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Elizabeth Tong Lynda Haas Writing 37 2 February 2014 Sherlock's Effect on Criminology In Conan Doyles novel, The Sign of the Four, we see Sherlock Holmes as a very eccentric character that has great deductive reasoning skills and forensic techniques. What we have learned about Sherlock is that he never jumps to conclusions until he has reviewed all the evidence and there are countless examples in this novel that Sherlock could have acted like the Victorian Era police detectives who believe they know everything, therefore they jump to conclusions. In the documentary, How Sherlock Changed the World, we become familiar with how Sherlock Holmes contributed to criminology, impacting how scientists and detectives approach crime scenes today. Sherlock Holmes has changed the world of crime and investigation; to this day scientists use not only forensic science but also use his approach and techniques to solve mysterious cases. In the Victorian Era, police detectives constantly jumped to conclusions without further investigating the crime scene. In Conan Doyle's Sign of the Four, Sherlock Holmes deals with a detective who believes he knows everything even when he is proven wrong. Detective Jones asks, "What do you think of this, Holmes? Sholto was on his own confession, with his brother last night. The brother died in a fit, on which Sholto walked off with the treasure. How's that? Holmes responds saying, "On which the dead man very considerately got up and locked the door on the inside." Jones replies saying, "Hum! There's a flaw there. Let us apply common sense to the matter. This Thaddeus Sholto was with his brother; there was a quarrel; so much we know. The brother is dead and the jewels are gone. So much also we know. No one saw the brother from the time Thaddeus left him. His bed had not been slept in. Thaddeus is evidently in a most disturbed state of mind. His appearance is well, not attractive. You can see that I am weaving my web round Thaddeus. The net begins to close upon him" (Doyle 40-41). Detective Jones is making assumptions of what he thinks when actual evidence is surrounding him and he neglects to acknowledge it. As Holmes makes a remark to Jones claim, Jones insists he is correct and believes his conclusion is the most realistic approach even though he hasn't taken all evidence into consideration. It is clear that Jones lacks Holmes deductive reasoning skills and logic.

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Holmes believes one must not theorize before having all evidence. If detective Jones had look at all the evidence before arresting Thaddeus, he would have realized that the man who died was murdered with a poisoned dart and that there were two culprits in the room and this could be inferred by the different sized foot prints they found and the thorn that appeared in the man's scalp. When approaching a crime scene Holmes comes in with an open mind, takes everything in and pays attention to what is already there. The techniques Sherlock uses is that he pays attention to footprints and handprints, studies evidence with a magnified glass, smells the evidence and examines even the smallest details. And because of Sherlock's careful observations and his ability to deduct he is able to come to conclusions and solve these mysterious cases. The 21st century forensic science is very similar to the Victorian Era; the only difference is today's cutting age technology. Thanks to Sherlock it is very easy to detect whether something tests positively as blood, but now we have advances like an amino black dye that makes the invisible, visible to see. Another advancement we have is because of Sherlock's obsession with shoe print evidence, he inspired gait analysis which is an instrument made for measuring body movements and body mechanics (Bernays). In the documentary, How Sherlock Changed the World, we become familiar of investigations where detectives approached the crime scene using Sherlock's logic, detective techniques and forensic skills. They explain how Sherlock's deductive powers give detectives an idea of where to start looking but also where to go when they get a lead. Both the scientists and detectives who appear in this documentary live by a quote that comes from Conon Doyle's novel The Sign of Four, "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth"(Doyle 37). When the impossible is excluded, what remains is what happens and if detectives lose Sherlock's deductive reasoning they will lose the case. Sherlock Holmes was ahead of his time, he was the first to use the same techniques we use 122 years later. Many consider him as the grandfather of forensic science and believe he is the reason why law enforcements now examine crime scenes so thoroughly. Without Sherlock's contribution of knowledge, reasoning and techniques todays development of modern scientific criminal investigation techniques and improved methods for capturing criminals would not be how advanced as it is today.

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Works Cited Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Sign of Four. London: BBC, 2012. Print. How Sherlock Changed the World. Dir. Paul Bernay. PBS, 2013. Film.