Chemistry's Crucial Role in Forensic Science

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What role does chemistry play in forensics?
In the field of forensic science, chemistry is used to analyse bodies and crime scenes to find out unknown substances and to match them up with known substances. The evidence that is predominantly analysed is drugs, bodily fluids, trace evidence (evidence that occurs in very small portions) and pattern evidence (evidence such as footprints, tyre treads and fingerprints). Chemistry is utilised in this field to uncover physical evidence and discover who has done what. Microscopes and chemical analysis procedures help chemists to understand what substances have been used and how. A key aspect of chemistry in forensics is looking at blood and matching it up with DNA or comparing the amounts of blood to …show more content…

In terms of fingerprint identifying, tools such as ridge pointers and loupes have been invented and/or improved. Ridge pointers, invented in the mid 1970s, are used to count the amount of ridges on a fingerprint sample. Together with the loupe, a small and powerful magnifying glass, ridge pointers enable forensic chemists to identify a fingerprint and match it with others on a database. In relation to fingerprinting, on the 10th of September 1984, Sir Alec Jeffreys finally developed genetic fingerprinting. Genetic fingerprinting allows a small sample of DNA, such as blood, semen or the root on a strand of hair, to be analysed in a very time consuming and difficult process. The DNA is extracted from white blood cells and goes through many processes until a film is produced, showing the DNA typing pattern. This method delivers close to 100% accuracy, letting forensic chemists clearly match it to other DNA and find out who should be convicted of the crime. Another major change to this field in the past 50 years is the invention of the scanning electron microscope. This special type of microscope helps the chemists identify an unknown substance that might have been found at a crime scene as a piece of evidence. The scanning electron microscope ‘shoots’ a beam of electrons at the substance, revealing features such as the lattice structure, compounds within it and also the composition of the object. These microscopes are particularly useful in terms of inspecting gunpowder and gunshot residue, allowing the scientists to match the gunpowder to a gun or bullet.

What ethical dilemmas could arise in the applications of chemistry in forensic science?
The main ethical dilemma that could arise would be if a suspect were unfairly convicted. The evidence has to be 100%

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