This book serves as a core textbook for courses in forensic science, evidence, and criminal law-examining the role of law and the rules of evidence. The goal is to explain criminal procedure and the means and methods of gathering and introducing competent evidence in the criminal justice process. The various sections provide an overview of the U.S. legal system, the steps from investigation to trial, the sentencing and the appeal processes, constitutional foundations of search and seizure, search warrant requirements, the use of interrogations and confessions, the role of the expert in the criminal justice process, the importance of ethics, and the history of wrongful convictions.