Courses of Study

1.) Describe responsibilities of various personnel involved in crime scene investigations.

Examples: police, detectives, laboratory specialists, medical examiners

• Explaining how to search, sketch, and record data from a crime scene

2.) Explain ways to collect and preserve evidence from a crime scene.

• Distinguishing between physical evidence and witness evidence

• Comparing the three main pattern types that combine to form an individual's unique fingerprint

• Explaining different methods of latent fingerprint development

• Identifying origins of impressions, including footwear and tire treads

• Describing ways to identify hair, fiber, and blood evidence

3.) Distinguish between class and individual characteristics of firearms.

Examples: toolmark, caliber, scatter pattern

4.) Describe presumptive and confirmatory tests.

Examples: blood type comparison, DNA testing

5.) Describe the importance of genetic information to forensics.

• Using the process of gel electrophoresis to identify patterns in DNA

6.) Describe the decomposition process.

• Using rigor mortis to determine corpse position

• Identifying decomposition by-products to determine cause of death

• Using entomological life cycles to determine time of death

7.) Identify the importance of skeletal remains in forensics.

• Comparing bones and skulls based on age, sex, and race

• Using forensic dentistry to establish identity

8.) Describe general categories of drugs and poisons and their effects on humans.

• Explaining ways poisons are detected at autopsy

9.) Use laws of physics to explain forensic evidence.

• Analyzing blood splatter patterns in relation to speed, height, and direction

• Tracking trajectories of collected evidence

10.) Describe techniques used to determine the validity of documents.

Examples: fiber and handwriting analyses, ink chromatography