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A review by jonna_doucette
American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American Csi by Kate Winkler Dawson
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
medium-paced
3.75
It was pretty ok! While maybe not as compelling as some of Kate Winkler Dawson's other works, her profile of Oscar Heinrich, America's father of criminology, is as meticulous as one of Heinrich's own investigations. Blood spatter, fingerprinting, hair and bitemark analysis - these are just some of the many revolutionary (and junkie) forensic science tools pioneered by Heinrich, and are still used in modern police work today; largely unchanged and unchallenged, much to the detriment of the American public.
These days a private enterprise like Heinrich's couldn't exist. The regulation and development of forensic science techniques is under the exclusive purview of law enforcement. Their hypotheses and methodologies, shockingly, do not require peer-review, federal oversight, or any of the rigorous testing that other studies must go through in order to prove impeachable scientific validity. As recently as 2020, bills have been introduced to bring forensics in line with the rest of the scientific world, to no avail.
As a society, I think we can acknowledge that Oscar Heinrich started something good. It is now up to us to enact the protections which will make it great.
These days a private enterprise like Heinrich's couldn't exist. The regulation and development of forensic science techniques is under the exclusive purview of law enforcement. Their hypotheses and methodologies, shockingly, do not require peer-review, federal oversight, or any of the rigorous testing that other studies must go through in order to prove impeachable scientific validity. As recently as 2020, bills have been introduced to bring forensics in line with the rest of the scientific world, to no avail.
As a society, I think we can acknowledge that Oscar Heinrich started something good. It is now up to us to enact the protections which will make it great.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder
Minor: Suicide