1. Unit E
Forensic Medicine

2. What is Forensic medicine?
Latin word –forensics
Means public discussion or debate
Science used in justice system for legal purposes
Facts based on scientific investigation
Goal is to determine facts and truth
Uses multiple science specialties

3. Forensic Scientists
Television enhances the image of forensic science….not always accurate
Forensic scientists are involved in all aspects of criminal cases.
The forensic scientist's goal is to use all available scientific information to determine the facts and, subsequently, the truth.
The forensic scientist might determine:
The validity of a signature on a will,
If a corporation is complying with environmental laws,
The origin of physical evidence at a crime scene

4. Document Examination
This discipline involves all special relationships that may exist between document and inscription and how it relates to a person or sequence of events.
This includes forgery, counterfeiting, and handwriting analysis.

5. Firearms and Toolmarks
Typically, this includes matching bullets to the gun that fired them.
Toolmark identification involves the identifying characteristics between tools, such as a pry bar, and the object on which it is used, such as a door frame.
Also included in the category are explosives and imprint evidence.

6. Techniques and examples
Autopsy- earliest technique
DNA typing - most recent

7. Techniques and Examples
Forensic anthropology
Odontology: the proper examination, handling and presentation of dental evidence in a court of law
Blood testing

8. Autopsies Definition and Purpose Postmortem examination
Used to determine the cause of death and how the person died.

9. Autopsies B. Legal Requirements
1. Coroner- a public official who investigates sudden, suspicious, or violent death to determine the cause - Coroner’s office is responsible for conducting autopsies
2.Medical examiner - a physician who is appointed by a state or local government to establish the cause of somebody's death, especially in cases where death is not the result of natural causes.

10. 3. Pathology -the scientific study of the nature, origin, progress, and cause of disease…examines tissues, fluids, etc.

11. C. Reason for autopsy
1. Determine what disease or injury caused death
2. Medical Diagnosis- confirmation and understanding
3. Evaluate possible public health issue

12. D. Preparation
1. If not required by law, permission needed from next of kin
2. legal consent form

13. E. Procedure
1. First – Examine complete medical history and review of records
2. External physical exam
a. body tag
b. weight and height
c. examine clothing and valuables
d. document scars, tattoos, injuries, wounds, bruises
e. foreign objects noted (i.e. piercings, knives, protruding shovel, etc.)

14. 3. Photos and x-rays taken, if needed
4. Complete internal exam
a. dissection of head and abdomen
b. organs removed, weighed, measured, and examined
c. tissue samples examined under microscope
d. fluid samples tested for drugs, infection

15. 5. After autopsy complete, legal death certificate completed

16. F. Results
1. Natural death- disease or old age
2. Unnatural death- unexpected, or unusual cause

17. G. Methods of determine time of death
1. Traditional indicators
a. rigor mortis (stiffening of the muscles of the body after death)
- begins three hours after death in face and eyelid muscles
- takes twelve hours to affect entire body
- process reverses after 36 hours

18. 2. Lividity (hypostasis)
a. visible after mins
b. red cells settle and skin below turns red
c. in 6-10 hours, color becomes permanent

19. 3. Body temperature
a. falls at rate of approximately one degree per hour
b. obesity and warm environment slows cooling
Using body temp to determine time of death is not totally reliable and can be manipulated

20. DNA typing and Forensic Anthropology
1. What is DNA?
a. nucleus of cells contain RNA/DNA
b. DNA – deoxyribonucleic acid
c. nucleus has 23 pairs of chromosomes made up of DNA
d. within each pair, one chromosome from sperm and one from egg

21. 2. What makes DNA individual?
a. Four chemicals- adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine
b. Chemicals strung together = DNA code
c. Some sections of DNA vary from individual to individual
d. Scientists can link a strand of DNA to a given individual

22. 3. Criminal investigations
a. specimens: blood, hair, bloodstained clothing
b. provides powerfully compelling evidence

23. B. Forensic anthropology
1. Skeletal Anatomy
a. 206 bones
b. Man = 12 pounds, woman = 10 pounds
2. What bones show
a. How person lived
b. Debilitating illnesses (rickets, polio, healed fractures, osteoporosis)
c. Right or left handed
d. Clues to occupation

24. 3. Questions answered with full skeletal remains
a. age of person at time of death
b. sex of person (skull and pelvis)
c. race (skull)
d. height

25. Odontology and Serology Studies in Forensic Medicine
1. Characteristics of teeth after death
a. no other part of body lasts longer
b. in fires, teeth usually only means to ID remains (i.e. after 9/11/01)
c. no two people have identical teeth

26. 2. Requirements for identification
a. needs dental records
b. dentists chart five surfaces of each tooth in a grid (odontogram)
c. can also provide “bite mark” evidence
3. Teeth useful in determining subject’s age

27. B. Serology
1. Blood type
a. Four types (A, B, O, and AB)
b. Rh factor – protein…if you have it you are Rh + if you don’t you are Rh -
c. female blood cells have Barr Body…so you can tell if a blood sample is from a male or female

28. 2. Criminology
a. Kastle-Meyer test to determine if it is indeed blood
b. Precipitin test – determines animal or human blood
c. You can determine blood type and gender from blood specimen
d. Provides reliable and informative evidence