Guide to Information Sources in the Forensic Sciences

Thanks to the O. J. Simpson case, not to mention the overwhelming success of the CSI franchise, the general public is both aware of and curious about the world of forensics, i.e., the investigation and establisment of facts or evidence in a court of law. The forensic sciences incorporate the application of principles and methods from a cadre of specialized scientific and technical disciplines, to a vast array of criminal and civil legal questions. To this end, Cynthia Holt has compiled a comprehensive bibliography of resources recommended to support research in the forensic sciences and its various subspecialties. Holt’s introductory chapter clarifies the distinctions between the major forensic sciences specialties; in addition, it provides an overview of the hierarchy of various classification systems for the forensics literature. The bibliography itself is grouped by type of material (e.g., journals, abstracts and indexes, books). Topics include ballistics, DNA analysis, etymology, expert witnessing, and facial imaging/reconstruction, as well as contributions from academic fields such as anthropology, linguistics and engineering. Tools are primarily in English, with a few non-English titles included for reasons of significance. With a preface by Professor Moses S. Schanfield, Chair of the Department of Forensic Sciences at George Washington University.