Human Scent Evidence

During the last decade, a significant number of scientific studies have supported the use of human scent as a biometric tool and indicator of the presence, or absence, of an individual at a crime scene. These findings even extend to conducting scent identification line-ups with suspects. Human Scent Evidence focuses on some of these recent advances in the use of human scent as forensic evidence and as an identifier. Topics include:

• Various theories of human odor production
• The variability, stability, and persistence of human scent
• Historical aspects of the use of human scent in police work in the United States and internationally
• Current trends in scent collection techniques, including devices, materials, and storage protocols
• Chemical aspects of the evaluation of human scent, including instrumental methods for odor detection and analysis
• The legal significance of human scent evidence results
• Canine scent work from multiple search categories as described in the Scientific Working Group on Dog and Orthogonal detector Guidelines (SWGDOG)

Human scent evidence may be of critical use in many cases where other types of evidence such as DNA, fingerprints, or fibers are not readily available. As such, it can be a valuable tool in forensic investigations. With examples from North and South America and Europe, this book draws upon an extensive literature review of past and current research and is enhanced with findings from the authors' own research. It concludes with a glimpse of the future direction of human scent evidence in the forensic field and its application as a biometric and diagnostic tool.

Paola A. Prada, Ph.D., is an intelligence community postdoctoral research fellow. Her studies encompass interdisciplinary areas such as chemistry, animal behavior, and national security to address issues that are critical to effective intelligence and defense capabilities. She has worked extensively on developing instrumental methods for human odor identification for criminal investigations. Dr. Prada has also worked with canine scent detection in the context of optimizing odor collection techniques for scent training.

Kenneth G. Furton, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Florida International University. His research has focused on the canine and instrumental detection of accelerants, biotoxins, currency, drugs, explosives, and humans (dead and alive). Dr. Furton's expertise in forensic science has been sought by the legal system for which he has testified dozens of times as an expert witness in state and federal courts.