Forensics Midterm Exam

What is Forensics?

comes from latin word forensis, which means "belonging to the forum; establishes the connection between science and the law

When was entomology first used?

6th century China

Prosecutor

Who's responsible for proving a case?

Who was Edmond Locard?

a forensic science pioneer who discovered the Exchange Principle

What does Locard's Exchange Principle state?

Every contact leaves a trace

Direct vs. Circumstantial Evidence

Direct: material evidence that proves a fact
Circumstantial: small discrepancies that point towards a fact when pieced together

Forensics has a code of ethics (true or false)

true

What are the three types of forensic reasoning?

inductive, deductive, and abductive

Testimonial

people other than the suspect's firsthand account as a witness

Adversarial system

judges decide what is accepted in court

What was the Frye Standard?

1923 case of Frye vs The United States; general acceptance needed for evidence in court stating that it must be sufficiently established and based on a well-recognized principle

What was the Daubert decision?

1993 case of Daubert vs Merrell Dow; gatekeeper rule put in place stating that there must be a general acceptance, peer review, testable theory, and validation for evidence brought into court; decided by the judge

What is the most common practice in US courts today?

The Daubert Decision

What were the Federal Rules of Evidence

Rule 702 testimony of experts; allows people with specialized, relevant knowledge to testify as long as they meet certain standards in skill, experience, education and/or training

When blood spatter falls from straight up, what shape does it make?

a circle

What does a force induced bloodstain look like?

long and narrow

What does a first responder do at a crime scene?

check for people/alive victims, protect and secure scene

What is castoff spatter?

created with subsequent blows to the same general area where a wound has occurred and blood has accumulated

Admissible evidence must be...

reliable and directly relevant to the case

What does gunshot spatter look like?

mist-like dispersions, wide size range

What is satellite spatter?

smaller droplets of blood that have dethatched from the main blood volume at the moment of impact

Secondary scenes

What crime scene locations are also known as microscopic scene?

Primary scene

What crime scene location is also known as the macroscopic scene?

True

True or False: No two crime scenes are the same and they are all inconsistent.

What is entomology?

study of insects

How does forensic entomology help solve cases?

can be used in determining climate conditions of death, movement of body, storage, location of antemortem injuries, presence of drugs, and contact with water

What is the most common insect used in forensic entomology?

the blowfly

Where do blowflies often lay eggs?

moist openings such as the eyes, mouth, or open wounds

Why are blowflies attracted to dead bodies?

bodies release a smell that attracts them

What does entomological investigation entail?

collection and cataloguing arthropod evidence from body and taking observations of temperature and condition of body

What is a transfer bloodstain pattern?

occurs when an object wet with blood comes in contact with a secondary surface

What is an expirated bloodstain pattern?

forcefully expelled blood from the nose or mouth that has accumulated in the lungs, sinuses, or airways of the victim due to trauma

True or False: The first thing the crime scene investigation team will do is a preliminary survey or walk-through.

True

Schedule 1

Which drug schedule includes drugs that have a high potential for abuse and no current accepted medical use?
Examples include:
- Heroin
- LSD
- Ecstasy
- Cannabis
- Peyote

Schedule 2

Which drug schedule includes drugs that have a high potential for abuse but has a currently accepted medical use with severe restrictions?
Examples include:
- Cocaine
- Methamphetamine
- Vicodin
- OxyContin

Schedule 3

Which drug schedule includes drugs that have moderate potential for physiological or physical dependence?
Examples include:
- Anabolic Steroids
- Ketamine
- Tylenol with codeine

Schedule 4 and 5

Which drug schedules include drugs that have decreasing risk and increasing legitimate medical uses?
Examples include:
- Darvon, Valium, Xanax, and Ambien
- Cough medicine with codeine, Lomotil, and Lyrica.

Toxicology

____________ is the study of harmful effects of drugs and poisons on living things.

12 ounces

How many ounces of beer is known as one standard drink?

5 ounces

How many ounces of wine is known as one standard drink?

1.25 ounces

How many ounces of a mixed drink is known as one standard drink?

6%

What is the % of alcohol in a 12 ounce beer?

12%

What is the % of alcohol in 5 ounces of wine?

40%

What is the % of alcohol in 1.25 ounces of a mixed drink?

