| A | B |
|---|
| Analytical skills | the ability to identify a concept or problem, to isolate its component parts, to organize information for decision making, to establish criteria for evaluation, and to draw appropriate conclusions |
| Deductive reasoning | deriving the consequences from the facts using a series of logical steps |
| Eyewitness | a person who has seen someone or something and can communicate these facts |
| Fact | a statement or assertion of information that can be verified |
| Forensic | relating to the application of scienfic knowledge to legal questions |
| Logical | conclusions drawn from assumptions and known facts |
| Obervation | what a person perceives using his or her senses |
| Opinion | personal belief founded on judgement rather than on direct experience or knowlege |
| Perception | interpreting information received from the senses |
| Criminalistics | the examination of physical evidence; whereas forensics might be considered to encompass broader areas of investigation, such as pathology |
| Criminal law | the type of law that sets acceptable limits of conduct in society |
| Evidence | something that tends to establish or disprove a fact such as documents, testimony, and other objects |
| Ballistics | the science that deals with the motion, behavior, and effect of projectiles, most often firearms and bullets |
| Odontology | in forensics, examination of bite marks and dental identification or corpses |
| Pathology | investigation of sudden, unexplained, or violent death |
| Entomology | the study of insects |
| Palynology | the study of pollen and spores |
| Polygraphy | the use of the lie detector |
| Common law | the body of law made up of judicial opinions and precedents |
| Civil law | deals with noncriminal suits brought to protect or preserve a civil or private right to matter |
| Stare Decisis | to stand by the decision "meaning previous legal decisions are to be followed |
| Misdemeanor | a minior crime, less than a felony, usually punished with a fine or confinement other than in a prison |
| Felony | a serious crime, such as murder, punishable by more than one year of imprisonment up to execution |
| Probable cause | situation in which a reasonable and prudent person, viewing the avalible information, would conclude that a crime has been commited and that the suspect committed it |
| Miranda Rights | rights guaranteed by the Consitution that police must tell arrestees about, especially the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney |
| Violation | a breach of a right, duty, or law |
| Infraction | violation of a rule or law that is not punishable by prison |
| Probative | in evidence law, tending to prove something |
| Material | in evidence law, relevant and significant. A material witness has information about the subject |
| Hearsay | testimony given by a witness who relates not what he or she heard, saw, or knew personally, but what others have said |
| Expert witness | a person who is a specialist in a subject, often technical, who may present his or her expert opinion without actually witnessing any occurence relating to the case |
| Frye standard | case that developed concept of general acceptance of scientific techniques |
| Daubert ruling | relaxed the Frye standard of admission of scientific evidence |
| Locard | established the first police crime lab in France |
| Hsi Duan Yu | chinese book that described the difference between drowning and strangulation |
| Orfila | father of modern toxicology |
| Jeffreys | discoved that each person has unique DNA, called DNA Profiling |
| Landsteiner | discoved that blood cells fall into groups (blood typing) |
| Bertillon | developed a systematic procedure for taking a series of body measurements as a means of distinguishing one individual from another |
