Crime Labs (Forensic Science Investigated)

“LET’S GET THIS EVIDENCE TO THE LAB!” You are likely to hear that line in almost any crime show or movie these days. Whether the evidence is a bul- let found at the scene of a shooting, a chip of paint from the jeans of a kid who has been struck by a speeding car, or a disposable coffee cup crumpled and thrown away by a suspect under investigation, police or detectives rush it to a crime lab, where it gives up its secrets. In the hands of white-coated lab technicians, that bullet, paint chip, or crumpled cup points straight to the criminal. Real-life criminal investigation is almost never as fast and easy as it looks in TV shows and movies. On television, DNA tests are completed almost instantly, but in reality they can take days, weeks, or even months. The men and women who work in crime labs, examining evidence from crime scenes and Final Crime__Layout 1 6/1/10 9:49 AM Page 5 victims’ bodies, do not always come up with the “perfect match” to a fingerprint or a strand of hair. Yet one thing is true in the real world and the world of entertainment: many crimes today are solved in the laboratory, thanks to forensic science.