True

True or False: Food slows absorption of alcohol in the stomach due to competing with it.

Drug

A _______ is a substance that causes a physiological response.

Poison

A __________ is a substance that invokes a physiological effect, but one that is harmful or fatal.

Arsenic

What is known as the king of poisons?

gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS)

What type of analysis is most often used to for confirmation in analyzing substances?

True

True or False: Drug Analysis usually begins with Initial screen testing and presumptive testing which rely on examining simple color changes when adding reagents to a small portion of a seized material.

False

True or False: The flow of a typical drug analysis begins with gas chromatography/ mass spectrometry

clearance rate

The rate of removal of ethanol by metabolism is called...

Synergism

__________ is known as the magnified effects from a combination of drugs.

False

True or False: Drug addiction and drug dependence are the same thing.

Addiction

Drug _____________ is a more physical process.

dependence

Drug _______________ is more physiological process, not physical.

False

True or False: There is a standard field sobriety test for drugs like there is for alcohol.

Drug Recognition Expert (DRE)

a police officer trained to examine intoxicated individuals to determine which of several classes of drugs caused the intoxication is called...

half-life

After reaching a maximum, the concentration of a drug in the body will begin to decrease which is called the _________-_________ of a drug.

Depressant

Is ethanol a depressant or stimulant?

Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS)

Substances that are clandestinely manufactured to produce similar effects to other illegal substances while avoiding legal controls are called ___________ ____________ ___________.

Cyanide

Which poison binds to iron ions in a critical enzyme, causing an interruption in energy generation and can cause death extremely quickly?

carbon monoxide

Which poison binds hemoglobin tightly to oxygen so that hemoglobin can no longer transport oxygen to tissue and causes the most deaths?

Liver

What part of the body metabolizes alcohol by changing it to acetaldehyde then acetic acid?

44 B.C. Rome

Julius Cesar was stabbed 23 times by about 60 members of the senate on the Ides of March (March 15th).

Ancient China (Manuscripts)

manuscripts from the 3rd, 6th, and 12th century. Xi Yuan Lu's 1st manuscript on forensics was called The Washing of Wrongs. Described experiments to determine unattended deaths. First mention of Entomology.

600 - 1400 AD

First time written record pf scientific reason fo practice.

Locard

"Every contact leaves a trace". Exchange Principle: Victim, Crime Scene, suspect (evidence connects them all).

Orfila

Founder of toxicology. Published Traité des poisons.

Pseudoscience

1890-1906. Origin of the Lie Detector. Discovered it wasn't reliable.

Alex jeffery

Pioneer of forensics science in 1885, Genetic Profiling.

What if Forensics...

Comes from Ancient Rome "coming from the forum". Establishes the connection between science and the courts.

Purpose of Death Investigation

To determine cause and manner of death.

Cause of Death

The disease or injury that the lethal chain of events.

Mechanism of Death

A biochemicals or physiological abnormality produced by the cause of death

Medical Examiner vs. a Coroner

M.E. is a Medical doctor with training in pathology and toxicology, someone how went to medical school and has 6 years of medical experience. A Coroner can be ANYBODY, an elected official, or an appointed official w/ few requirements.

All of these are effected by the environment

Rigor Mortis, Liver Mortis, and Alger Mortis

What are the Mortis's? Explain.

Rigor Mortis - Stiff muscles, cannot more extremities when they've been dead
Liver Mortis - discoloration of the body
Alger Mortis - gradual cooling of the body

Describing Autopsys

The removal of organs, examination of the brain, organs weighed and dissected to determine time and cause of death.

licit Drugs

Are manufactured to have specific reproducible, predictable effects. They have psychoactive affects / side effects that are abused: Meth & Steroids

5 major classes of Illicit Drugs

Stimulants, Depressants, Narcotics, Hallucinogens, steroids.

True or False: Heroin is an opioid?

True

What are stimulants?

Elevate the mood / energy levels, relieve depressive feelings, most are addictive, cause psychological dependance. EX: Coke, Meth

Largest drug classification

Opiates. Opioids work by depressing central nervous system.

True or False: Narcan can reverse the effects of Opioids?

True

True or False: Manner and cause of death are not the same?

True

4 classification of a skeleton

sex, age, race, input of manner of death.

Score

90%