What happened? Who did what? How? Why? These are the questions police and prosecutors must answer to solve a crime and bring the criminal to justice. Sometimes the task is relatively easy. Other times it is monumentally difficult, like reconstructing a lost language from a single sentence of text. Fortunately, police and prosecutors have a powerful ally: science. By bringing to bear on the evidence knowledge from such disciplines as mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, anthropology, and psychology, forensic scientists can help investigators crack even the toughest cases.

Forensic Science takes the reader on a fascinating journey through the world of evidence collection and analysis. From tried-and-true investigatory tools like fingerprinting to the cutting edge of DNA profiling, from ballistics to bite marks, from reading stories in the activities of insects to reading the stories human bones tell, this book explains forensic science techniques in terms the layperson can understand. Throughout, actual cases show theory in action and remind us that what happens in the lab has profound consequences for the many people touched by crime.

ISBN 0-7910-4950-7
• Hardcover $21.95 retail, 136 pages

For more forensic science information see:  Behavorial Profiling,  Forensic Sculpture,   Graphology  Ballistics.

Reviews:

Ms. Campbell, a Diplomate of the American Board of Forensic Examiners and a forensic facial-reconstruction sculptor, has written an overview of the scientific techniques used in the investigation of crime. Her book, though wide-ranging and rigorous, is accessible to laypersons. Among the topics discussed are autopsy procedures, fingerprinting, ballistics, DNA evidence, toxicology, behavioral profiling, photo enhancement, drug testing, handwriting identification, and forensic dentistry, geology, and entomology. Throughout, actual cases illustrate the scientific techniques in action. . .
           The Forensic Examiner /November / December 1999