What Is...forensic Science

[Albus Dumbledore 0]

I recently had to do a research paper on forensic science and learned some things i did not know, here are things that i didn't know that i thought i would share.... (mainly need the credits) umm this is not my original research paper information so don't worry about criticizing my English spelling etc.... lol

 

Forensic Science and Its Specific Fields

First off, the term Forensic basically means; Having to do with the law. Todays day in age with as much crime and murders that are going on, we have to rely on more than just private investigators to solve cases for us. Instead we have an entire system which is dedicated to investigating and using the large amount of technology that we have to solve murders and other crimes. This system is called Forensics and it is composed of a series of sub-sections that deal with certain things since Forensics in general is too vast of a subject to be left as one category. Some of the sub-categorys are; DNA Analysis, Death Investigation, Toxicology, Pathology, Forensic Engineering, Odontology, Document Examination, and Fingerprint identification. Some of the fields that I am about to tell you about are pretty much self-explanatory but I will explain them anyways.

 

DNA Analysis

 

One of the sub-sections of Forensic Science is DNA Analysis. This is one of the categorys that are obviously self explanatory as to what they do, They Analyze DNA Since no ones DNA is EXACTLY the same, the people who work in this department work to examine any and all DNA that may come into an investigation. Some types of DNA that they might have to investigate are things like; hair, blood, nail clippings, saliva, and even some bodily fluids like sperm and semen. One method that can be used to compare a known DNA Sample to an Unknown sample, or vice-versa, is Chromosomal Analysis. With Chromosomal Analysis scientists can take a sample of DNA from someone and with high powered microscopes look at the individual chromosomes. Since most everyone is born with 23 pairs of chromosomes (unless they are born with some kind of a dieses, then they can be missing one or more of those chromosomes and or have a deformed chromosome) scientists can take a close look at two sets of chromosomes (Known and an unknown) and compare them by drenching the chromosomes in a dye that dyes a certain chemical in the chromosomes a dark black color so they can tell the difference between the two. Another way of testing DNA is by taking a sample of DNA and putting a certain gel in the sample and sending a small electrical charge through this gel which causes the DNA to line up in a nice order for you to compare to another sample that you did the same thing to. If they match, then you have successfully compared a known DNA sample to an unknown DNA sample and found out they are the same.

 

Death Investigation

Death Investigation is usually done by the Coroner or the Medical Examiner. Obviously once again, the title speaks for itself when someone says I work in the Death Investigation department it should click in your head that they Investigate deaths! One of the major ways to determine someone or somethings death is to examine the corpse inside and outside, this is called an autopsy. Some deaths may be apparent, like a gunshot wound to the head at point blank range and the coroner may not order the death be investigated therefore not needing an autopsy. But if the body is in-tact with no major wounds that would cause death then the coroner would want to do an autopsy to figure out how it did happen. The purpose of the autopsy is to open up the body and examine things that you cannot examine just from the surface of the body. For example, if you have a dead person on your table, but all that is wrong with them is they have a deep gash in their leg and no other apparent injuries you would want to further investigate it, so you would cut them open and examine the inside of the leg. And you would most likely find out that the gash severed a major artery or vein and caused them to bleep to death. Then you have to examine the rest of the body for things like defensive wounds to see if the death was on purpose or if it was accidental.

 

Toxicology

Another section of forensics is Toxicology. Toxicology doesnt necessarily speak for itself when someone first says it. Toxicology is basically considered the study of drugs and the analysis of drugs. When I say drugs, you must automatically think things like weed, marijuana, cocaine, and other illegal drugs. But in truth, Toxicology is the study of all drugs, such as pills and medicine as well as the illegal drugs. One of the most efficient ways to test the drugs is by using an indicator chemical that turns a certain color when it comes in contact with a certain drug. For instance, you need to figure out what this unknown drug is, you cant exactly try it to figure out what it is, it might kill you. So you examine the drug with the naked eye, then you take a small sample and put it into something like a test tube and label it unknown. Then you get a sample of all of the drugs that you think it might be. Say it is white and you dont know if it is cocaine, Tylenol, or Ibuprofen. So you get a sample of Tylenol, cocaine, and Ibuprofen and put them all into separate test tubes labeling them. You know get an indicator chemical and drop a couple drops into the powders turning them different colors. Now, if your unknown turns purple and the tube with the Tylenol turns blue, you know that is not the unknown drug, and say the one with Ibuprofen turns orange, thats not the unknown. So that leaves one more, the cocaine which turned purple as well. Theres your match. All of this is done of course only if you cannot figure out what kind of drug it is by testing the chemical composition of the drug and comparing it to a huge database of all the known drugs illegal and legal.

