The Future of Forensic Technology

The forensic technician must be concerned with factual evidence and refrain from expressing his or her personal opinions unless asked to do so.  A forensic technician must also do everything in their power to locate, collect, and maintain the integrity of forensic evidence.  They often respond to a crime scene to do just that.  They are also responsible for photographing the crime scene and usually report all findings of fact to the investigator responsible for investigating that particular case... (Young, 2011, pp. 1-5)   

The forensic technician is responsible for a number of different types of evidence.  One such type is documentary evidence.  This includes evidence such as pictures, documents, papers, and anything else associated with this type of evidence.  Physical evidence is another type; this includes anything that can be touched, such as a firearm, knife, pry-bar, hammer, anything physical that is used to perpetrate a crime.  This also includes anything illegal that the perpetrator possess. (Young, 2011, pp. 7-8)

The forensic technician is also quite often called into court to testify involving the facts that were found concerning forensic evidence of that particular case.  The Daubert Trilogy is a collection of cases involving the admissibility of certain evidence.  General acceptance is the prerequisite that determines the admissibility of such evidence and expert witness testimony.   (Young, 2011, p. 8)

            Forensic technology has advanced incredibly over the past few decades and hopefully it will continue to advance at the present rate, or perhaps at an accelerated rate.  Forensic technology has come a long way, but apparently, it has not progressed to the point, which was desperately needed after the 911 attacks on the World Trade Center.  There remain over 1,000 victims, from the attack, which have not been identified at the time of this writing.  Families of those victims are hopeful for future advancements, in the technology adequate to identify loved ones, who remain unaccounted for.  (Kugler, 2005)

            One setback in the advancement in the field of forensic technology, at least in Australia, seems to be lack of organization, as well as lack of funding and nonspecific laws governing issues concerning the legal aspect of this field. (Robertson, 1993)  From experience in our own country, especially the state of California, organization is a key factor to the efficient operation and advancement of forensic facilities and techniques.

 

References

Kugler, S. (2005, Feb 24). DNA test fail to find 1,161 victims of sept 11, families told limits of

 forensics technology now reached 10,000 pieces of bodies sealed in hopes of future

 advances. Toronto Star , 20-1-20.

Robertson, J. J. (1993). Future of Forensic Science. Police Technology: Asia Pacific Police

 Technology Conference, (pp. 107-112). Australia.

Young, T. &. (2011). Crime Scene Investigations: The forensic technician's field manual

. Boston: Prentice Hall.