Evidence
An adhesive used to lift trace evidence from a crime scene or object.
What is tape?
A branch of forensic science that focuses on the interpretation of bloodstains at a crime scene in order to recreate the circumstances.
What is blood splatter analysis?
Specialized law enforcement who use police dogs to assist at crime scenes. They are useful in drug detection, cadaver location, pursuit and apprehension of suspects, and explosive identification.
Who is a K-9 officer?
A device used to break substances into smaller fragments for proper testing.
What is a blender?
An act that is forbidden by law.
What is a crime?
Any object or specimen that contributes valuable information at a crime scene such as blood, hair, clothing fibers.
What is physical evidence?
A branch of forensic science that focuses on the method for analyzing unknown mixtures by separating them into the individual chemicals from which they are made.
What is chromatography?
A forensic scientist who works to educate the next generation and help students build knowledge of forensic science guided by scientific principles.
Who is a professor of forensic science?
A powder mixed with water to replicate impressions left at a crime scene.
What is plaster?
A type of fingerprint only made visible when forensically developed. Cannot typically be seen directly.
What is a latent fingerprint?
A mark made by the outside surface of the sole of a shoe and reveals distinctive patterns.
What is a shoeprint impression?
A branch of forensic science that focuses on the examination of evidence relating to projectiles and firearms at a crime scene.
What is firearm examination or ballistics?
Specialized law enforcement that analyzes flame patterns, residues, and accelerants at fire-related incidents.
Who is an arson investigator?
Preserving an objective and accurate look at the crime scene, allowing investigators to analyze it again at a later date.
What is a photo documentation?
A person thought to be capable of committing a crime.
Who is a suspect?
Ridge characteristics left behind on surfaces in the form of oily residue or impressions.
What are fingerprints?
A branch of forensic science that focuses on the identification and quantification of controlled substances.
What is drug analysis?
A person who examines bodies and performs autopsies to determine the time and cause of death.
Who is a medical examiner or coroner?
A substance used to enhance fingerprints at particular light wavelengths.
What is luminal spray?
A pattern within a fingerprint in which the ridge makes at least one complete circuit or circle.
What is a whorl?
Made from long filaments (synthetic or natural) which vary in uniformity depending on how they are manufactured.
What are fibers?
A branch of forensic science that focuses on the comparison of writing samples to determine whether or not they were written by the same person or are forgeries.
What is handwriting analysis?
Specialized law enforcement who secures and protects nonhuman participants in a crime scene.
Who is an animal control officer?
Uses ultraviolet lights to reveal regularly undetectable materials such as bodily fluids.
What is an alternate light source or blacklight?
An unsolved case which is still open but is no longer being actively investigated.
What is a cold case?
The unburned powder propelled from a firearm when a bullet is fired. It will often be found on the clothing or skin of the perpetrator or victim.
What is gunshot residue?
A branch of forensic science that focuses on the comparison of bruising and indentations on the skin to that of the dental records of a suspect.
What is bite mark analysis?
A person who helps law enforcement officials by creating drawings or 3D models of potential suspects, missing persons and crime victims.
Who is a forensic artist?
When an unknown substance is mixed with a chemical reagent in order to produce an identifying color change.
What is a preliminary color test?
The medical dissection and examination of a body to determine the cause of death.
What is an autopsy?
A process that tracks the movement of evidence through its collection, safeguarding, and analysis.
What is chain of custody?
A branch of forensic science that focuses on analyzing evidence stored digitally.
What is computer forensics or computer analysis?
Specialized law enforcement who analyze criminal patterns and assign relevant characteristics to a perpetrator in order to narrow the number of suspects.
Who is a criminal profiler?
A national database used for fingerprint comparison.
What is AFIS?
Used by law enforcement to record several physiological processes simultaneously (pulse, blood pressure, respiration, perspiration, etc.)
What is a polygraph?
The physical alteration of a crime scene in order to reduce its evidentiary value or deceive investigators.
What is crime scene staging?
A branch of forensics that uses profiling to help determine the motives and mental states of suspects. It also resolves issues such as one's competency to stand trial, testimony, and mental health issues.
What is forensic psychology?
A person who researches and studies crime to prevent and reduce it from occurring.
Who is a criminologist?
A temperature and humidity controlled chamber that allows superglue to adhere to the water in latent fingerprints.
What is a superglue fuming chamber?
The genetic material contained in cells.
What is DNA or deoxyribonucleic acid?
Any foreign material that is introduced in the aftermath of a crime scene. Can be brought in by witnesses, suspects, victims, emergency responders, fire fighters, police officers and investigators.
What is contaminated evidence?
A branch of forensic science that focuses on the detection and interpretation of drugs and other potentially toxic compounds in bodily tissues and fluids.
What is forensic toxicology?
A person with specialized knowledge of a certain field that can assist in the understanding of complicated information or offer an expert opinion.
Who is an expert witness?
A computer software program that operates local, state, and national databases of DNA profiles.
What is CODIS or Combined DNA Index System?
A sketch composed of a suspect produced from one or more eyewitness descriptions.
What is a composite drawing?
A type of evidence that implies (but does not prove) that a person committed a crime.
What is circumstantial evidence?
A branch of forensic science that focuses on the study of insects and other arthropod biology in relation to criminal matters.
What is forensic entomology?
A person who studies human bones, culture, and skeletal structures in a criminal investigation.
Who is a forensic anthropologist?
A testing device that allows light to pass through an unknown substance to measure how it absorbs light at different confirmed wavelengths.
What is an ultraviolet visual spectrometer?
The legal term for a mental disease or defect that may absolve a criminal person of responsibility.
What is insanity?
Evidence that is created when two objects make contact with one another.
What is trace evidence?
A branch of forensic science that focuses on the detection and identification of biological material (blood, sweat, tears, etc.)
What is forensic serology?
A person who analyzes the written and spoken language of a perpetrator to draw inferences about their identity.
Who is a forensic linguist?
A testing device that heats an unknown substance until it turns into a gas and then measures its compositional makeup.
What is a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer?
A crime scene searching pattern. The scene is segmented into smaller areas, each of which is individually searched for evidence.
What is a grid search?
Evidence provided by witnesses either for the prosecution and the defense in a trial.
What is testimonial evidence?
A branch of forensic science that focuses on the forensic examination of deceased person to help determine the cause of death in a criminal case.
What is forensic pathology?
A person who examines and evaluates dental evidence in a criminal investigation.
Who is an odonatologist?
A testing device that propels a laser through an unknown substance to measure the amount of light it absorbs.
What is a Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR)?
A system of collection, organization, and analysis of information.
What is scientific method?