Toxicology through time by Liam Eldred

Charles Norris

eliam17 — 2017-04-16 09:51:56 UTC

Charles Norris:
Norris was originally a skeptoisist of the way the Criminal justice system was ran in the United states. After travelling around Europe seeing the new technologies that other nations used to find criminals and the way people died, he decided to see if he could incorporate some of that science into the American criminal justice system. Charles Norris was the founder of toxicology in the criminal justice system in America. He wanted to use science to prove how victims had died instead of the old ways where the corrupt coroners decided the reason for death. Norris saw the whole in the system in place as anyone could be a coroner. A medical Examiner was different to a coroner because it was based of off scientific fact and not just a simple minded opinion. Norris in this way was different to the coroners because he wanted a just society and not a corrupt one.

What is Toxicology?

eliam17 — 2017-04-16 10:28:52 UTC

Toxicology is the study/part of science which find's poisons in nature, the environment and people.

How was forensic science originally viewed?

eliam17 — 2017-04-24 07:31:34 UTC

Forensic science was originally believed to be a hoax. No one believed that science could prove the way a victim had died. This was because the people had no scientific basis or background to see why toxicology is right.

The Game Changers!

eliam17 — 2017-04-24 07:59:41 UTC

Alexander Gettler:

eliam17 — 2017-04-24 08:00:11 UTC

Alexander Gettler was a chemist employed by Charles Norris. He was the equivalent to an apprentice, learning the ways of toxicology and how it effected people. As well as creating new tests to test for different poisons in the body.
One of Gettler's tests was to test for radium. To do this he took the bones of a person and placed them over books that had x-ray paper inside them. A few days later he came back and looked at the x-ray paper, you could clearly see the bones still had radium because the bone image had been printed onto the x-ray paper.

eliam17 — 2017-04-24 08:09:33 UTC

eliam17 — 2017-04-24 08:10:50 UTC

Difference in the years!

eliam17 — 2017-05-02 03:51:27 UTC

Jackson Case (Noris and Gettlers first case together)

eliam17 — 2017-05-02 03:51:55 UTC

The setting is in New York 1922, over 900 people this year had died from suspected poisoning. The need for a legitimate branch of people to determine the cause of death was here, the corrupt coroners needed to be put out and science was the answer. The Jackson case was Norris and Gettlers first case together. Norris and gettler suspected that the Jacksons were poisoned by cyanide. This was because of the blueing around the mouth of the victims. Norris and gettler tested for the cyanide by mixing it with a mixture of chemicals, if cyanide is present the mixture will turn blue. The trace evidence did in fact turn blue but when the case was taken to court Norris and gettler lost. This was because when gettler was quizzed about the testing it was found that Gettler had no specific training as a toxicologist and was going merely off experience which was no reliable enough. This hurt Gettler and he worked harder in the lab to try to promote the crdentials of toxicology in the criminal justice system.

Arsenic (A Familiar Face)

eliam17 — 2017-05-05 05:31:16 UTC

Fanny Creighton killed her brother who had recently moved in with her. Fanny was in desperate need of money. She decided that killing her brother and taking out life insurance on his life was the best way to get an easy $1000.

“Fanny Creighton’s trial was a measure of the changing status of forensic science” (Pioneers handbook 3)
This is because Creighton had already been in trial for Arsenic poisoning before except this time, Gettler was saying that she was guilty and not that she was innocent. Gettler had a chance to rejuvenate his credentials of the past showing new techniques and proof to why he was right.
Ultimately this case was the biggest game changer because it was the first case that really used the backing of toxicology evidence in a court. This has helped frame the present of evidence based trials in court as these methods are still used today.

eliam17 — 2017-05-05 05:53:29 UTC

The Game changer!

eliam17 — 2017-05-05 05:55:18 UTC

eliam17 — 2017-05-05 05:57:31 UTC

Citations

eliam17 — 2017-05-05 05:58:25 UTC

Blum, Deborah, Ms. "WGBH American Experience . The Poisoner's Handbook | PBS."American Experience. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2017. .

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vzKihjFZ5Dr2OXkbyNkY-qZgMmh1KFheWx8qSCcNt3I/edit
(Pioneers Handbook)