Download Forensic Science

Forensic Science
Outline
A. Crime Scene Investigation (20%)
340FS01.01
Understand the history of forensic science
A. Important People
1. Yi Yu Ji (3rd Century China)
2. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – Sherlock Holmes
3. Mathieu Orfila - Father of Forensic Toxicology
4. Alphonse Bertillon - anthropometry
5. Francis Galton – fingerprint classification
6. Han Gross – application of science to criminal cases
7. Karl Landsteiner – ABO blood types
8. Calvin Goddard – compound microscope for bullet
comparison
9. Albert Osborn – document examination
10. Edmond Locard - first crime lab
11. Sir Alec Jeffreys – DNA Typing
B. Major Crime Labs
1. FBI
2. DEA
3. ATF
4. US Postal Service
C. Units of a Crime Lab
1. Physical Science Unit
2. Biology Unit
3. Firearms Unit
4. Document Examination Unit
5. Photography Unit
6. Toxicology Unit
7. Latent Fingerprint Unit
8. Polygraph Unit
9. Voice Analysis Unit
10. Evidence Collection Unit
D. Court Cases
1. Frye vs United States
2. Daubert vs Merrell Dow Pharmaceutical
340FS01.02 Understand how to process a crime scene
2.01 Understand how to document a crime scene
A. Securing the crime scene
B. Photographing the scene
C. Rough sketch
D. Finished sketch using CAD
E. Videotaping
F. Notetaking
2.02 Understand how to collect and package evidence at a crime scene
A. Define physical evidence
B. Locard’s Exchange Principle
C. Methods for conducting a systematic search for evidence
1. Spiral search
2. Grid search
3. Quadrant search
4. Strip/line search
D. Collect physical evidence
1. Reference samples
2. Substrate control
E. Types of evidence
1. Blood, semen, saliva
2. Documents
3. Drugs
4. Explosives
5. Fibers, hairs
6. Fingerprints
7. Firearms and ammuntion
8. Glass, paint, soil
9. Impressions and tool marks
10. Plastic and polymers
F. Appropriate packaging of evidence
G. Chain of custody
H. Evidence submission
2.03
Apply fingerprinting techniques
A. Fundamental Principles of Fingerprints
B. Fingerprint ridge characteristics (minutia)
C. Three major patterns
1. Loops
2. Arches
3. Whorls
D. Classification of fingerprints
1. Henry system
2. AFIS
E. Types of fingerprints
1. Latent
2. Visible
3. Plastic
F. Developing Latent prints
1. Powders
2. Iodine fuming
3. Ninhydrin
4. Physical developer
5. SuperGlue fuming
6. Alternative light sources
G. Lifting of fingerprints
H. Digital imaging of fingerprints
I. Rolling fingerprints
2.04 Understand the value of physical evidence
A. Identification vs Comparison of evidence
B. Individual vs class characteristics
C. Limitations of evidence
D. Evidence databases
B. Death Investigation (25%)
340FS03 Understand the role a medical examiner plays in the investigation of a death
3.01 Understand the process of an autopsy
A. Forensic pathologists, medical examiners and coroners
B. External exam
C. Collected evidence
D. Internal exam
E. Toxicology
3.02 Understand the classification of manners of death and cause of death
A. Manner of death
1. Natural
2. Accident
3. Homicide
4. Suicide
5. Undetermined
B. Some causes of death
1. Asphyxiation
2. Exsanguination
3. Sharp force trauma
4. Blunt force trauma
5. Chemical trauma
6. Electrical trauma
3.03 Understand the process of estimating time since death (PMI)
A. Algor mortis
B. Livor mortis
C. Rigor mortis
340FS04 Understand the role a forensic anthropologist plays in the investigation of a
death
4.01 Apply the techniques used to process a clandestine grave
A. Search and Reconnaisance
1. Walkover
2. Aerial
3. Geophysical methods
4. Cadaver dogs
B. Determining the significance
C. Excavation and removal
4.02 Apply anthropology techniques to identify skeletal remains
A. Human skeleton and bones
B. Identification of skeletal remains
1. Gender
2. Race
3. Age
4. Height
C. Individualization of human bone
D. Photographic superimposition
E. Facial reconstruction
4.03 Understand forensic odontology
A. Structure and development of teeth
B. Identification of dental remains
1. Dental X-rays
2. odontograms
C. Bitemarks
340FS05 Understand the role a forensic entomologist plays in the investigation of a death
5.01 Understand how life cycles of insects are used to determine time since death
A. Life cycle of a fly
B. Decomposition of body after death
5.02 Apply forensic entomology techniques to determine time since death
A. Collection, identification and testing
B. Accumulated Degree Hours
C. Climatology Data
D. Determining Post Mortem Interval
C. Forensic Science in the Laboratory (55%)
340GFS06 Understand the forensic science behind toxicology and drug identification
6.01 Understand the classification of illicit drugs
A. Categories of illicit drugs
1. Narcotic drugs
2. Hallucinogens
3. Depressants
4. Stimulants
5. Club drugs
B. Drug dependence
1. Psychological dependence
2. Physiological dependence
C. Drug control laws
D. Forensic drug analysis
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Screening test
Color tests
Microcrystalline tests
Chromatography
Spectrophotometry
Mass Spectrophotometry
