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On October 14, 1981, during the Civil War in El Salvador, three brutally tortured dead bodies were found in El Salvador's main dump site. Two of them were brothers, with the last name Escobar. Salvadorian military officers thought these Escobar brothers were the ones who had committed robbery in various towns. One of them, Jorge Escobar, was my grandfather. This type of heinous crime where three innocent men died is the reason why I am a Forensic Scientist and ultimately shaped my decision to…

DNA fingerprinting is used in forensic science to convict or exonerate a defendant of a crime. During an investigation, crime samples are collected from a scene or from a victim that can be used for DNA testing. Samples could include hair, blood, semen, or skin. After collection, these samples are tested for their molecular characteristics because the purpose is to identify the polymorphic DNA locations of one’s genes. This is because everyone has different genetic variations and can be…

There are thousands of jobs that involve chemistry, and some people do not even know it. From something as blatantly obvious as a chemist itself to something in the agricultural field such as an agronomist. It may seem like the two may not have any correlation to each other at all, but both of the careers involve chemistry. Many people see forensic science technicians as some really cool crime scene investigators, but there is so much more to it. Forensic science technicians are crime scene…

There are several ways to find the criminal of a crime. For example, there is testimony, direct, and forensic evidence. But, only one will give the truth of the crime. This type of evidence would give truthful evidence that none of the other evidences can give a person. In the passage “Forensic Science: Evidence, Clues, and Investigation,” by Andrea Campbell, the best evidence to get through a trial is forensic evidence. Forensic evidence is evidence that is found in the crime scene, this…

Career Narrative: Forensic Science Forensic science technicians sometimes called criminalist or crime scene investigators collect evidence at the scene of a crime and perform scientific and technical analysis in their lab. The scientist generally perform their work inside the forensic or crime lab where they are responsible for comparing and interpreting the physical evidence that was from the crime scene. I feel that I fit personal qualities of a forensic scientist because, I love to solve…

The Marvelous World of Forensic Science What is Forensic Science and how did it begin? What is its preponderancy in solving crimes? These are some of the questions that some may ask when they hear the term forensic science. To understand what forensic science is let’s look at its meaning, Forensic Science is the scientific method of gathering and examining information about the past which is then used in a court of law. Which simply means when a group of scientist from different fields come…

While anthropology is a scientific study of all aspects of human development and interaction, forensic anthropology studies identifying characteristics on the remains of an individual. In other words, anthropology focuses more on culture while forensic anthropology focuses on bones. Analysis of someone’s bones can help in determining the sex, race, age, stature, injuries, and time of death. These factors can link a suspect to a crime and reveal what happened to a person before death (antemortem)…

There is a saying about how dead men tell no tales, because their dead, right? Well the author of the articles “Dead Men Talking: Solving Crime Through Science” and “Giving Faces to the Lost” would disagree with the saying. Even though dead men can’t talk physically they can tell the story of their deaths through their bones. Of course they need a little help from forensic anthropologists. Forensic anthropologists are people that examine human remains to find the identity of unknown people and…

Dr. Edmond Locard is considered to be the father of forensics. He was a French criminalist who had created a principle called the Locard's exchange principle. Before he started working on his law career, he had began working as an assistant to Dr. Alexandre Lacassagne; he passed his bar exam in 1907. During World War I, Locard began to worked as a medical examiner with the French Secret Service. By examining the stains and damages on the soldiers and prisoners uniforms, he could determine the…

To identify the unknown substance using physical and chemical property skills to figure out the correct suspect and retrieve the missing necklace. Question: How can the detectives successfully identify the correct suspect using physical and chemical properties? Hypothesis: If identifying unknown substances, using the chemical and physical property skills knowledge learnt, the unknown substance can be further be analyzed in contrast to other evidence to prove the innocence or conviction to…