The beginnings of Forensic Psychology

Not all forensics is a search of the crimscene. When people are involved the need for Forensic Psychology becomes center stage. Some of the beginings of forensic psychology started in 1895 with the work of J McKeen Cattell of Columbia Universery. The early work was noted to to have a great degree of inaccuracy which generated intrest among the psychological community. The earliest studies were on witness recall, and why multiple witnesses who saw the same thing would have different details. The studies of other psychologists now interested in the work have led to studies showing that emotions decrease the accuracy of witness recall. This was pointed out by Stern in 1939, who using these studies went to create the first academic journal about Applied Psychology, or Forensic Psychology.

Timeline (click link)

Here I have a relatively short timeline showing the beginnings of forensics. The earliest known use of medical knowledge to a crime situation was done in China. In 1248 their was even an early book writen in china, The Hsi Duan Yu, in which the author made a distinguishment between drowning and strangulation. Early evidence of Roman culutre haveing a basic understanding of crime scene investigation has also been recorded. It's not until 1784 that real investigation of crimes moves into Engrland. Where as before the court system just did what ever the monarch said was right. It took a little over 300 years to move from the early Chinese and Roman ideas of investigation over the England. The first forensic lab was established in France about 200 hundred years after that. The world was slowly takeing steps toward honest investigation instead of quick justice. It's not until 1932 that the US establishes the FBI twenty two years after France's first forensic lab. The progress after that is much more fast paced until 1998/1999 when the FBI developed a DNA database and set up a system to automaticaly match fingerprints.