Podcast
Questions and Answers
What is forensics?
What is forensics?
The study of DNA and human evidence in order to answer legal questions.
How do perception, emotions, familiarity with a scenario, and other factors affect observation skills and eyewitness accounts?
How do perception, emotions, familiarity with a scenario, and other factors affect observation skills and eyewitness accounts?
Our brains unconsciously filter out what is/isn't important. You must make a conscious effort to pay attention to everything systematically.
What is deductive reasoning?
What is deductive reasoning?
Deriving the consequences from the facts using a series of logical steps.
What is the Innocence Project?
What is the Innocence Project?
What is a perpetrator?
What is a perpetrator?
What is Locard's exchange principle?
What is Locard's exchange principle?
Distinguish between class and individual evidence.
Distinguish between class and individual evidence.
Distinguish between direct and circumstantial evidence.
Distinguish between direct and circumstantial evidence.
Identify and describe the roles of personnel present at a crime scene.
Identify and describe the roles of personnel present at a crime scene.
What are the seven steps of crime scene investigation?
What are the seven steps of crime scene investigation?
What is a bindle?
What is a bindle?
What are the proper steps to sketching a crime scene?
What are the proper steps to sketching a crime scene?
What is crime scene reconstruction?
What is crime scene reconstruction?
What are examples of staged crime scenes?
What are examples of staged crime scenes?
What are examples of mishandling a crime scene?
What are examples of mishandling a crime scene?
Distinguish between class and individual evidence that can be obtained from hair.
Distinguish between class and individual evidence that can be obtained from hair.
What are the four functions of hair?
What are the four functions of hair?
What is the structure of hair?
What is the structure of hair?
What is melanin?
What is melanin?
What are names and appearances of the five medulla patterns?
What are names and appearances of the five medulla patterns?
What is neutron activation analysis (NAA)?
What is neutron activation analysis (NAA)?
What happens in each of the hair growth stages?
What happens in each of the hair growth stages?
What are imbricate, spinous, and coronal cuticles?
What are imbricate, spinous, and coronal cuticles?
What is the rate of hair growth and how can it be used in forensics?
What is the rate of hair growth and how can it be used in forensics?
How do fingerprints form?
How do fingerprints form?
Describe and identify the relative occurrence of loops, arches, and whorls.
Describe and identify the relative occurrence of loops, arches, and whorls.
Define and identify cores, deltas, and ridge counts.
Define and identify cores, deltas, and ridge counts.
Distinguish between plain whorl, central pocket loop whorl, and double loop whorl.
Distinguish between plain whorl, central pocket loop whorl, and double loop whorl.
Distinguish between plain arch and tented arch.
Distinguish between plain arch and tented arch.
How many minutiae similarities are needed to match a suspect?
How many minutiae similarities are needed to match a suspect?
Distinguish between patent, plastic, and latent fingerprints.
Distinguish between patent, plastic, and latent fingerprints.
What is IAFIS (Automated Fingerprint Identification System)?
What is IAFIS (Automated Fingerprint Identification System)?
How can blood provide both class and individual evidence?
How can blood provide both class and individual evidence?
What are plasma, platelets, red blood cells, and white blood cells?
What are plasma, platelets, red blood cells, and white blood cells?
How is blood type compatibility determined?
How is blood type compatibility determined?
Which blood types are the universal recipient and universal donor?
Which blood types are the universal recipient and universal donor?
What is agglutination?
What is agglutination?
What is the difference between a round drop of blood vs. drops with tails or satellites?
What is the difference between a round drop of blood vs. drops with tails or satellites?
What is the effect of height on blood spatter size, satellites, and spikes?
What is the effect of height on blood spatter size, satellites, and spikes?
How can the angle of impact be calculated?
How can the angle of impact be calculated?
What is cohesion?
What is cohesion?
What is toxicology?
What is toxicology?
Study Notes
Forensic Science Overview
- Forensics is the study of DNA and human evidence used to answer legal questions.
- The Innocence Project reexamines post-conviction cases to prove guilt or innocence.
Observation and Evidence Collection
- Observation can be influenced by perception, emotions, and familiarity, leading to selective memory.
- Improvements in observation skills require conscious effort and systematic attention to detail.
- Class evidence narrows identity to a group, while individual evidence points to a specific person or thing.
Evidence Types
- Direct evidence consists of firsthand observations like eyewitness accounts; circumstantial evidence relies on implications rather than direct proof.
- Forensic evidence includes Locard's exchange principle, indicating that physical evidence transfers when a person interacts with objects.
Crime Scene Protocol
- Key personnel include police, crime scene investigators (CSIs), medical examiners, and detectives; each has distinct responsibilities in evidence collection.
- Essential steps in crime scene investigation include securing the scene, separating witnesses, and meticulously searching for evidence.
Hair Evidence
- Hair characteristics include macroscopic traits (length, color) and microscopic features (medulla pattern, scale types).
- Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is unique for tracing maternal lineage and can be crucial in forensic analysis.
- Hair grows at an average rate of 1.3 cm per month, aiding in the estimation of time since deposition.
Fingerprint Analysis
- Fingerprints develop in the womb through friction ridges and show unique patterns, categorized into loops, whorls, and arches, with loops being the most common.
- Minutiae points, such as cores and deltas, are critical for matching fingerprints, requiring a minimum of 12 similarities for a conclusive match.
- IAFIS facilitates the digital scanning and comparison of fingerprints across a vast database.
Blood Evidence
- Blood provides both class (blood type) and individual evidence (DNA profiling).
- Types of blood cells: plasma (liquid component), platelets (clotting), red blood cells (oxygen transport), and white blood cells (immune response).
- Blood typing tests identify blood types based on antigen-antibody reactions, with Type O- as the universal donor and AB+ the universal recipient.
Blood Spatter Analysis
- Blood spatter patterns can reveal the mechanism of injury and the position of the victim.
- Cohesion causes blood to maintain its shape when splattered; droplet size indicates the height from which blood fell.
- Tests like Luminol and Kastle-Meyer confirm the presence of blood stains.
Toxicology
- Toxicology assesses the impact of drugs and poisons on the body, categorizing substances into narcotics, depressants, stimulants, hallucinogens, and anabolic steroids.
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These flashcards cover essential concepts in forensic science, including the basics of forensics and the factors affecting observation skills. Perfect for midterm preparation, this quiz enhances your understanding of how evidence is analyzed in legal contexts.