Television programs, novels, and films depicting crime investigations have led the general public, as well as attorneys, judges, and jurors, to believe that forensic methods provide “objective” evidence in criminal trials. Science, after all, does not lie. Thus, dna traces and blood-spatter patterns, for example, represent “silent witnesses” and promise “ever more perfect” justice (3). Observers have dubbed this the “CSI effect” (3). Focusing on the history of forensic techniques, Global Forensic Cultures reveals a more complex, contested perspective on the relationship between science and law.
The chapters in this volume explore topics ranging from the use of dna evidence in Thai history to the adoption of Doberman Pinchers as trackers in early twentieth-century Palestine. They reject the positivist interpretation of forensic innovation, instead emphasizing the influence of cultural forces on the embrace of “scientific” courtroom testimony. Far from supplying “truth” in legal proceedings, forensic evidence and expert witnesses typically...