Definition and Aspects of Forensic Science

A CSI's job is to Find, Document and ….

• Convict!

• Analyze!

• Interpret!

• Catalog!

Forensic science is the application of science to ________

• Crime

• Law

• Chemistry

• Fingerprints

What determines our characteristics?

• RNA

• DNA

• Chromosomes

• Nucleus

The application of a broad range of sciences to answer legal questions

• Health Science

• Biology

• Physical Science

• Forensic Science

crime-scene investigation

• a multidisciplinary approach in which scientific and legal professionals work together to solve a crime
• the documented and unbroken transfer of evidence
• (indirect evidence) evidence used to imply a fact but not to prove it
• the first police officer to arrive at a crime scene

This specialist focuses on the lifecycle of insects to help detectives pinpoint the amount of time a body was exposed to the elements.

• anthropologist

• entomologist

• toxicologist

• DNA analyst

This specialist focuses on blood evidence and identifying whose blood was left at a crime scene using gel electrophoresis (think back to week 1!).

• anthropologist

• entomologist

• toxicologist

• DNA analyst

When a livor mortis sets in the blood in the body no longer flows and pools at the the closest point to the ground because of ____________.

• the brain

• the digestive system stops functioning

• the circulatory system has shut down

• gravity

This field of forensic scientists work in government or univeristy labs, testing evidence sent to them

• First Responders

• Crime Scene Investigators

• Laboratory Specialists

• Dectectives

How is the field of forensic science different from TV shows?

• Many people analyze different aspects of the evidence

• They all have a meeting & figure out the case together

• Lab Specialists like, like Bones or Dexter, are in charge of finding a killer

• It takes longer than an hour to solve a case