 |  Criminal Investigation, 8/e Charles R. Swanson,
University of Georgia
Neil C. Chamelin,
Assistant State Attorney, Second Judicial Circuit
Leonard Territo,
University of South Florida- Tampa
The Evolution of Criminal Investigation and Criminalistics
Chapter OutlineI. The Evolution of Criminal Investigation The evolution of criminal investigation began in eighteenth-century England,
when massive changes were being unleashed. To fully appreciate the development
of criminal investigation, you should first understand the social, economic,
political, and legal contexts in which it evolved. A. The Impact of the Agricultural and Industrial Revolution and Industrial
Revolutions During the eighteenth century two events—an agricultural revolution and an
industrial revolution—began a process of change that profoundly affected how
police services were delivered and investigations conducted. B. The Fieldings: Crime Information and the Bow Street Runners In 1750, Henry Fielding established a small group of volunteer, nonuniformed
homeowners to"take Thieves." Known and the"Bow Street Runners,"
these Londoners hurried to the scenes of reporting crimes and began investigations,
thus becoming the first modern detective forces (see Slide 1-2). C. The Metropolitan Police Act of 1829 (See Slide 1-3) In 1829due in large measure to the efforts of Sir Robert Peel, Parliament created
a metropolitan police for London. Police headquarters became known as"Scotland
Yard," because the building formerly had housed Scottish royalty (see Slide
1-4). D. American Initiatives The success of Peel’s reform in England did not go unnoticed in the United
States. 1. Pinkerton’s National Detective Agency The major private detective agency of the nineteenth-century was formed by
Allan Pinkerton in 1819-1884 (see Slide 1-5 and 1-6). 2. The Emergence of Municipal Detectives As early as 1845, New York City had 800 plainclothes officers, although not
until 1857 were the police authorized to designate 20 patrol officers as detectives.
In November 1857, the New York City Police Department set up a rogues’ gallery—photographs
of known offenders arranged by criminal specialty and height (see Slide 1-7). 3. State and Federal Developments From its earliest days, the federal government employed investigators to detect
revenue violations, but their responsibilities were narrow and their numbers
few. In 1865, Congress created the U.S. Secret Service to combat counterfeiting.
In 1908, U.S. Attorney General Charles Bonaparte created the embryo of what
was later to become the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) when he ordered
that investigations were to be handled by a special group. During the Depression
the FBI went after many famous criminals such as Bonnie and Clyde. The Pennsylvania
State Police were created in 1905 and is the prototype for modern state police
agencies. 4. The Police and The United States Supreme Court As the highest court in this country, the Supreme Court is both obligated and
well-positioned to review cases and to make decisions which often have considerable
impact. During 1961 to 1966, a period known as the "due process revolution,"
the Supreme Court became unusually active in hearing cases involving the rights
of criminal suspects and defendants (see Slide 1-9). II. Historical Milestones of Criminalistics The origins of criminalistics are largely European.Criminalistics draws
from diverse disciplines, such as geology, physics, chemistry, biology, and
mathematics, to study physical evidence related to crime. A. Personal Identification There are three major scientific systems for personal identification of criminals:
anthropometry, dactylography, and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) typing. 1. Anthropometry Anthropometry was developed by Alphonse Bertillon (1853-1914), who is regarded
as the father of criminal identification (see Slides 1-10 and 1-11). 2. Dactylography a. Early Discoveries In 1900 England became the first country to use dactylography as a system of
criminal identification, fingerprints have a long legal and scientific history
(see Slide 1-12). b. The Herschel-Faulds Controversy In the late 1800s a controversy broke out between William Herschel and Henry
Faulds who both claimed to have discovered fingerprint identification as a means
of identifying criminals. c. Galton’s and Vuchetich’s Systems In 1892, Galton published the first definitive book on dactylography,Finger
Prints. It presented statistical proof of the uniqueness of fingerprints
and outlined many principles of identification by fingerprints. In Argentina,
in 1894, Juan Vucetich (1858-1925) publishedDactiloscopia Comparada
outlining his method of fingerprints by using Vuchetich’s system to convict
a woman of beating her two children to death. d. The Henry System Henry developed an interest in fingerprints and instituted Bertillon’s system
with the addition of fingerprints to the cards (see Slide 1-16). e. Faurot and"James Jones" In 1904, New York City Detective Sergeant Joseph Faurot solved several hotel
thefts by correctly identifying a suspect who claimed to be James Jones. Fingerprints
correctly identified Jones as a thug with many prior convictions by the name
of Daniel Nolan. f. The West Case In 1903 a fingerprint comparison of two Levenworth Penitentiary prisoners revealed
that Will West and William West were two different individuals. This was despite
the fact the two inmates had identical appearances and nearly identical Bertillon
measurements. This showed the superiority of fingerprints to anthropometry as
a system of identification. g. Rivalry of Vucetich’s and Henry’s Systems Vucetich’s book on fingerprint classification was published in 1894, seven
years before Henry’s, but Henry’s system has become much more widely used. 3. DNA Typing (see Slides 1-13 and 1-14). a. DNA as"Blueprint" DNA is a chemical"blueprint," which determines everything from our
hair color to our susceptibility to diseases. Initially, the process of isolating
and reading this genetic material was referred to as"DNA fingerprinting,"
but currently the term DNAtyping is used to describe this practice. b. The Enderby Cases The first use of DNA typing in a criminal case was in 1987 in England. c. The Orlando Cases During 1986, a series of rapes and assaults occurred in Orlando, Florida, which
set the stage for the first use of DNA typing in the United States. d. DNA Analysis In 1988, the FBI became the first public sector crime laboratory in the United
States to accept cases for DNA analysis. Since that time, there has been a substantial
increase in the number of crime laboratories providing this type of service. B. Firearms Identification (see Slide 1-15) As a speciality within criminalsitics, firearms identification extends far
beyond the comparison of two fired bullets. It includes identification of types
of ammunition, knowledge of the design and functioning of firearms, the restoration
of obliterated serial numbers on weapons, and estimation of the distance between
a gun’s muzzle and a victim when the weapon was fired. |
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2002 McGraw-Hill Higher Education