovations in other areas as well, but the above are the most
important ones.

III. The Modern History of Forensic Science

The development of newer forensic procedures for evaluating evidence exploded in the early
twentieth century. As a result, law enforcement authorities realized the need for specialized
forensic investigator teams to gather and analyze evidence.

9
Sahar Y. Issa, Poisoning in the Modern World - New Tricks for an Old Dog? 1 (2019).
10
Id., 2.

6
Edmond Locard, popularly known as the "Sherlock Holmes of France," was a 19th-century
forensic scientist. He is considered as one of the three founders of forensic science and had a
pivotal influence in the global development of criminalistics (along with Joseph Bell and
Archibald Reiss). Locard's Exchange Theory, a basic principle he developed, is crucial for
today's law enforcement.

The exchange principle was established by Dr. Edmond Locard, director of the world's first
forensic lab (1910, Lyon, France), who stated that, when a person comes into contact with an
object or another person, a cross-transfer of physical material can occur.

“By recognizing, documenting, and examining the nature and extent of evidentiary traces and
exchanges in a crime scene, Dr. Locard postulated that criminals could be traced and later
associated with particular locations, items of evidence, and persons (i.e., victims). He regarded
this postulation as both obvious and ancient, and he likened the recognition and examination
of trace evidence to hunting behavior as old as mankind (Locard, 1934, p. 7). The prey, for
example, in the normal course of drinking at a watering hole, leaves tracks and spoor and other
signs that betray its presence and direction; the hunter deliberately seeks out this evidence,
picks up the trail, and follows. Every contact leaves a trace that may be discovered and
understood. The detection and identification of exchanged materials is interpreted to mean that
two objects have been in contact. This is the cause-and-effect principle reversed; the effect is
observed and the cause is concluded. Understanding and accepting this principle of evidentiary
exchange make possible the reconstruction of contacts between objects and persons.
Consequently, the incorporation of this principle into evidentiary interpretations is perhaps one
of the most important considerations in the reconstruction of crime.”11

Locard's writings include no reference of a "exchange principle," however he did say, "It is
impossible for a criminal to act without leaving signs of his or her presence, especially given
the severity of the crime”. The term "principle of exchange" first appears in 1940 in the book
Police and Crime-Detection, and it was developed from Locard's observations.

However, evidence dynamics is one of the most serious disadvantages in Locard's exchange
theory. This is when physical evidence is tampered with before it is inspected by investigators.
Moreover, evidence tampering and destruction can be caused by a variety of circumstances.
For example, the offender's staging (manipulation of things in the crime scene), natural

11
W. Jerry Chisum and Brent E. Turvey, An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis, 253-286 (2012).

7
elements such as animal or insect activity, weather, and decomposition or attempts to put out
fires and so on.

These variables can cause evidence to be removed or obliterated. They have a tendency to
mislead investigators and generate issues with crime reconstruction. Inaccurate crime
reconstruction might be caused by misinterpretations or misleading evidence. To avoid this,
the investigator must ensure that the crime scene investigation and reconstruction are done
meticulously.

Furthermore, there have also been many innovations during this period in the specific areas I
mentioned above. For example, Karl Landsteiner was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work on
blood groups over a century later, in 1930. He was the first to divide human blood into different
categories. The study of blood later provided important leads during criminal investigations.

At the same time, when American physician Calvin Goddard invented the comparative
microscope in the 1920s, bullet examination became more exact. This aided in the
identification of a critical link between bullets and the shell casings from which they were
discharged.

Later, in the 1970s, scientists at the Aerospace Corporation in California devised a scanning
electron microscope method for detecting gunshot residue.

Other tests to check saliva, sperm, sweat, and urine were developed in the mid-1990s.

IV. Future of Forensic Science

The growth of forensic science has been aided by increased computational capacity. High-
resolution, detailed photos may now be saved and processed using complex computational
methods thanks to increased storage capacities. Machine learning algorithms can also process
and learn from a greater amount of data than humans can. In the end, forensic science should
evolve toward the objective, transparent, proven, and tested methodologies. Calculating error
rates, validating new approaches in real-world scenarios, and altering the culture so that any
algorithm used in the criminal justice system is in the public domain and accessible to everyone
will be required. Methodology development should also be delegated to independent scientists
rather than police labs, which might lead to conflicts of interest.

