The Forensic Science Education Blog

Handheld devices are not new to investigations—consider the magnifying glass or the breathalyzer test—but their growing complexity and efficacy are changing the way modern investigations are conducted. Samples that previously needed to be sent to a laboratory can now be analyzed at the scene. Combined with an increasingly skilled investigative workforce, this cuts down on processing times and opens up exciting new possibilities for the fields of criminal justice and forensic science.

Artificial intelligence (AI) penetrates nearly every sector of the modern world, and law and legal studies are no exception. Intelligent algorithms are revolutionizing legal studies by automating numerous tasks that have historically been labor-intensive and time-consuming. From document analysis to case prediction, AI-driven automation is becoming increasingly prevalent, eliminating the need for tedious paperwork and enabling more efficient and accurate work.

Digital forensics will continue to evolve rapidly in the coming years. Advances in AI, IoT, cloud computing, and even quantum computing are already opening up new horizons. While the technology increases in power and capability, it will fall on tomorrow’s digital forensics experts to assist in the accuracy, efficiency, and accountability of those tools.

Students may complete a bachelor’s degree, but not come to develop specific career goals until they have been out in the work world gaining experience and insight. This is where a graduate certificate in forensics science and crime scene investigation can come in handy.

Political corruption involves the use of public power for private benefit. It can occur at any scale. Corruption cases may involve bribery, extortion, embezzlement, fraud, and outright theft. It can also be more subtle, taking the form of favoritism, nepotism, and patronage. Some political corruption cases are so well obscured that they exist on the cusp of legality. But these are not victimless crimes.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is a federal agency tasked with protecting human health and the environment. To accomplish that mission, it performs a variety of functions, one of which is the enforcement of environmental regulations and the investigation of potential violations. The cases that EPA investigates can have wide-reaching effects: they’ve helped enforce standards around clean air, clean water, and the ways hazardous chemicals are handled.

Regarding fraud investigation, there are a couple of new deputies in town. Generative AI in the vein of ChatGPT can help identify and investigate sophisticated financial crimes, while ML-powered automation can improve detection and prevent reoccurrence. These new capabilities are particularly important in an era where every company is a de facto software company, with data, intellectual property, and financial assets that must be protected.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) is far more than the sum of its parts. A domestic law enforcement agency with over 5,000 employees, it has a long history of forensic excellence. ATF’s first laboratory traces back to 1886 when two scientists convened in the attic of a US Treasury building. Today, the main hub of ATF’s forensic work occurs at the National Laboratory Center in Beltsville, Maryland, including the Fire Research Laboratory, National Firearms Examiner Academy, and one of ATF’s two forensic science laboratories.

What you don’t know can kill you. Consider America’s drug overdose epidemic, which according to CDC estimates, claimed over 100,000 lives in 2022. Many of those deaths resulted from fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that often masquerades as heroin, but can be up to 50 times stronger in its effects.

Social engineering is the act of manipulating someone into giving up secure data. Unlike more technical types of cyber attacks, which target the zeroes and ones, social engineering’s methods can appear almost charmingly analog, but that makes them no less dangerous. Hackers using social engineering know that the most vulnerable element in any network is often the human being using it.

Open-source intelligence (OSINT) is the collection and analysis of data gathered from public sources. Dating back to the 20th century, and once purely the domain of the military and intelligence communities, today’s internet-connected and data-driven world has brought OSINT into a wide array of investigations and firmly placed it in the mainstream.

We used to know them by heart – Columbine, Parkland, Sandy Hook, Pulse Nightclub, Paradise, Las Vegas – it’s a sign of the pervasiveness of mass shootings in America that one can no longer easily list the tragedies left streaked across the national psyche. The memories of people and places have been increasingly replaced with the data of numbers and percentages.

The advent of DNA evidence in the late 1980s heralded a new era for overturning wrongful convictions. At the same time, it began to reveal just how widespread wrongful conviction has been in America. The National Registry of Exonerations (NRE) has recorded over 3,175 overturned wrongful convictions since 1989, and over 27,200 years of freedom have been lost for those who served sentences for crimes they did not commit. Those are only the cases of which we know.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) is the primary law enforcement agency for the United States Navy and Marine Corps. Comprising approximately 2,000 individuals, of whom more than 1,000 serve as Special Agents, NCIS operates in approximately 191 locations spread across more than 41 countries.

Blockchain forensics is the art and science of tracking complex blockchain transactions, particularly those involving cryptocurrency. This area isn’t as niche as it used to be: over $20 billion was estimated to be laundered through the blockchain in 2022, a 68 percent increase over the year prior. Everyone with a smartphone now has access to the blockchain and the ability to send funds to anyone anywhere in the world.