6.02 Understand the process of toxicology in crime investigations
A. Role of Forensic Toxicologist
B. Metabolism of drugs
1. Absorption
2. Distribution
3. Metabolism
4. Excretion
5. Toxicity
C. Toxicology of alcohol
1. Mechanism of alcohol
2. Blood alcohol Content
3. Analysis of alcohol
D. Techniques used in toxicology
1. Screening tests
2. Confirmation tests
3. Detecting drugs in hair
4. Detecting nondrug poisons
5. Detecting heavy metals
6. Carbon monoxide
340FS07 Understand the forensic science behind blood evidence
7.01 Understand the composition of blood
A. The nature of blood
1. Antigens and antibodies
2. Blood typing
B. Forensic characterization of bloodstains
1. Kastle-Myer test
2. Luminol
3. Precipitin test
7.02 Analyze blood spatter
A. Important of surface tecture
B. Direction of travel
C. Angle of impact
D. Origin of blood spatter
E. Cast-off patterns
F. High velocity blood spatter
7.03 Understand DNA typing
A. Structure and function of DNA
1. Nucleotides
2. Complementary base pairing
3. Double helix
4. DNA replication
5. Gene expression
B. DNA Typing
1. Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms
2. Polymerase Chain Reaction
3. Short Tandem Repeats
4. Mitochondrial DNA
5. CODIS
C. DNA sources
1. Saliva
2. Blood
3. Semen
4. Rape kits
D. Collection and preservation of DNA
340FS08 Understand the forensic science behind trace evidence
8.01 Apply forensic techniques to identify hair and fibers
A. Morphology of hair
1. Cuticle
2. Cortex
3. Medulla
4. Anagen phase
5. Catagen phase
6. Telogen phase
7. Follicular tag
B. Hair examination
1. Color
2. Length
3. Diameter
4. Medulla
5. Pigmentation granules
6. Animal comparison
7. Body area
8. Race
9. Age and sex
C. Types of fibers
1. Natural fibers
2. Manufactured fibers
3. Polymers
D. Identification and comparison of fibers
1. Microscopy
2. Chemical composition
3. Birefringence
4. Infrared absorption
8.02 Apply techniques to distinguish types of glass and soil
A. Composition of glass
1. Soda-lime glass
2. Pyrex glass
3. Tempered glass
B. Forensic examination of glass
1. Comparing density
2. Refractive index
3. Glass fractures
4. Radial fracture
5. Concentric fracture
C. Forensic examination of soil
1. Microscopic examination of soil
2. Density-gradient tube
3. Variation in soil
8.03 Apply techniques to collect impressions left at a crime scene
A. Comparing toolmarks
B. Comparing bitemarks
C. Lifting impressions
D. Casting impressions
E. Comparing impressions
340FS09 Understand the forensic science behind ballistics and firearms
9.01 Understand how firearms can be identified
A. Bullet and Cartridge Comparisons
B. Gun barrel and rifling
C. Bullet markings
D. Cartridge casings
E. Databases
F. Gunshot residue and distance determination
G. Primer residue tests
H. Serial number restoration
9.02 Understand how ballistics is used to identify flight of bullet
A. Internal ballistics (within the gun)
1. Primers and Propellents
2. Muzzle velocity
B. External ballistics ((gun to target)
1. Kinetic Energy
2. Drag
3. Ballistic Coefficient
4. Flight patterns of bullet
C. Terminal ballistics (hitting the target)
1. Yaw
2. Lacerations and Crushing
3. Cavitation
4. Shock waves
340FS10 Understand the forensic science behind document examination
10.01 Understand the evidence found in hand writing samples
A. General style
B. Variations
C. Exemplars
10.02 Understand the evidence found in examining documents
A. Transcript comparisons
1. Photocopier
2. Printer
3. Fax machines
4. Typewriters
B. Alterations
1. Erasure
2. Obliterations
3. Charred documents
C. Indented writings
D. Ink comparisons
340FS11 Understand the role other forensic professionals play in the investigation of a
crime
11.01 Understand the field of digital forensics
A. Computer Basics
1. Hardware
2. Software
3. Motherboard
4. System bus
5. Central processing unit (CPU)
6. Read-only memory (ROM)
7. Randon-access memory (RAM)
8. Hard disk drive
9. Input devices
10. Output devices
B. Storing and Retrieving Data
1. Operating system
2. Formatting and partitioning
3. Mapping the hard drive
C. Processing an electronic crime scene
1. Photography
2. Whether to unplug or disconnect
3. Hard drive fingerprint of data
D. Analysis of electronic data
1. Visible data
2. Work product files
3. Swap files
4. Temporary files
E. Latent data
1. Slack space
2. Unallocated space
a. Defragmentation
b. Swap files
c. Deleted files
F. Internet basics
1. Connecting
2. Internet addressing
3. World Wide Web
4. Search engines
5. Email lists
6. Newsgroups
G. Forensics analysis of internet data
1. Internet cache
2. Cookies
3. Internet history
4. Bookmarks
5. IP
6. Communications
7. Hacking
H. Protecting yourself on the internet
11.02 Understand the field of forensic psychology and psychiatry
A. Clinical vs forensic
1. Psychological testing
2. Rorschach
3. Thematic-Apperception Test
4. Personality Inventories
5. Intellectual and Cognitive Assessment
6. Altered State Interviews
B. Assessment of competency
1. Legally insane
2. Diminished capacity
C. Criminal Profiling