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FORENSICS 25 DAY 1 NOTES INTRODUCTION
What is Forensics Science
Forensic science is ___________________________________________
_____________________ mainly—on the criminal side—during criminal
investigation, as governed by the legal standards of admissible evidence and
criminal procedure.
Forensic scientists __________, _______________ and ________________
scientific evidence during the course of an investigation. While some forensic scientists travel to the scene of the crime to collect
the evidence themselves, others occupy a laboratory role, performing analysis on objects brought to them by other individuals. In
addition to their laboratory role, forensic scientists testify as expert witnesses in both criminal and civil cases and can work for
either the prosecution or the defense. According to the Crime Lab Director of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department finding
and interpreting physical evidence from a crime scene is crucial as it can:
-prove that a crime has been committed
-establish the identity of the suspects
-corroborate the victim's testimony
-exonerate the innocent
-lead to a confession from a suspect
-be more reliable than eyewitness evidence
-be expected by judges and juries to form a case
Therefore, physical evidence is important to the Forensic Scientist as it is used to interpret and draw important conclusions about
the events within a criminal case
Crime Scene Protocol: Summarize the duties of the following individuals:
1) Responding Officer
2) Investigator in Charge:
3) Crime Scene Unit
4) District Attorney: The district attorney is often present at
some time during the processing by the Crime Scene Unit to
help determine if the detective in charge requires any search
warrants to further the investigation. He will then proceed and
obtain those warrants from a judge.
5) Forensic Lab Specialists: These individuals perform labbased and crime scene based tests to further evaluate evidence.
FORENSICS 25 DAY 1 NOTES INTRODUCTION
6. Coroner:
14 Amazing Forensic Technologies: Explain each of the following:
14. Post Mortem Examination:
13.Age Progression:
12. Forensic Photography:
11. Crime Scene Reconstruction:
10. Bite Mark Comparison:
9. Forensic Carbon Dating:
8. Blood Stain Pattern Analysis:
7. Ballistics:
6. DNA Sequencer:
5. Hair Analysis:
4. Polymerase Chain Reaction:
3. Forensic Facial Reconstruction:
2. Fingerprint Analysis:
1. Luminol Spray:
Forensic Scavenger Hunt
1. The first case of insects being used to solve crimes may have been in ________ in China. A man was killed with a sickle, and the
murderer was identified when flies swarmed to his weapon, attracted by the scent of washed-off blood
2. The main method used to determine the identity of decomposed bodies. _____________________.
3. Alec Jeffreys, the scientist who first developed DNA fingerprinting, was from which country?_______________.
4.When a body had the odor of almonds, it usually suggests what kind of poisoning? ______________________________.
FORENSICS 25 DAY 1 NOTES INTRODUCTION
5. Every time you “delete” a file from a computer, the file is simply set aside, hidden, and marked as _____ __________ ____ ___
____________.
6. Function testing is how a firearms examiner can tell if a gun was fired _____________.
7. The gravitational pooling of blood, called _________ _____________, can indicate a victim’s time of death by analyzing the
discoloration in the lowest point in the body
8.Which of the following can you not learn by looking at a person's skeleton age: weight, sex, or race? ___________
9. In multiple cases involving horrific sex crimes, killers have been caught because forensic scientists have been able to track what
______________ _______ they've frequented around the time of the murders.
10. Death investigations can be performed by either a medical examiner, who is appointed to the position, or a __________, who is
elected.
11. A _________ __________ can create a composite image of the suspect based on eye witness accounts.
12. Which famous criminal tried to burn off his fingerprints with acid, only to have them grow back a few years later?
______________________________________.
13. DNA was used to tag the game balls from which sports event? ____________________
14. Ballistics is the study of the path of a _____________ in flight.
15. After the autopsy, what kind of stitch is used to sew-up the incisions? ________________________
16 .Blow flies and _________ are two common forensically important insects?
17. Ted Bundy was a highly intelligent man. He was able to skirt the law, and was not found guilty throughout 10 years of
questioning until his ______ ______ were matched.
18. Who was the first person to use fingerprints in a criminal case? _________________________
19. Sometimes psychologists can look at a crime and come up with a __________ that they would expect the killer to fit.
20. Biological samples are most commonly analyzed by the type of reaction ___________ ___________ _______________(PCR).