Forensic Science: An Introduction to Scientific and Investigative Techniques

Forensic Science: An Introduction to Scientific and Investigative Techniques, Sixth Edition covers a full range of fundamental topics essential to modern forensic casework and investigation. The new edition is fully updated to outline best practices - including recent technology and techniques - providing an engaging account of current advances in the field.

Going beyond theory to application, Forensic Science begins by discussing the intersection of law and forensic science, how things become evidence, and how courts decide if an item or testimony is admissible. It presents the broadest array of forensic disciplines among available textbooks on the market, addressing: forensic anthropology, death investigation (including entomology), bloodstain pattern analysis, firearms, tool marks, and forensic analysis of questioned documents, among others. Students follow evidence all the way from the crime scene into laboratory analysis and even onto the autopsy table.

Updates to this edition include a new chapter on DNA analysis covering lineage markers and investigative genetic genealogy (Chapter 11 Advanced Topics in DNA Analysis). Chapter 2 addresses statistics, probability, and frequency databases in interpreting forensic evidence. A section called ＂Return to the Scene of the Crime＂ describes scenarios that allows students to compare the physical evidence with the analyzed testing results. ＂Advanced Topics＂ sections present quantitative or advanced aspects of each chapter’s subject matter. This material is geared toward students with a strong math and science background, forensic science majors, and honors students.

Designed for a single-term course at the undergraduate level, the book’s writing is straightforward and accessible - explaining in-depth concepts clearly and accurately. Forensic Science: An Introduction to Scientific and Investigative Techniques, Sixth Edition continues to serve as the essential, go-to textbook for introduction to forensic science courses.

Free Digital Learning Resources for instructors and students include:

Individual chapter web pages with:

Flash cards for Glossary terms

Dr. Suzanne Bell is an Emeritus Professor and Chair of the Department of Forensic and Investigative Sciences at West Virginia University. She has been involved in forensic science as a practitioner and educator for decades. Her career began at the New Mexico State Police Crime Laboratory where she worked in forensic chemistry and crime scene response. Positions with Los Alamos National Laboratory and Eastern Washington University followed before arriving at WVU in 2003. Among other roles, she served as professor and chair of the department of Forensic Science. She has published many papers in and has taught and mentored students in forensic science and chemistry from undergraduate through post-doctoral levels. Her career has been dedicated to forensic education for students, forensic practitioners, and the public.

Dr. Bell served on the National Commission on Forensic Science (NCFS) from 2014-2017. She is the author of 13 books including multiple editions of a comprehensive introductory text and three editions of Forensic Chemistry. Her latest title is Understanding Forensic DNA Typing, which she co-wrote with Dr. John Butler, an internally recognized DNA working at the National Institutes of Science and Technology.