Criminal Identification Procedures in the 21st Century

Technological Advances in the Identification of Criminal Suspects

Technological Advances in the Identification of Criminal Suspects

Abstract

This article considers modern advances in modern forensic science and the advantages and disadvantages of these as regards their expense possible cost effectiveness . It considers the Due Process Model as opposed to the Crime Control Method and their relationship to constitutional rights . It looks too at how scientific findings alone are not necessarily the complete answer

Introduction

In recent years there have been huge advances in forensic science where new technology such

as DNA analysis , finger and palm prints , biometric analysis , wiretap and photographic surveillance . There have also been advances in knowledge about such things as the chemical analysis of trace chemicals such as gun discharge residues , soil , drugs and paint gas chromatography after fires and the detection of body fluids . The idea followed is that of Locard 's Exchange Principle i .e . every contact leaves a trace . Together with the compiling of Inter Agency databases methods such as these it has become ever easier to ensure that the correct person is identified and the innocent eliminated

Not all these methods are entirely new - the Chinese used fingerprints to identify documents in the first millennium C .E . according to the Forensic Science Timeline . In these cases it is the formal classification and building up of data bases such as the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System as used by the FBI that is important today

The Due Process Model

The due process model refers...