8
Moreover, specific concerns and controversies (such as a miscarriage of justice) typically drive
forensic science, and resources are dedicated to addressing them. This means that forensic
science is often reactive to “symptoms” that arise, rather than engaging in the continuous and
systematic proactive examination, research, and self-reflection as routine practice. In addition,
forensic science frequently works within the framework that “every case is different,” this
generates a fundamental contradiction between research aimed at developing generalizable
theories and approaches and research aimed at developing generalizable theories and
approaches and professional practices in crime reconstruction. Therefore, taking a longer-term
view of the possibilities and potentially desirable directions of the future of forensic science is
an important undertaking.12

However, there have already been useful innovations in the field of forensic science for the
future. The first one is bone protein preservation. The study, which was published in the
Journal of Proteome Research, looks at proteins in bones and can help researchers learn more
about them.

Bones contain a wealth of data that can be useful in forensic investigations. Bone proteins can
be used to identify how long ago someone died (the post-mortem interval, or PMI), and their
age at the time of death (age at death AAD). The capacity to read these levels, on the other
hand, is extremely reliant on both innate and exogenous circumstances, such as burial
conditions. This constraint may limit the potential of molecular approaches in forensic
research. The researchers discovered numerous proteins whose levels were unaffected by being
entombed in mausoleums or buried in the ground by comparing the proteomes of exhumed
persons who had been entombed in mausoleums or buried in the ground.

Secondly, viewing fingerprints in a more accurate manner. The work, which was just published
in the journal ACS Applied Nanomaterials, presents a new method for analyzing latent
fingerprints. Latent fingerprints discovered at crime sites are analyzed in criminal
investigations. Current approaches, on the other hand, have drawbacks, such as limited
contrast, sensitivity, and toxicity. A new method for making luminous carbon dot powders that
can be used to detect latent fingerprints has been discovered. Fingerprints flash in red, orange,
and yellow under UV light, thanks to these novel multicolor carbon dots (CDs).

12
Itiel E. Dror, Ph.D.; and Ruth M. Morgan, D. Phil, A Futuristic Vision of Forensic Science, Journal of Forensic
Sciences, 1 (2019).

9
The other one is proteomes' genuine potential in forensic science. This research, which was
published in ACS Central Science, focuses on the future of proteomics in general. This review
article discusses how forensic scientists are now focusing on proteins found in bone, blood,
and other biological samples, which can sometimes answer problems that DNA alone cannot.
Unlike DNA, a person's complement of proteins (or proteome) changes throughout time,
providing vital information about when they died and how old they were when they died.

Taking into account all this, we can say that forensic science is going to be more accurate in
the future.

Conclusion

As can be seen from the above that the application of natural, physical, and social disciplines
to legal issues is referred to as forensic science and the history of this field is very old. The first
application of this field goes back to the history of ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt. Moreover,
the first literature on this was written in China in the 13th century. The 16th and 19th centuries
coincided with the heyday of this field of science, and in general, the achievements that
influenced the development of this science were observed in various fields of science. In
modern times, however, Locardo's principles have come to the fore.

As a result, this field is a very wide field of science and is still developing. In the future, it is
expected to be more innovative, which will make it easier to solve crimes.

10
 Bibliography

1. Kavya Hemanth, Maithri Tharmavaram, and Gaurav Pandey, History of Forensic Science,
Technology in Forensic Science: Sampling, Analysis, Data and Regulations (2020).
2. Marie-Helen Maras and Michelle D. Miranda, Encyclopedia of Law and Economics,
(2014).
3. Pseudo-Quintilian, Declamationes Maiores, 1.11-12.
4. Sahar Y. Issa, Poisoning in the Modern World - New Tricks for an Old Dog? (2019).
5. W. Jerry Chisum and Brent E. Turvey, An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis,
(2012).
6. Itiel E. Dror, Ph.D.; and Ruth M. Morgan, D. Phil, A Futuristic Vision of Forensic
Science, Journal of Forensic Sciences, (2019).

11

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