The Forensic Science Education Blog

Blow flies, flesh flies, maggots and carcass beetles — not what most people think about on a regular basis unless they work in the field of forensic entomology. This is the study of insects as related to legal investigations, but actually goes much deeper than that particularly for crime scenes and criminal investigations.

Forensic biochemistry has various applications. For instance, forensic biochemists may be asked to trace the origin of a particular substance, determine paternity or the relationships that specific people or animals share, or even track the spread of diseases.

For an unattended death, law enforcement must use a combination of investigative techniques and science to calculate how much time elapsed between the victim taking their last breath and their remains being found.

Forensic scientists have very interesting jobs that can take them from crime scenes to labs and to courtrooms. Those who have interests in the medical field, science, and law enforcement will find that this may be a perfect career option. Before learning how to become a forensic scientist, it is important to understand what those in the field do on a daily basis.

Whether you are thinking of changing careers or are currently in school looking for the right career path, if you found your way here, you want to know how to become a criminal profiler. With the proliferation of characters acting as profilers on television and in movies, the profession is certainly one that draws a lot of attention.

Real detective work is far removed from the glamorous media portrayals, requiring incredible patience, investigative rigor, and ironclad ethics. In addition to being exposed to potentially dangerous individuals and situations, the process of solving cases can take months or even years, much of it spent poring over documents, photographs, and files.

Those educated in forensic biology can seek out careers as biologists, DNA biologists, biologist forensic examiners, biology DNA program specialists, and more.

When BTK resumed his communication with the media in 2004, he overlooked a critical fact: this was now the 21st century, and law enforcement officers were becoming increasingly adept at forensic science.

Whether you’re an up and coming forensic analyst or just someone who can’t get enough of CSI, chances are you have heard a thing or two about blood spatter analysis. This field involves using the physics of fluids to help to determine the events of a (usually) violent crime by analyzing the placement of the blood droplets at the crime scene.

Child abduction in the United States continues to reach astronomically high numbers. Even with advanced technology to help solve cold cases in kidnappings, there is still a pressing need for collaboration between U.S. Government agencies and crime analysis experts to join forces and uncover the truth behind these unsolved crimes.

A criminalist collects, documents, preserves, and examines the physical evidence at a crime scene, which could be something as huge as a bus, or as tiny as a pollen grain; criminologists, on the other hand, study why crimes occur, how they can be prevented, and the effects they have on a society.

The criminal justice system in America is the overarching establishment through which crimes and those who commit them are discovered, tried, and punished. A criminalist is not involved in determining the guilt or innocence of an accused individual. Their job, rather, is to present an objective analysis of the evidence.

Fire investigators, also known as arson investigators, perform an invaluable service to society: they determine the causes of fires, and when necessary, whether a criminal act of arson was involved. These professionals employ both the skills of a scientist and those of a detective in their investigations.

The primary use of forensic entomology is in death investigations as insect activity can reveal when, where, and sometimes how a person died. That said, forensic entomology can also assist in detecting drugs and poisons; determining the location of a crime; finding the presence and time of trauma; and even tying suspect, victim, and crime scene to each other.

Whether going out on a date, traveling through a foreign country, or interrogating a suspect in a crime, forensic psychology offers a wealth of tools to help decode people’s nonverbal behavior. These cues include gestures, vocal tones, body positioning, micro-expressions of the face, and a number of often subconscious indicators of people’s internal states.