Name ___________________

Your Group's Topic:______________________

FORENSIC SCIENCE WORKSHEET

Definition of Forensic Science: In law, the term "forensic" refers to an issue that is debatable. Forensic science is the application of science to legal matters. Thus, any type of science-biological, social, physical, or mathematical may be a forensic science when used as evidence or testimony in litigation.

Individual Tasks of Group Members:
Career Information

1. Define the forensic science chosen by your group.
2. List and briefly describe the careers or specialties into which this profession is divided.
3. What courses of study are required for this profession?
4. In general, what tasks do those who practice this career perform?

Background of this Forensic Science

1. Search the timeline on the website given below to find out when and how this forensic science developed and when it was first admitted as evidence in a court of law.
2. If this type of evidence is not allowed in court, explain why it is not.
   Relation of this Forensic Science to Meriwether Lewis' Death
3. Was this method of detection available when Meriwether Lewis died? If the answer is yes, how would it have been used?
4. If the answer is no, do you think it would have helped solve the mystery of Meriwether Lewis' death had it been available? Why or why not?

Group Project and Presentation

While doing the research, meet with group members to make plans for a project that will help illustrate or demonstrate your group's topic. These may be charts and diagrams similar to those used by expert witnesses in court proceedings, or demonstrations of how certain detection equipment works, etc. When the research and projects are completed, groups convene to present their findings and projects.

Internet Research Suggestions
· Most of the topics in this activity have applications other than criminal investigation. Narrow your Internet or library catalog keyword searches by adding "+ forensic science" to your topic. For example: DNA + forensic science.

• Timeline site mentioned above: http://www.forensicdna.com/Timeline.htm
• This website has general information, data on careers in forensic science, links to other sites, and an evidence game: http://library.thinkquest.org/17049/gather/.
• A forensic scientist with the New York City Police Department is the creator of this website which has data on many forensic subjects: http://www.forensicpage.com/
• Forensic science is only as good as the professionals who use it. Inadequate or sloppy work may do more harm than good. On the following website, a California defense attorney points out some of the problems that may arise with forensic evidence and how a defense attorney can make sure the evidence against his client has not been contaminated:
  http://www.scientific.org/tutorials/articles/kruglick/kruglick.html

Book Research Suggestions

• Camenson, Blythe, and Hufft, Anita. Opportunities in Forensic Science Careers. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2001.
• Evans, Colin. The Casebook of Forensic Detection: How Science Solved 100 of the World's Most Baffling Crimes. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, 1998.
• Houde, John. Crime Lab: A Guide for Nonscientists. Calico Press, 1998.

Detectives in Fiction
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes
Probably the most famous fictional detective in western literature is Sherlock Holmes, the creation of Scottish writer, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Although Holmes is fictional, Doyle's stories about the great detective provide information about forensic sciences that were available in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. See these websites for more information:

Mark Twain and Puddin' Head Wilson
The use of fingerprinting to solve a crime was employed by Mark Twain in two of his books, Life on the Mississippi (1883) and The Tragedy of Puddin' Head Wilson, one of Mark Twain's lesser known books, published in 1893. The complete text of Puddin' Head Wilson appears on the following website: http://www.americanliterature.com/PW/PWD.HTML