| 翻訳と辞書 |
| Forensic chemistry ： ウィキペディア英語版 |
Forensic chemistry
Forensic chemistry is the application of chemistry and its subfield, forensic toxicology, in a legal setting. A forensic chemist can assist in the identification of unknown materials found at a crime scene.〔 Forensic specialists in this field have a wide array of different methods and instruments to help identify unknown substances. Specific methods common to the field include high-performance liquid chromatography, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, atomic absorption spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and thin layer chromatography. The range of different methods is important due to the destructive nature of some instruments and the number of possible unknown substances that can be found at a scene. If possible, nondestructive methods should always be attempted first to preserve evidence and to determine the best protocol for when a destructive method is used.
Along with other forensic specialists, forensic chemists commonly testify in court as expert witnesses regarding their findings. The work performed by forensic chemists is bound by a set of standards that have been proposed by various agencies and governing bodies, including the Scientific Working Group on the Analysis of Seized Drugs. In addition to the standard operating procedures proposed by the group, specific agencies have their own standards regarding the quality assurance and quality control of their results and their instruments. In order to ensure the accuracy of what they are reporting, forensic chemists routinely check and verify that their instruments are working correctly and are still able to detect and measure various quantities of different substances.
==Role in investigations==
Forensic chemists' investigations can provide directions for investigators to look in, and they can confirm or refute investigators' suspicions. In cases where an unknown material is found at the scene, the identification of the substance can tell investigators what to look for during their search. For example, during fire investigations, forensic chemists can determine if an accelerant such as gasoline or kerosene was used; if so, this suggests that the fire was intentionally set.〔 Forensic chemists can also narrow down the suspect list to people who would have access to the substance used in a crime. For example, in explosive investigations, the identification of RDX or C-4 would indicate a military connection as those substances are military grade explosives.〔 On the other hand, the identification of TNT would create a wider suspect list, since it is used in both the military and by demolition companies.〔 During poisoning investigations, the detection of specific poisons can give detectives an idea of what to look for when they are interviewing potential suspects. For example, a death caused by ricin would tell investigators to look for the precursors to ricin, the seeds of the castor oil plant, while a death from strychnine would tell investigators to look for a strychnine tree or online purchases of the seeds.
Forensic chemists also help to confirm or refute investigators' suspicions in drug or alcohol cases. Since the instruments used by forensic chemists can detect substances down to a very low level, the quantity of that substance is relevant to the investigation. This can be important in crimes such as driving under the influence as there is a specific blood alcohol content cutoff where penalties begin or increase.〔 In suspected overdose cases, the quantity of the drug found in the person's system can confirm or rule out overdose as the cause of death.
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
■ウィキペディアで「Forensic chemistry」の詳細全文を読む
スポンサード リンク
| 翻訳と辞書 : 翻訳のためのインターネットリソース |
Copyright(C) kotoba.ne.jp 1997-2016. All Rights Reserved.
|
|