Article
Article
Forensic microscopy
Article By:
Jones, Edwin L., Jr. Forensics Department, Ventura County Sheriff's Crime Laboratory, Ventura, California.
Last reviewed:January 2020
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.801800
The application of microscopy techniques for purposes of civil or criminal law. Edmond Locard (1877–1966) stated that every contact leaves a trace. This is known as the Locard exchange principle, the basis for much of forensic microscopy. Since the early 1800s, the microscope has been used to help solve crimes. Today, it remains one of the most used tools in the crime laboratory. Criminal evidence ranging in scale from micrometer-sized particles to hair and paint chips can be found and removed to a laboratory for microscopic analysis, where its history may be deduced to help solve the crime. Microscopy can provide insight into the identity and origin of a material, what has happened to it and when, and the routes it may have taken between a crime victim, suspect, and crime scene (Fig. 1). See also: Criminalistics
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