This book charts the historical development of 'forensic objectivity' through an analysis of the ways in which objective knowledge of crimes, crime scenes, crime materials and criminals is achieved. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, with authors drawn from law, history, sociology and science and technology studies, this work shows how forensic objectivity is constructed through detailed crime history case studies, mainly in relation to murder, set in Scotland, England, Germany, Sweden, USA and Ireland. Starting from the mid-nineteenth century and continuing to the present day, the book argues that a number of developments were crucial. These include: the beginning of crime photography, the use of diagrams and models specially constructed for the courtroom so jurors could be ‘virtual witnesses’, probabilistic models of certainty, the professionalization of medical and scientific expert witnesses and their networks, ways of measuring, recording and developing criminal records and the role of the media, particularly newspapers in reporting on crime, criminals and legal proceedings and their part in the shaping of public opinion on crime. This essential title demonstrates the ways in which forensic objectivity has become a central concept in relation to criminal justice over a period spanning 170 years.
Author(s): Alison Adam
Series: Palgrave Histories Of Policing, Punishment And Justice
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2020
Language: English
Pages: 319
Tags: Prison And Punishment
Front Matter ....Pages i-xvi
Crime and the Construction of Forensic Objectivity from 1850: Introduction (Alison Adam)....Pages 1-13
Front Matter ....Pages 15-15
Bodies in the Bed: English Crime Scene Photographs as Documentary Images (Amy Helen Bell)....Pages 17-41
Murder in Miniature: Reconstructing the Crime Scene in the English Courtroom (Alexa Neale)....Pages 43-67
The Biggar Murder: ‘A Triumph for Forensic Odontology’ (Alison Adam)....Pages 69-98
Making Forensic Evaluations: Forensic Objectivity in the Swedish Criminal Justice System (Corinna Kruse)....Pages 99-121
Front Matter ....Pages 123-123
The Police Surgeon, Medico-Legal Networks and Criminal Investigation in Victorian Scotland (Kelly-Ann Couzens)....Pages 125-159
‘13 Yards Off the Big Gate and 37 Yards Up the West Walls’. Crime Scene Investigation in Mid-nineteenth Century Newcastle upon Tyne (Clare Sandford-Couch, Helen Rutherford)....Pages 161-188
The Construction of Forensic Knowledge in Victorian Yorkshire: Dr Thomas Scattergood and His Casebooks, 1856–1897 (Laura M. Sellers, Katherine D. Watson)....Pages 189-210
Reporting Violent Death: Networks of Expertise and the Scottish Post-mortem (Nicholas Duvall)....Pages 211-229
Front Matter ....Pages 231-231
Detecting the Murderess: Newspaper Representations of Women Convicted of Murder in New York City, London, and Ireland, 1880–1914 (Rian Sutton, Lynsey Black)....Pages 233-255
‘Children’s Lies’: The Weimar Press as Psychological Expert in Child Sex Abuse Trials (Heather Wolffram)....Pages 257-278
Murder Cases, Trunks and the Entanglement of Ethics: The Preservation and Display of Scenes of Crime Material (Angela Sutton-Vane)....Pages 279-301
Back Matter ....Pages 303-315
