Forensic Science: From the Crime Scene to the Crime Lab

by Richard Saferstein

A new first edition by the # 1 author in Forensic Science (Richard Saferstein) Forensic Science: From theCrime Scene to the Crime Lab is designed to present forensic science in a very straightforward and easy to understand format. A book in forensic science can quickly overwhelm readers who have little or no course work in basic science. While a book in Forensic Science cannot avoid a discussion of some basic science principles, it can be done in a fashion that does not confuse the student. This book does just that!

Genres: Textbooks, Chemistry

678 pages, Hardcover

First published April 21, 2008

About the author

Dr. Richard Saferstein was the chief forensic scientist of the New Jersey State Police Laboratory from 1970 to 1991. He appeared in over 1,000 courts as an expert witness and published numerous articles throughout his career. From 1972 to 1991, he also taught an introductory forensic science course in the criminal justice programs at Ocean County College and College of New Jersey.

Upon his retirement in 1991 he started his own consulting business, working as a consultant for attorneys and the media in the area of forensic science. He worked on numerous high-profile cases, including the O.J. Simpson criminal trial, and wrote several forensic science textbooks, the most important being “Criminalistics: An Introduction to Forensic Science” which became the leading textbook in the field in the U.S. In 2006, he received the American Academy of Forensic Sciences Paul L. Kirk award for distinguished service and contributions to the field of criminalistics.

He passed away in 2017.

Reviews

[Mohammed Aymen ALI TALEB]

I read this book because I wanted to discover the world of forensic science. We all have watched a movie or a TV show about crimes investigations, but I wanted to know more about how it's done in the real life.

The edition that I had was the second. It consist of 18 Chapters, and each chapter talks about a specific topic (Searching the crime scene, death investigation, document examination...).

The book is well written and well organised. At the end of each chapter there is a summary that helps you understand what you have read so far, and also a couple of questions for you to test yourself. Some case files are included to better understand the topic. The author gives a history background before talking about how to secure, to search and to record a crime scene. Then, the author talks in detail about physical evidence and how they are searched and collected (drugs, firearms, bloodstains...).

The book is really exciting and I had much fun in reading It. It fundamentally changed my point of view of forensic science. I recommend it for all who wants to discover this world.

[Dan Adams]

Read this book for a Forensic Science college course I've just completed. Always enjoy a good crime novel or mystery, and relish the same on TV; but this book gives you all of the actual science used in the investigations and, believe me, most crimes are not as easily-solved as books, and movies, and especially half-hour TV programs, would have you believe. Interesting stuff!

[Amy]

I feel like most of the book was almost in list form. It read more like a list of historical events and techniques instead of an actual textbook. This caused a DNF

[Madilyn Gomm]

Of all the textbooks I have had to read in my years of schooling, this has been by far the best. Very educational, well organized, and great visual aids.

[Rachael]

great overview of forensics

[Sylvester]

Forensic Science is an comprehensive textbook covering all the topics one may encounter during their course of learning. It is very well laid out and the appendix was useful, however the depth of the teaching in the book is too shallow for someone who may have background in scientific work.

[Catherine West]

Very good book about how investigations are done at the crime scene and evidence collected and transported to the crime lab.