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The role and impact of forensic science in the 21st century
Evolution of forensic sciences over time
The role and impact of forensic science in the 21st century
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Forensics has changed the way our criminal system works now. A lot of cases are being solved because of the development of forensics. Even cold cases are being brought up to the light to be investigated again and a good percentage of the cases are being solved and criminals are being brought to justice. The green river killer is one case that really got me intrigued into forensics and I got mesmerized by the techniques that are being used to catch murderers and other crimes being committed. The green river killer had an interesting childhood that led him to be a serial killer. He committed multiple murders on prostitutes and left there families with agony and pain. But advances in DNA ultimately led to his demise, police officers were able to capture and arrest him and bring justice to a lot of family’s mourning for their sisters, mothers, and daughters. His story is intriguing and is one that I would like to tell.
The green river killer was not always known by this title, before his capture in 2001 he was known as Gary Leon Ridgway. He was born in February 18 1949 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Bio 2013) When he turned 11 years old his family moved to Washington, he was the middle of three boys and was brought up in a relatively poor household not too far from the state route 99 known as “the strip” where he kidnapped a lot of his victims. (Montaldo 2011) He was known as a loner to a lot of people who got the chance to know him and wasn’t exactly considered smart in school but once he hit puberty he began to develop some sexual feelings that were inappropriate toward his mother. (Montaldo 2011) As you can imagine that can cause a lot of distress in a young boy having sexual thoughts and feelings toward his mother and it didn’t help ...
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...gators who worked so hard on this case!!
Works Cited
Gary Ridgway. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 08:10, Nov 13, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/gary-ridgway-10073409.
Green river killer confesses. (2003, November 4). Retrieved from http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Green-River-Killer-confesses-1128925.php
Green river killings. (2003, November 5). Retrieved from http://seattletimes.com/news/local/greenriver/timeline.html
Montaldo, C. (2011, February 8). Gary ridgway: The green river killer. Retrieved from http://crime.about.com/od/serial/a/Gary-Ridgway.htm
Talvi, S. (2003, November 11). The truth about the green river. Retrieved from http://www.alternet.org/story/17171/the_truth_about_the_green_river_killer
Wife of green river killer breaks her silence. (2007, April 29). Retrieved from http://www.katu.com/news/local/7245716.html
I choose this topic because I believe it is important to know why serial killers have been around for hundreds of years. If there were more studies on them then I believe we may be more able to prevent their vicious killings. If there are several things in common between several different serial killers then it would be safe to say that those things can be predictors of what is to come. If for example, I researched all of the serial killers in the last twenty years and they were all beaten as children and had alcoholic parents, then it would seem that beating children and having alcoholic parents is certainly a common factor and may predict their future. So in my paper I will come up with a detailed profile and common themes between the serial killers in the last twenty years.
In the story The Green Killer by ME Kerr Blaze Dunn was portrayed as perfect. Blaze reveals this trait in quite a few ways throughout the story, one way is that this trait is portrayed is that he is said to be a golden boy. In the story people talk about his golden personality, “Golden. He was golden. My own mother admitted it.” This is Alan Dunn’s thoughts about Blaze (Kerr 54). This goes to show that people thought Blaze was flawless or perfection. Other characters reveled this trait by praising or admiring him. In the text people talk about how remarkable Blaze was, “Special, unique, a winner-all of those things I heard about Blaze.” which adds to his angle of perfection (Kerr 54). This was just one of the thoughts of this
The book Murder in the Bayou: Who Killed the Women Known as the Jeff Davis 8?, written by independent journalist and private investigator Ethan Brown, tells the horrific true story of the bayou town of Jennings, Louisiana located in the heart of the Jefferson Davis parish. During the four year duration between 2005 and 2009, the town of Jennings was on edge after the discovery of the bodies of eight murdered women were found in the filthy canals and swamps. The victims became known as the “Jeff Davis 8.” For years, local law enforcement suspected a serial killer, and solely investigated the murders based on that theory alone. The victims were murdered in varying manors, but when alive they all shared many commonalities and were connected to
Born on February 2, 22, 1996, Charles Cullen is a famous serial killer from New Jersey (Jennifer Hash, 2006, p. 3). The Media named him “the Angel of Death,” an apt nickname for a serial killer that worked as a nurse. According to Brain D, Andresen (2005), an angel of death describes is a type of serial killer that often works as a caregiver in the medical field who intentionally kills patients (1). An angel of death has power over their victims and may try to play god by deciding the victim would be better off dead than to suffer from their illness. As a nurse, Cullen had access to drugs, which he used to kill his victims. He gave patients overdoses of the drug digoxin, a heart stimulant. Charles was given a way out of the death penalty if
Sean Vincent Gills was born June 24, 1962, in Baton Rouge, LA to Norman and Yvonne Gillis. His father died of acholism when Gills was just a young boy. His mom working a full time job at a local television station struggled to take care of Gills. Her parents often looked at after him. As a child Gills was thought to be normal. His mother was quoted saying that “I used to call him my little blue-eyed angel. This is the person I loved most in this world.” It wasn’t until his teenage years when others began to see a different side of him. As a teenager he had minor infraction but none to alarm others to think he would become a killer. He was arrested for traffic citations, DUI, possession of marijuana, and contempt of court through tout the years.
