Forensic Science

What is the fourth thing a forensic scientist should do

Allow for certainty and probabilistic considerations wherever appropriate through this ranking

What is the second step of the scientific method

Test hypothesis using observation or experimentation

Who developed an advanced photographic method of comparing markings on bullets

Victor Balthazad

What can you do after certification

Become further certified in a specialty area

What are private laboratories

Businesses designed to make a profit

Identification of suspects using 11 body measurements

Anthropometric identification (Bertillonage)

Contrite fallibilism

Awareness of how much we do not know and the humility to acknowledge the possibility of making mistakes

Certification

Completion of a written test covering a forensic discipline

Who coined the term criminalistics

Hans Gross

What does accreditation also require

Re-accreditation on a set schedule

Who was the cousin of Charles Darwin

Sir Francis Galton

Who helped advance fingerprint, firearms, and hair analysis

Victor Balthazad

Who is credited with establishing firearms examination in the U.S.

Calvin Goddard

Office of the Chief Medical Examiner also includes

Toxicology laboratories for postmortem analysis

Who developed the first fingerprint classification system

Sir Francis Galton

Poison studied most by Mathieu Orfila

Arsenic

Board covering the most diverse forensic disciplines

American Board of Criminalistics

Scientific method

Data-based process using a series of logical steps

Adversarial system

Two opposing positions arguing for acceptance

How certification begins

Passing a multiple-choice test

First step of the scientific method

Formulate a hypothesis

Private consultants in forensics

Forensic anthropologists

First thing a forensic scientist should do

Distinguish evidence from coincidence

Xenobiotics

Chemicals foreign to the body

Dose-response tests

Effects of drugs at different dosages and their relationship between dose and effect

Class characteristic evidence

Evidence that does not reference a particular suspect

Exculpatory evidence

Evidence suggesting the defendant’s innocence

Pharmacokinetics

Study of drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion

Chemical evidence

Seized drugs, toxicological samples, materials chemistry, and explosives

Antagonist drugs

Drugs that block or reduce effects

Pharmacologist

Scientist who studies natural and synthetic chemicals

Locard’s Exchange Principle

Every contact leaves a trace

Forensic entomology

Study of insects in relation to criminal investigations

Chemical excretion

Occurs through feces, sweat, saliva, breast milk, nails, and hair

Firearm and toolmark evidence

Impressions such as bullets, shell casings, and toolmarks

Enterohepatic circulation

Recycling of compounds between the liver and small intestine