Introduction
Name one branch of science that is involved in forensics
Biology, anthropology, psychology, geology, entomology (many more)
Name one way an investigator will document a crime scene.
Sketches, Notes, Pictures/videos
True or false; twins have identical fingerprints
False
Are hairs and fibers considered class or individual evidence?
Class
What is the most common type of fraud?
Checks
Where was the first US crime lab established?
LA
Draw and name one search pattern
Inward spiral, outward spiral, grid, parallel, zone
What is the rarest type of fingerprint?
Arches
What type of cuticle is seen in human hair?
Imbricate
Is handwriting class or individual evidence?
Individual
Approximately how many crime labs are in the US?
400
What is the chain of custody?
Tracking evidence at all times as it changes hands or locations
What is the term for the many unique variations in fingerprints, such as islands or deltas.
Minutae
What makes human red hairs unique?
Pigment is darkest near the center
What is one characteristic that may be compared to determine if handwriting matches?
Spacing, slant, connecting letters or words, size and ratio of letters, embellishments, diacritics, pressure, unique letters
Which section of a crime lab deals with foreign substances in the body?
Toxicology
Evidence that is the result of two objects interacting is called...
Trace evidence
Which direction does a radial loop point?
Towards the thumb
Name one of the 4 medulla patterns that a hair can have.
Continuous, interrupted, fragmented, or absent
What is the difference between an erasure and an obliteration?
Erasure removes something with intent to replace it while an obliteration removes or destroys it completely.
What type of analysis causes severe backlogs of work at forensic labs?
DNA
What is rigor mortis?
The stiffening of the body after death
Why don't most hand injuries change fingerprints?
Not deep enough to change the deral papillae
Most hairs (90%) are in this phase.
Anagen
Describe one condition that should be met when having someone write an exemplar to make comparison to
Comfortable seat, no distractions, do not show them the original document, provide similar pen/paper, written exemplar should contain similar word and letter combos, repeat 3 times