Chemistry in the Courtroom

Tim Hoesterey
FYS Chemistry and Your Future
Chemistry in the Courtroom

Science and chemistry are making it harder for criminals to get away with crimes. In crime scenes forensic scientists are collecting things like hair follicles, blood samples, and fingerprints among others. Most of the evidence that is collected used to determine and match DNA. Forensic evidence is being used more and more as evidence in the courtroom, and is becoming a strong influence in determining a case. A chemist can take two paths if they want to be used in the courtroom. One path is to be a forensic scientist, and the other is to become a public analyst. Though scientific evidence could be wrong, if done correctly it can also greatly help investigators catch the criminals as well as convict them.

Forensic Scientist: relating to or denoting the application of scientific methods and techniques to the investigation of crime.

The main reason that I was interested in looking into the chemistry that is involved in the legal process is because this summer I had the opportunity to serve on a jury. Justice is one of the founding principles of this great country, and I feel that any method that can be taken to improve justice is beneficial. It isn’t good when someone who is guilty is let off of the hook, but it is also very sad when someone who is innocent is convicted of something that they did not do. If chemistry in the courtroom can help lessen the frequency of the two above-mentioned scenarios, then it is just another good example of the importance of chemistry in everyday life.

Citing: from the Royal Society of Chemistry
http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/Issues/2007/November/CourtroomChemistry.asp