LIsa Black
Cape Coral, FL
Female, 49
I spent the five happiest years of my life in a morgue. As a forensic scientist in the Cleveland coroner’s office I analyzed gunshot residue on hands and clothing, hairs, fibers, paint, glass, DNA, blood and many other forms of trace evidence, as well as crime scenes. Now I'm a certified latent print examiner and CSI for a police department in Florida. I also write a series of forensic suspense novels, turning the day job into fiction. My books have been translated into six languages.
Luminal and dye stains just enhance or show you where things are, like blood or fingerprints. DNA analysis and fingerprint analysis are equally effective, so you use what you have. You might have DNA at a crime scene but no fingerprints, or vice versa. We don’t get a choice of what’s left at a crime scene, so we have to make the most of whatever is there. Given that, whatever is the most effective is whatever gives you information relevant to the crime. Say there’s a smear of the victim’s blood on the suspect’s shirt. The suspect tells police he found the body and tried to administer CPR. In that case, the DNA is very much there, but useless to solve the crime. If the suspect says he never met the victim and the same shirt is found in the suspect’s closet , then that’s very relevant to solving the crime.
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I'm sorry, but I have no idea. I don't work in digital forensics.
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Any science major is a good thing. The requirements for each agency or lab vary, so if you have a particular location in which you wish to work, you might call all your potential employers and ask what the job requirements are. Then you can decide whether a science degree, a forensic science degree, a masters or a PhD would be best. Also check salaries and decide whether they are sufficient, and be prepared for a lot of competition.
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I am an expert in some areas of forensic science. I am not an expert in law, public safety policy or our political system.
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If it were allowed to dry and kept dry, then it's possible, though the odds would be incredibly slim since the decomposition fluids from the body would most like overwhelm it. It's worth a try.
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Wow, that's an extremely broad question. I don't know if the rates of crimes solved have been increased greatly--perhaps in some crimes like rape or murder but perhaps not in other crimes like burglary and theft. But certainly the biggest advances in forensics have been DNA and the connectedness of fingerprint databases. Less specific but perfectly valid analyses like pollen, soil, and other trace evidence examination have gone by the wayside. And digital analyses such as the downloading of cell phones and personal computers are helping solve crimes more and more, but then people didn't have cell phones or personal computers 40 years ago so I'm not sure that counts!
I hope that helps!
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I don’t see why not. But I wasn’t aware hair could be tested for alcohol, I thought it was only drugs and heavy metals.
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