Criminalistics: An Introduction to Forensic Science

Richard Saferstein, Ph.D., retired after serving 21 years as the chief forensic scientist of the New Jersey State Police Laboratory, one of the largest crime laboratories in the United States. He currently acts as a consultant for attorneys and the media in the area of forensic science. During the O. J. Simpson criminal trial, Dr. Saferstein provided extensive commentary on forensic aspects of the case for the Rivera Live show, the E! television network, ABC radio, and various radio talk shows. Dr. Saferstein holds degrees from the City College of New York and earned his doctorate degree in chemistry in 1970 from the City University of New York. From 1972 to 1991, he taught an introductory forensic science course in the criminal justice programs at the College of New Jersey and Ocean County College. These teaching experiences played an influential role in Dr. Saferstein''s authorship in 1977 of the widely used introductory textbook Criminalistics: An Introduction to Forensic Science, currently in this thirteenth edition. Saferstein''s basic philosophy in writing Criminalistics is to make forensic science understandable and meaningful to the nonscience reader, while giving the reader an appreciation for the scientific principles that underlie the subject.

Dr. Saferstein has authored or co-authored more than 45 technical papers and chapters covering a variety of forensic topics. Dr. Saferstein has co-authored Lab Manual for Criminalistics (Pearson, 2015) to be used in conjunction with this text. He is also the author of Forensic Science: An Introduction (Pearson, 2008 and 2011) and Forensic Science: From the Crime Scene to the Crime Lab (2009 and 2015). He has also edited the widely used professional reference books Forensic Science Handbook, Volumes I, II, and III, 2nd edition (published in 2002, 2005, and 2010, respectively, by Pearson).

Dr. Saferstein is a member of the American Chemical Society, the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the Canadian Society of Forensic Scientists, the International Association for Identification, the Northeastern Association of Forensic Scientists, and the Society of Forensic Toxicologists. He is the recipient of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences 2006 Paul L. Kirk Award for distinguished service and contributions to the field of criminalistics.

Tiffany Roy, MSFS, JD, is a Forensic DNA expert with over thirteen years of forensic biology experience in both public and private laboratories in the United States. She has processed thousands of DNA samples and thousands of cases over the course of her career. She has provided expert witness testimony in more than one hundred cases in state, federal and international courts. She instructs undergraduates at Palm Beach Atlantic University; University of Maryland Global Campus; and Southern New Hampshire University. She currently acts as a consultant for attorneys and the media in the area of forensic biology through her firm, ForensicAid, LLC.

Roy holds degrees from Syracuse University, Massachusetts School of Law and University of Florida in the areas of Biology, Law and Forensic Science. Her teaching, legal writing and testimonial experience help her to take complex scientific concepts and make them easily understandable for the nonscientist. Roy assisted Dr. Saferstein in completing Forensic Science: From the Crime Scene to the Crime Lab 4e (Pearson 2019) and has authored the text The Complete Guide to the American Board of Criminalistics Molecular Biology Examination (CRC Press 2020) to assist working forensic scientists achieve the goal of certification.

Roy is a member of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the Northeastern Association of Forensic Scientists and the Massachusetts Board of Bar Examiners. She is a certified Diplomate in the area of Forensic Biology by the American Board of Criminalistics. Aside from her teaching, writing and consulting, Roy also assists with international capacity building initiatives, providing subject matter expertise for trainings for criminal justice stakeholders in the Middle East and Africa.