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Title details for Murder and the Making of English CSI by Ian Burney - Available

Murder and the Making of English CSI

by Ian Burney
Neil Pemberton
ebook
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A history of the origins and development of forensic science in murder investigations in early twentieth-century England.
Crime scene investigation—or CSI—has captured the modern imagination. On television screens and in newspapers, we follow the exploits of forensic officers wearing protective suits and working behind police tape to identify and secure physical evidence for laboratory analysis. But where did this ensemble of investigative specialists and scientific techniques come from?
In Murder and the Making of English CSI, Ian Burney and Neil Pemberton tell the engrossing history of how, in the first half of the twentieth century, novel routines, regulations, and techniques—from chain-of-custody procedures to the analysis of hair, blood, and fiber—fundamentally transformed the processing of murder scenes. Focusing on two iconic English investigations—the 1924 case of Emily Kaye, who was beaten and dismembered by her lover at a lonely beachfront holiday cottage, and the 1953 investigation into John Christie's serial murders in his dingy terraced home in London's West End—Burney and Pemberton chart the emergence of the crime scene as a new space of forensic activity.
Drawing on fascinating source material ranging from how-to investigator handbooks and detective novels to crime journalism, police case reports, and courtroom transcripts, the book shows readers how, over time, the focus of murder inquiries shifted from a primarily medical and autopsy-based interest in the victim's body to one dominated by laboratory technicians laboring over minute trace evidence. Murder and the Making of English CSI reveals the compelling and untold story of how one of the most iconic features of our present-day forensic landscape came into being. It is a must-read for forensic scientists, historians, and true crime devotees alike.
"Out of some pretty gruesome parts, Burney and Pemberton have assembled a remarkably elegant account of the making of modern murder investigation. Their analysis combines scholarly sophistication with a clarity of prose that entertains, informs, and surprises. Murder and the Making of English CSI brims with insight about the historical path that led to our forensic present." —Mario Biagioli, UC Davis School of Law, author of Galileo's Instruments of Credit: Telescopes, Images, Secrecy
"This nuanced and fascinating history of English crime scene reconstruction has an uncanny prescience for today's debates about how to manage crime scene evidence." —Simon A. Cole, University of California, Irvine, author of Suspect Identities: A History of Fingerprinting and Criminal Identification

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    February 16, 2022

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781421420417
      • File size: 5213 KB

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781421420417
      • File size: 5390 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      September 15, 2016

      Burney (Bodies of Evidence) and Pemberton (Rabies in Britain), the director and a research fellow, respectively, at the University of Manchester Center for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine, have written a persuasive history of how English crime scene investigation (CSI) developed from predominantly body- and autopsy-based evidence to a science dominated by trace elements, such as dust. The book considers the many personalities who shaped early forensics, discusses the invaluable contributions made by forensic science pioneers Hans Gross and Edmond Locard, and reflects upon the current tension between proponents of DNA-based analysis and those who still value the trace-evidence approach. The authors use two English murder investigations--R v. Patrick Herbert Mahon (1924) and R v. John Reginald Halliday Christie (1953)--to explore how modern forensic investigation techniques developed. Some lay readers might find the academic language difficult at first, but if they stay the course they'll discover a meticulously researched introduction to an important subject. VERDICT Thoroughly readable with extensive source notes, this succinct exploration of the subject will appeal to academic and lay readers alike.--Penelope J.M. Klein, Fayetteville, NY

      Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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