Pathology

Pathology deals with the diagnosis of disease through examination of organs and bodily fluids. Pathology is like an escape goat to the medical examiners job. If the medical examiner doesnt find anything wrong with their corpse that would have lead to its death, then the medical examiner would take the stomach fluids and intestinal fluids of the corpse and send it to someone who works in the Pathology department. Then a member of the Pathology department would examine the bodys organs and their contents and look for symptoms of certain dieses or certain poisons that would effect the different organs of the body. Ways of doing this are to simply know what different poisons would to do different organs of the body. Usually the poisons wont be found in certain organs, but they will be found among the stomach acid and the intestines, so they examine the contents of those and look for chemicals or things that shouldnt be there. Say you were presented with the contents of a dead person, they would examine the contents and find an abundance of the stuff that bleach is made of, then you will know how they died, by drinking or being forced to drink bleach.

 

 

Forensic Engineering

Forensic Engineering is another section of Forensics that people can go into. Forensic Engineering has to do with investigation components that fail to do what they are supposed to do. That may not make a whole lot of sense, but if there is a death that is caused by something failing to do its job, then a Forensic Engineer would be dispatched to investigate the component and see what its malfunction was and if it could have been prevented. In most cases, they are there to see if the malfunction was accidental or a deliberate attempt to sabotage the component. Forensic Engineers can tell if something is done deliberately by studying the schematics of a component and then comparing it with the current structure of the component. For lack of a better example, if someone was climbing a ladder and while half way up it snapped in half or fell apart making the person fall and be injured or die, then the Forensic Engineer would examine the ladder to see if anyone took any screws out that are essential to the working condition of the ladder, or if they cut the ladder so it would fall apart like it did.

 

 

Odontology

Odontology is another section in forensics. Odontology has to do with the investigation and the examination of teeth and bite marks. Odontologists examine bite marks and compare them to peoples or animals teeth to see where the bite mark came from. The way to do this s quite simple, all they do is take a mold of the bite mark using a type of plaster letting it harden to preserve the bite, then they examine the bite mark for certain things like a crown, or a bridge, a molar, missing teeth, crooked teeth, or anything else that can distinguish one person or things teeth against another. Usually Odontologists to not have a known sample to go with unless the police have a suspect that they need to compare to the bite mark, then they have the suspect bite into a piece of heated up plastic or rubber and hold it in until the plastic cools off keeping the mold of the teeth in-tact. They then make a mold of the bite marks and compare it to the unknown looking for similarities like crowns, bridges, etc If they only have a bite mark, but no suspect to compare it to, they usually go to dental records which usually have a copy of your most recent teeth structure.

 

 

Document Examination

The title, Document Examination practically speaks for itself. A Document Examiner simply examines documents and signatures. The Document Examination field is actually quite broad, because it has to deal with the examination of things like signatures all the way to things like the differences in printer ink and what kind of printer was used to print a document. One of the major things that Document Examiners do is examine signatures. They compare a signature on a document to the actual signature of a person to see if the signature on the document was actually made by the person who supplied the actual signature. That probably confused you, but basically they compare signatures to ensure that they are legit. They do this by having an unknown signature that was supposedly made by a Chris Gulick and an actual signature that was made by Chris Gulick. The document examiners would look at both of the signatures under a side-by-side microscope and look for differences and similarities in the signatures. For example, in the signature that was made by the actual Chris Gulick has an inside curve on the C and the G, but on the one they are comparing it to doesnt, then that would be one clue to say that the other signature is a fake.

