Criminalistics: An Introduction to Forensic Science FROM THE PUBLISHER
In this new edition of Criminalistics, the noted forensic scientist Richard Saferstein brings the reader into the crime lab for a first hand look at the role of science in the criminal justice system. The application of science to criminal investigation is described in a style that is easily comprehensible to a reader who has no background skills in science. Through actual case histories and with the aid of over 200 illustrations, the reader will explore the impact forensic science has had on the "crimes of the century" - The Lindbergh kidnapping and O.J. Simpson criminal investigation - as well as other noted criminal cases. Criminalistics focuses its attention on the up-to-date technologies police rely on to apprehend criminal perpetrators and to link them through trace evidence to crime scenes. This new edition emphasizes the latest DNA typing procedures, new advances in crime scene investigation, the digital imaging enhancement of fingerprints, computerized ballistic examination, drug and alcohol analyses, as well as arson and explosion detection technologies. A major portion of the text is devoted to how common items of physical evidence are located at crime scenes and how they are processed in the crime lab.
FROM THE CRITICS
Booknews
A textbook that presents the techniques, skills, and limitations of the modern crime laboratory, for students (or others, including criminal investigators) who have no background in the forensic sciences. The nature of physical evidence is emphasized. This edition (fourth was 1990) is updated with the current technologies available to crime laboratory personnel. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
ACCREDITATION
RICHARD SAFERSTEIN, Ph.D., retired in 1991 after serving 21 years as the Chief Forensic Scientist of the New Jersey State Police Laboratory, one of the largest crime laboratories in the United States. He currently acts as a consultant for attorneys and the media in the area of forensic science. During the O.J. Simpson criminal trial, Dr. Saferstein provided extensive commentary on forensic aspects of the case for the Rivera Live show, the E! television network, ABC radio, and various radio talk shows. Dr. Saferstein holds degrees from the City College of New York and earned his doctorate degree in chemistry in 1970 from the City University of New York. From 1972 to 1991, he taught an introductory forensic science course in the criminal justice programs at the College of New Jersey and Ocean County College. These teaching experiences played an influential role in Dr. Saferstein's authorship in 1977 of the widely used introductory textbook Criminalistics: An Introduction to Forensic Science, currently in this seventh edition. Saferstein's basic philosophy in writing Criminalistics is to make forensic science understandable and meaningful to the nonscience reader, while giving the reader an appreciation for the scientific principles that underlie the subject.
Dr. Saferstein presently teaches a course on the role of the expert witness in the courtroom at the law school of Widener University in Wilmington, Delaware. He has authored or co-authored more than 30 technical papers covering a variety of forensic topics. He has also edited the widely used professional reference books Forensic ScienceHandbook, Volumes I-III (Prentice Hall, 1982, 1988, 1993) dealing with important forensic science topics. Dr. Saferstein is a member of the American Chemical Society, the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the Forensic Science Society of England, the Canadian Society of Forensic Scientists, the International Association for Identification, the Mid-Atlantic Association of Forensic Scientists, the Northeastern Association of Forensic Scientists, the Northwestern Association of Forensic Scientists, and the Society of Forensic Toxicologists.
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