JACK OF ALL TRADES, MASTER OF NONE”- HOW TRUE IS THIS PHRASE FOR FORENSIC SCIENCE

Dr. Moumita Sinha

Assistant Professor - Faculty of Science Kalinga University, New Raipur

As the audience has been watching CID for the last 10 years, forensic science is emerging as a popular and fascinating subject for laymen. In recent times, the web series coming on the OTT platforms have increased the popularity of forensics even more. This topic has always been taken from the point of view of decoration in the real field, but only recent hi-tech crimes have drawn attention to the need for forensic science in the criminal justice system. Forensic science is a complex subject in itself, which requires knowledge in many branches of science and many other important subjects. An expert from a forensic background usually has knowledge of many important areas of science, arts, archaeology, etc., and he/she utilizes this knowledge for the sake of justice and law. Therefore, a forensic person is a generalist rather than a specialist.

“Jack of all trades, master of none” is an expression of speech used to describe someone who has tried their hands at a variety of skills rather than achieving mastery by concentrating on just one. But in the context of forensic science, a person needs to be superior in more than one subject. The prominent phrase “a jack of all trades” is often used to describe someone who is skilled at repair and has a wide range of knowledge. They may be a master of integration, defined as someone who knows enough from many acquired trading activities and skills to introduce the specialties in a practical manner. This person is more of a jack of all trades than an expert in one field.

Despite what our version would have you believe, in the case of forensic science, having various knowledge and not remaining an expert in one thing could really be valuable because forensic science is a multidisciplinary science and if a person remains an expert in one area of science, it will not work for the welfare of the criminal justice system.

I would like to explain with an example here: There is a murder case in which a body was found on the outskirts of a dense forest with multiple lacerated injuries on the head, a revolver in the right hand, and lots of blood-like material on the surface below the dead body. Now, to solve this crime, a person with knowledge of forensic medicine can help the investigating officer to determine the time since death, but the link between crime, criminal, and victim cannot be established by the forensic medicine expert alone. The crime needs to be investigated in depth by the crime scene expert, a forensic biologist, a forensic physicist, etc. Together, with their combined effort, the crime will be solved. Therefore, it’s quite acceptable in this case that the incident requires expertise in various fields rather than expertise in one field only.

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