Forensic Scientists

Roles and Responsibilities of Forensic Scientists in Criminal Investigations 

Forensic scientists are involved in criminal investigations when evidence has been collected at crime scenes by the scenes of crime officers and needs analysing in the laboratories. Forensic scientists are the individuals who analyse this evidence. They are involved in the gathering and analysing facts stage of the criminal investigation, this is because they analyse facts obtained from the evidence collected. The roles and responsibilities of a forensic scientist within a criminal investigation include: Analysing biological, chemical or physical evidence which was collected from a crime scene, a forensic scientist is an individual who usually remains within a laboratory analysing evidence which has been collected at a crime scene. They do this to obtain information which could be crucial to the investigation. Analysing the evidence may include performing DNA tests on bodily fluids such as blood or analysing fingerprints. After analysing the evidence collected from a crime scene the forensic scientist will be tasked with the role of writing up a report detailing the findings of the analysis of the evidence, this is an important role as if the case eventually goes to court, the report written by the forensic scientist will be used as evidence.

Role of Forensic Scientists in the OJ Simpson Case

The evidence collected in the case of the murder of Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman was analysed by forensic scientists within the Los Angeles Crime Lab. The evidence which was analysed by the lab included blood evidence as well as many other pieces of evidence. The forensic scientists in this case were able to identify the blood found on the glove at Simpson’s property to have Simpson’s blood, Nicole’s blood and Ron’s blood. They were also able to identify blood found in Simpson’s ford bronco as that of Nicole and Ron.

Role of Forensic Scientists in other Investigations

The role of a forensic scientist is unlikely to change depending on the type of criminal investigation they are involved in. This is because their roles and responsibilities will involve analysing evidence which has been collected at crime scenes. The only factor that will change in the role of a forensic scientist in different investigations is the type of evidence they examine. This will change because the evidence collected at crime scenes differs depending on the crime which has been carried out.