Introduction

• Author: D. P. Lyle
• Pages: 17-28

Introduction xvii

INTRODUCTION

For the practicing attorney, an understanding of forensic science is essen-

tial—and not just those involved in criminal c ases, but also those who deal

with civil litigation, contracts, dispute resolution, mediation, and virtually

every other arena of legal practice.

If you don’t practice criminal law, why would you need to know and

understand forensic science? You’ve probably had a case that began as

a simple contract dispute or divorce or inheritance but soon brushed up

against crimi nal activity. Was this document forged? Is he the father of this

child? Was this death indeed due to natural causes? The possible scenarios

are endless.

Forensic science is a huge field, encompassing anatomy, histology,

physiology, phar macolog y, chemistry, physic s, biology, bact eriology, ento -

mology, anthropology, psychology, and other scientific disciplines. It is of

course impossible to cover every aspect of forensics in this book. In fact, the

subject matter covered in each chapter would require several textbooks to

thoroughly e xplore.

Instead, I will attempt to open the doors to the world of forensic science

and provide the reader with a broad understanding of its uses and limita-

tions as well as an i n-depth understandin g of the most commonly employed