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Advances in Fingerprint Technology
(CRC Series in Forensic and Police Science)
by Henry C. Lee, R.E. Gaensslen (Editor)
Hardcover
Published by CRC Press
Publication date: January 1994

Brent's notes: Okay, what do you want me to say? I didn't like it? If I said that, Dr. Gaensslen would call UNH from his new home in Chicago and have my degree pulled for some technicality and I'd have to go back and retake Advanced Investigation II or something like that. And nobody wants that. So it was a great book. I loved it.

In all seriousness, it's an excellent compilation of techniques by a lot of different minds. And that, among other things, makes it an excellent resource.

Brent's notes: Many police agencies use this text as required reading for their internal training. And it's in the 4th edition so somebody must think it's good book. I haven't had the pleasure, however.

Criminal Profiling:
An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis
2nd Edition
by Brent E. Turvey
Hardcover, 715 pages
Published by Academic Press, 2002
ISBN: 0127050418

See Chapter 5, An Introduction to Crime Reconstruction
by W. Jerry Chisum, BS

For further information on this book, see the Criminal Profiling shelf.

Evidence and Crime Scene Reconstruction
by Chisum W.J., and Rynearson J.M.
5th Ed.
Published by Shingletown Press
Publication date: 1997

Fingerprints The Origins of Crime Detection and the Murder Case That Launched Forensic Science
by Colin Beavan
Hardcover, 256 pages
Published by Hyperion
Publication date: May 2001
ISBN: 0786866071

Brent's notes: This is the book for footwear impression by the best mind in the field; The FBI's Bill Bodziak. Excellent reference tool.

Synopsis: David Fisher takes us behind the scenes at the world's most sophisticated crime lab to hear the riveting stories of super-technical crime solving from the agents themselves. Discover the truly remarkable work being done in each of the lab's 12 units, covering toxicology, explosives, hair and fibers, firearms, and much more.

Brent's notes: Brought to you by the good people of Lightning Powder in Salem, Oregon. What's a forensic light? Is it anything like a forensic light source, say a Polilight or an Omnichrome 6 million series? Or is it a crime fighting lightbulb? Or merely an argumentative light bulb? I guess I'll leave the truly difficult questions to the philosophers.

Introduction to Fingerprint Comparison
by Gary W. Jones
Spiral-bound, 87 pages
Published by Staggs Publishing
Publication date: October 2000
ISBN: 0966197038

Author's comments: The use of statistical and probabilistic methods and models in forensic science is of increasing importance, as demonstrated by the widespread public interest in DNA profiling evidence. However, such methods and models are appropriate to a range of other situations also of relevance to forensic scientists. Assuming only a modest mathematical background, the book uses data-based examples from a forensic science background to illustrate, with careful presentation and explanation, the relevant statistical concepts and methods. Topics covered include: - transfer evidence; - the likelihood ratio approach for evaluating evidence under conflicting hypotheses produced by the prosecution and the defence; - the interpretation of quantitative results: the prosecutor's and defender;s fallacies; - the examination of DNA profiling, blood groups, glass fragments, etc. The clarity of exposition makes this book ideal for all forensic scientists, lawyers and other professionals in related fields interested in the quantitative assessment and evaluation of evidence.

Synopsis: This provocative, headline-grabbing expose sheds disturbing light on the massive shortcomings of the FBI crime lab - sure to open the eyes of the public and cause great controversy.

Brent's notes: I wrestled a lot with this book. For beginners, and for those unfamiliar with how the mechanisms of a crime lab can break down and cause harm, this is probably a fairly eye-opening book. However, it is based a great deal on witness accounts, and is not a definitive, cogent analysis of the work of forensic scientists by other forensic scientists.

Brent's notes: Statistics are the things that make DNA and other physical class evidences practical in court, so here they are. I'd say DNA was individuating evidence in front of any jury of 12, but after Simpson.....?

Author's comments: The main purpose of this book is to describe ways of assessing forensic science evidence and the means of communicating this assessment to a court of law. A clear exposition of probability from the Bayesian perspective is provided. The underlying theme of the book is the emphasis on the importance for the assessment of the value of associative evidence linking a suspect and a crime scene, of the comparison of two probabilities, the first being that of the evidence if the suspect is guilty, the second being that of the evidence if the suspect is innocent. Edited as a joint venture between a statistician and a forensic scientist, both leaders in the field of evidential assessment, this book brings together contributions from leading researchers in the area. Technical expressions are kept to a minimum, with readers wanting more information on a particular test being referred to standard textbooks as and when necessary. The editors' aim is to ensure that proper attention is paid by the courts to consideration of the probability of the evidence of association if the suspect is innocent as well as to this probability if the suspect is guilty.