Forensic Science

11 Pages 2730 Words

t to the gun that fired it. There are parts of a gun that mark the bullet and cartridge. When the bullet is rifled it gives the bullet a special mark, this allow the bullet to be traced to the gun that fired it. Rifling puts spin on the bullet, giving it a straighter trajectory.

“Rifling consists of lands and groves that spiral down the gun barrel. When the gunpowder in the cartridge is ignited, it forces the bullet down the gun barrel, expanding the soft lead into the lands and groves. As the bullet passes down the barrel, microscopic scratches from the lands and grooves mark the bullet. These microscopic scratches are a by-product of the manufacturing process and are totally unique to a particular firearm. Therefore, the scratch marks on the bullet match the scratch marks in the barrel of the gun that fired it, to the exclusion of all other weapons.”3


This action is tested in a lab by firing a bullet using the weapon that is thought to be from the crime scene. The test bullet is compared to a bullet found at the crime scene under a comparison microscope. Both bullets are rotated until the striations can be made to line up, showing a match. If the striations cannot be lined up, then that means that the weapon was not the one used at the crime scene.

Next let’s examine forensic psychiatry and profiling. “Forensic Psychiatry is psychiatry which deals with the legal aspects of mental disorders.”4

“In cases of mental illness, the individual does not function well in reality because of emotional fluctuations or distorted point of view interpretation.
Mental disorder is a clinically significant behavior or psychological syndrome or pattern that is associated with present distress or disability or with a significantly increased risk of suffering death, pain or disability or important loss of freedom.
Diagnosis is a medical classification that allows for communication between professionals, allows for predic...