Forensic Scientists

Forensic Scientists…

There are many fields of work under the job role ‘Forensic Scientist’ the job breaks off into different sections. For example individuals who are specialised in the field of blood most likely work in the department of pathology. The fields of work include anthropology, biology, chemistry, engineering, genetics, medicine, pathology, phonetics, psychiatry, and toxicology. A forensic scientist’s role and responsibility is to analyse any evidence which is handed in through the chain of custody. They are to record their findings in a report which will most likely be used within court. Their findings are presented within court as an ‘Expert Testimony’. A Forensic scientist applies their knowledge surrounding their specialised field in science and links it with the purposes of law. The Scientists can help the jury determine whether the defendant is found innocent or guilty, this is because their findings are fact and not opinionated unlike most of the lawyers arguments.  

Forensic Scientists within the OJ Simpson Case…

Within the investigation of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, the forensics scientist’s job role was to analyse the evidence that was handed in by the Scenes of crime officers through the chain of custody. As the evidence was poorly collected and there was a high chance of contamination coming from police officers the findings of the evidence may not have been 100% accurate. There are many reports stating that within the police laboratories the evidence was mishandled by the forensic scientists.

There are many conspiracies surrounding the topic of planted evidence. Days after the evidence had been collected from the crime scene and were already logged into the crime laboratories, police officers went back to the scene and found more blood that was never recorded within notes. Within the analysing of this newly found blood scientists found that the blood contained a chemical called EDTA. EDTA is a chemical found naturally within the human body. However this test showed high levels of the chemical which is abnormal in a blood test. EDTA is also a chemical used within Laboratories which fixes the blood when testing. Due to the high concentration of this chemical Simpsons defence claimed it of had to come from the laboratories.

The new blood was also found hours after a blood sample from OJ Simpson had been taken. When the scientists went in search for the blood taken from OJ as a sample, the 1.5ml bottle was never documented within the chain of custody stating how much blood was taken from OJ and then stored. As the blood was never documented the bottle was ‘misplaced’ according to the prosecution however when found the bottle did not contain 1.5ml of blood it was much less. However as the blood was not noted and there was no documentation of how much the bottle contained the defence cannot state that the blood was taken and planted at the crime scene.

During the analysis of the evidence of blood the pathologists who investigated it did not have the correct and sufficient knowledge surrounding DNA. This was a problem within the court when pathologists testified their findings this was because as the scientists did not have knowledge about their findings they made their testimony very hard to understand. This meant that the jury did not understand what they were testifying this led to the blood evidence being acquitted from the court by Judge Ito.

Forensic Scientists within other cases…

In every case a forensic scientist role and responsibility stays the same. Their main priority is to analyse any evidence documented into the chain of custody with accuracy and to do this with minimal contamination, destruction and inaccuracy. Although their job roles and responsibilities stay the same in different investigations, the evidence that they may have to analyse will differ. For example within a murder case involving a weapon evidence will be different to the evidence found at an arsenic attack.