es, sexual assaults, human remains and missing persons and identifies links between solved and unsolved crimes” (“Looking,” 1996: 15). Therefore, through ViCLAS, investigators are able to make a connection between the criminals already categorized in the database and new crimes. This allows the investigators to solve the crime faster, capture the criminal, and thus protect the general public. Moreover, one of the interesting branches of forensic science is forensic geology and the technology it uses for comparing soil, minerals, building insulation, concrete blocks, and other particles or earth samples.. Many crimes may happen in the middle of the night, where there may be no witnesses, thus even soil samples can lead the investigators to the suspect. There are many different varieties of soils and building materials, and each has its own characteristic; therefore, no soil is the same (Murray & Tedrow, 1975: 72, 90). For instance, many suspects do not realize that soil, floor or wall particles could often be found in the clothing that they wore during the crime. Thus, once particles, from suspects’ clothing are compared with the particles from the crime scene, it can be used as a reliable evidence in a court of law (Murray & Tedrow, 1975: 88-89). The comparison of different minerals, soils and building materials is often difficult, because some of the particles may be too small to compare it with just an ordinary microscope; thus other methods are used. One of the most commonly used methods is petrographic microscope. This microscope “has filters capable of polarizing the light, a rotating stage, and attachments for viewing the characteristic effects on light that has passed through minerals” (Murray & Tedrow, 1975: 40). Other technological innovations used in forensic geology, such as electron microscope and scanning electron microscope (SEM). These instruments enable the forensic geologists to ̶...
