Forensics Notes
Forensics Notes
Lesson 3
Lesson 4
● Must be very organized and document every piece of evidence that is found
● Must know how to handle hazardous materials
● Always aim to uncover the truth
● They look for anything that is able to be linked to the crime
● Must interpret findings and reconstruct the crime
● Expert witness - someone who has special knowledge relevant to the case
● Must be able to talk about complex scientific topics in a simple way
● Properly collect evidence
● Train police officers to collect evidence properly
Lesson 5
Unit 2
Lesson 1
● The Crippen case is a case that's still studied even though it's in the past.
○ According to forensic toxicologist John Trestrail, “The Crippen case was the O.J.
Simpson case of 1910.”
● The Crippen case is one where he is thought to have murdered his wife because he had a
secret lover so when the police started to suspect Crippen, he and his lover fled europe.
Police found remnants of human body parts in the basement of Crippenʻs home and
toxicologists have found that the person was poisoned before being killed and chopped
into pieces. When further investigated later on, they found that the body was not
Crippenʻs wife and was a man. He was executed for a crime he didnʻt commit and after
Crippen was arrested they found more evidence possibly leading to the suspect actually
being his wife Cora.
Lesson 2
● Photography
○ Any items moves before being photographed should be documented
○ Overview photographs - show crime scene in wide angle
■ Taken from different vantage points
○ Intermediate photographs - closer to the evidence but shows area surrounding it
■ Take picture of how the body is in relation to the rest of crime scene
○ Close-up photographs - focus on injury, weapon, piece of evidence
■ Must include a card with an identification number.
● Identification number - identifies the piece of evidence \and which
case it belongs to
■ At least one other item should be included to provide scale
■ 35mm single-lens camera are used
○ Each photograph is tagged with info such as date, time, camera setting, file name
and exposure, and the film roll number.
● Drawings
○ Rough sketches - show location of evidence, distance between evidence,
dimensions of the crime scene
○ Finished sketch - precise representation of the scene.
■ Created using computer programs and drafting tools.
■ Computer professionale may create final sketch from rough sketches and
other records
■ Drawn to scale showing exact distances between objects
● Notes
○ Be as thorough as possible since they may refer to notes again before a trial
○ Include as much detail
○ Notes on environment and population
■ 3 types of distribution
■ Uniform - population spread out even
■ Clumped - population clumped in different areas
■ Random - self explanatory
● Videography
○ Serve as a form of notetaking
○ Used in conjunction with other methods
Lesson 4