Infamous serial killer, John Wayne Gacy, was born on March 17, 1942, in Chicago, Illinois. Gacy, born into an abusive environment, was assaulted physically along with his siblings, with a razor strap if they were perceived to have misbehaved by their alcoholic father. In addition, Gacy’s mother was physically abused as well throughout her marriage and during the children’s upbringing. During John Wayne Gacy’s childhood education, he suffered further alienation due to a congenital heart condition that resulted in further feelings of contempt from his father. Furthermore, Gacy eventually came to the realization that he was attracted to men, which caused a great amount of mental turmoil over his sexuality.
In February 1998, Watertown, SD, was not bursting with riveting activity. Watertown had a population of 20,127 people in 1998, which is not much less than the 22,000 residents it has today. Brenda Barger was mayor of Watertown, SD, during the years of some of the worst flooding ever in Watertown. Although the little town of Watertown seems like the perfect rural town to raise a family, it’s not all butterflies and rainbows. On February 1, it was reported that two teenage girls were accused of beating a 47 year-old man to death in his home. David Paul Bauman died of a head injury caused by the girls. Bauman was currently unemployed and mildly disabled due to a car accident a number of years earlier (“2 Teen-agers Arrested in Watertown Killing”
Vronsky, Peter. "A "Typical" Serial Killer: Gary Leon Ridgway, "The Green River Killer"."Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters. New York: The Berkley Publishing Group, 2004. . Print.
Montaldo, Charles. “Gary Ridgway: The Green River Killer.” Crime/Punishment. About.com. 8 Feb. 2012. Web. 6 Feb. 2012.
Serial murder is defined by the National Institute of Justice as a "series of two or more murders, committed as separate events, usually but not always, by one offender acting alone. The crimes may occur over a period of time ranging from hours to years. Quite often the motive is psychological, and the offender's behavior and the physical evidence observed at the crime scenes will reflect sadistic, sexual overtones." This definition perfectly describes serial killer Albert Fish.
Although tallying just two deaths, Ed Gein is one of America’s most infamous murderers. His notorious killings are remembered as being among the most perverse of any this century. His lunatic atrocities were magnified by the number of victims who fell prey to his sick deeds and who also fueled his numerous habits of cannibalism, necrophilia of women, and his obsession with the female body, especially his mother, Augusta Gein. Although clearly guilty for the acts Gein committed, psychiatrists were confident in their conclusion of his insanity. As is in many cases, Gein’s birth of insanity started in childhood.
In Green River, Running Red, author Ann Rule describes a killer without remorse, who is the product of both personal and social influences, in effect forcing him to murder women and to continue to do so for over a decade as a fulfillment of his fantasies. When endeavoring to rationalize the causes of such a mind, theories of deviance, when separated into two distinct categories, positivist and constructionism. Positivist theories, such as the general theory of crime, allows for individual's to piece together events in the life of Gary Ridgway, the Green River killer which would undeniably lead him to a twisted sense of reality, combined with sexual fantasies and a tendency to justify perverted acts of murder. Constructionist theories, specifically conflict theory, are able to shed light on the lives and decisions made by the victims, who were all led to such lifestyles through outward sources. In determining the causes and motivations behind both the offender and the victims, theories of deviance leave little to be speculated on when placing blame on either psychological or social factors.
Bernard Lefkowitz’s Our Guys raises a lot of issues, all of which have been discussed throughout this semester.
Law enforcement and other agencies have been able to re-open cold cases, help find missing persons, and prove the innocence of individuals with the technological discovery and use of DNA recognition and testing in the 21st century. They have been able to give closure to families who have lost family members and have been able to prevent criminals from ever committing another offense against another human being. Although there are still numerous problems and obstacles with DNA recognition and forensic scientists are still working out the kinks, the amount of help DNA recognition has been able to give is phenomenal.
The topic I find such fascinating is Forensic Science and how forensic science has significantly changed over the years. “The area of forensic science has grown considerably over the last 150 years and more so since the mid 1980’s.” (Lyman, 2016) Forensic science has gone from taking basic information, and fingerprints to DNA and blood splatter. During a crime scene investigation evidence is collected, analyzed in a crime laboratory and then if needed are presented to the court. However, today the crime laboratory is becoming mobile and can go to the scene to analyze the evidence. Each crime scene and investigation is unique and distinctive, with the help of forensics it can help solve a case.