Forensic science (often shortened to forensics) is the application of a broad spectrum of sciences and technologies to investigate and establish facts of interest in relation to criminal or civil law. The word forensic comes from the Latin forēnsis, meaning "of or before the forum." In Roman times, a criminal charge meant presenting the case before a group of public individuals in the forum. Both the person accused of the crime and the accuser would give speeches based on their sides of the story. The individual with the best argument and delivery would determine the outcome of the case. This origin is the source of the two modern usages of the word forensic – as a form of legal evidence and as a category of public presentation.
In modern use, the term "forensics" in the place of "forensic science" can be considered correct as the term "forensic" is effectively a synonym for "legal" or "related to courts". However the term is now so closely associated with the scientific field that many dictionaries include the meaning that equates the word "forensics" with "forensic science".
In the United States there are over 12,000 Forensic Science technicians, as of 2011.
Read more about Forensic Science: Subdivisions, Notable Forensic Scientists, Questionable Techniques, Litigation Science, Examples in Popular Culture, Controversies
Other articles related to "forensic science, sciences, science, forensic sciences":
... Questions about forensic science, fingerprint evidence and the assumption behind these disciplines have been brought to light in some publications, the latest being an article in the New York Post ... that "Now such assumptions are being questioned - and with it may come a radical change in how forensic science is used by police departments and prosecutors." On ... The Supreme Court cited the National Academies report Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States in their decision ...
... The Faculty of Health and Life Sciences offers around 30 undergraduate health and science-related degree courses, and where relevant these courses are accredited by national ... For example, Forensic Science BSc Honours is accredited by Forensic Science Society, and Biomedical Science BSc Honours is accredited by the Institute of Biomedical Science and endorsed ... Its sister degree Medical Science BMedSci Honours has more of a clinical focus and attracts students wishing to go on to study medicine or other roles allied to medicine ...
... On 28 October 2004, following its redevelopment as a specialist Food science technology park, the campus at Holbeach was reopened by John Henry Hayes, the Member of Parliament for South ... More recently the University's Forensic Science department has been one of only four Universities in the UK accredited by the Royal Society of Chemistry, and the department's BSc (Hons ...
... American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) - USA Canadian Society of Forensic Science (CSFS) - Canada Australian and New Zealand Forensic Science Society European Network of Forensic Science ...
... Sherlock Holmes remains a great inspiration for forensic science in literature, especially for the way his acute study of a crime scene yields small clues as to the precise sequence of events ... of their organisation upon Sherlock Holmes, for his use of forensic science and analytical chemistry in popular literature, making him the only (as of 2010) fictional character to be thus honoured ...
Famous quotes containing the word science:
“There is no national science just as there is no national multiplication table; anything that is national is not scientific.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)