 

Fingerprint identification

The title Fingerprint identification speaks for itself. Like ones DNA, ones fingerprint is completely unique, there are no two fingerprints alike in the world. A fingerprint is something that is left after you touch something by the oils that are in your finger tips. The oils that are in your finger tips seep out through your skin an onto the friction ridges that are on the tips of your fingers. The friction ridges are further categorized into different sections judging by their design. For instance there are Arches, loops, and whorls. The reason we break the fingerprint category down into other sections is to be able to identify the different friction ridges that are left when you touch something. People who work in the Fingerprint Identification department are responsible for categorizing and pointing out certain points on the fingerprint that would be unique to a different finger print to clearly show that the fingerprints are different or similar.

 

Whatever you have seen on TV, or in non-informational books are all lies. If a Forensic Scientist (Any of the people who work in the above categories) were to leave their lab to interrogate the witness of a murder or the suspect of murder, the judge would have the scientists degree taken away and make sure he never touched another case file in his life. Despite what CSI people do, it is all a lie! Lol

 

If you have read through all of this I congratulate you because I am sure it was really boring..if you read through it. But hey! Whats a guy to do to get credits?

[midnightvamp 1]

That was really interesting to read Thanks! There was a bunch of new information in there for me too, which is always nice Forensic Engineering is a new one for me. I've heard of the concepts (cause they would make sense to look in when investigating), but I'd never heard of it being in its own 'branch' of Forensics or whatever. But it makes sense, so I'll have to see if I can find more about that somewhere.I've always been interested in Forensics, and actually wanted to go to school for it but I didn't have the right courses, so I ended up taking something different, but I still read up a lot on the topic and have some good books around the house that keep me entertained on the subject.I'm actually reading the Encyclopedia of Forensic Science. I haven't read it in a little while, but now that I've read your paper, it makes me want to pick it up and read it again lol... Let me see where I left off at... 'Cause of Death'. That's a bit sad, I've only made it to the C's lol. Ah well, I'll get through it too and then I'll have to find another book.I enjoy telling my sister about the 'good' stuff in it, cause I think it's so cool, but it makes my sister all squeemish. So it's a bit funny to see her interested enough to want to hear more, but disgusted enough to want me to stop :(Anyway, thanks for all the good information that you wrote down (whether it was just for credits or not lol), cause it's nice to see topics like this that really interest me. Now I'll be going to read my book on the back deck lol...

[Matt2 0]

I would also like to comment about how interesting Forensic Science is. At the moment we are studing it in class, but we havn't done very many of the "fun" experiments yet. We did however go to an exhibit in town on Forensic Science, Who'DunIt. It was really interestng. There were about 15 stations in the exhibit, and we were all grouped and were given a booklet. We then had to work out Who'DunIt using the clues given at each station. I would reccomend to go and visit Who'DunIt, if it comes to your town .

[vintedois 0]

For sure it is a great review on this very interesting subject, but what you all passed by is that there are forensic scientists that like Mr. Monk go to a crime scene in person in order to observe details that would escape the untrained eye, these detectives are essential in solving a case, not only murder, but also breaking ins robberies and so.There is a guy here in the Brazilian police, yeah, that?s right Brazilian, who has such a power of observation that stunned even the best detectives of the interpol. These people should not be ignored, there is at least one in each country, and for me there is where forensics really begin.Regards

[salamangkero 0]

For sure it is a great review on this very interesting subject, but what you all passed by is that there are forensic scientists that like Mr. Monk go to a crime scene in person in order to observe details that would escape the untrained eye, these detectives are essential in solving a case, not only murder, but also break-ins robberies and so.

I was initially tempted to scoff and say, "Someone watches too much TV," but, upon further reading, I realized you're right. Isn't the analysis of the crime scene also part of forensics? Like where could the bullet be if it ricocheted off this wall and passed through so-and-so target? After all, you can't bag-'em and tag-'em everything in the crime scene, much less, the crime scene itself

[DOMMO_10 0]

when i 1st saw this tread, i instantly thought... "omg.. wat a nerd"then i started to read it and found it as quite usefulits pretty obvious u have studied forensic science for a while, cause u really know your stuff :Dat the moment i am studying forensic science in science, so this will help me out alot. Thanks a heap.