Richard Saferstein (–2017)

This textbook offers a great overview for an introductory forensic science course; every major segment of forensic science is covered to some degree - entomology, fire examination, firearms, bloodstain analysis, etc. The case studies are really interesting, too, and there are a lot of websites recommended that you can check out.

For people wanting to know just the general basics of what forensic scientists do, Saferstein has written a good jumping-off point. You'll want to read other books and take courses, though, if you want a proper in-depth look at the subject matter, because with some things he merely scratches the surface, and with others he suggests somewhat questionable methods.

For example, in discussing the collection of bullets at a crime scene, he suggests that the investigator put their initials either at the base of the bullet or on the nose of the bullet. While it's really not the best idea to mark such small evidence as a bullet directly, you should never - I repeat, NEVER - make any kind of mark to the nose or sides of bullets recovered at a crime scene. In doing so, you are completely destroying or at least contaminating any trace evidence that could have been recovered and analyzed microscopically. And with a bullet that has been fired, there will ALWAYS be something on the nose for the microscopist. So while Saferstein suggests initialling these items, do the trace evidence and firearms examiners back at the lab a favor and just bag it up and fill out the form.… (plus d'informations)