Forensics

The latest in my ‘Learn Something New Every Day’ series – taken from The Great Courses’ “Trails of Evidence: How Forensic Science Works” (Lecture 33: Crimes – Nobody’s Supposed to Get Hurt)  Identity theft of deceased persons is much bigger business than living. US authorities run a program called Operation Death Match which is the […]

The latest in my ‘Learn Something New Every Day’ series – taken from The Great Courses’ “Trails of Evidence: How Forensic Science Works” (Lecture 33: Crimes – Nobody’s Supposed to Get Hurt) Blood alcohol content (BAC) can be determined using the Widmark Formulat, thusly:  (oz x %) x 5.14 lbs x .73 That is, multiply […]

The latest in my ‘Learn Something New Every Day’ series – taken from The Great Courses’ “Trails of Evidence: How Forensic Science Works” (Lecture 32: Comparing Crimes and Crime Labs) Adding the phrase ‘aggravated’ to any charge means there’s something about the case that takes the crime to a more heinous level (age of victim, […]

The latest in my ‘Learn Something New Every Day’ series – taken from The Great Courses’ “Trails of Evidence: How Forensic Science Works” (Lecture 32: Comparing Crimes and Crime Labs) With six types of murder and three types of manslaughter in the mix it can be hard to know what each one means. Here’s a […]

The latest in my ‘Learn Something New Every Day’ series – taken from The Great Courses’ “Trails of Evidence: How Forensic Science Works” (Lecture 32: Comparing Crimes and Crime Labs) Motives are as old as humanity itself. The most common motives – greed, hatred, lust, jealousy, desperation, depravity. But many things widely considered to be […]

The latest in my ‘Learn Something New Every Day’ series – taken from The Great Courses’ “Trails of Evidence: How Forensic Science Works” (Lecture 31: Forensic Scientists and Expert Testimony) Revolving door of court appearances Testifying as an expert witness can be quite lucrative but it can create ‘rock stars’ and showponies. At its worst, […]

The latest in my ‘Learn Something New Every Day’ series – taken from The Great Courses’ “Trails of Evidence: How Forensic Science Works” (Lecture 30: When forensics are on trial) William Marston (a psychologist, inventor & feminist) developed early lie detection technology based on blood pressure and breathing (and that led to the polygraphs of […]

The latest in my ‘Learn Something New Every Day’ series – taken from The Great Courses’ “Trails of Evidence: How Forensic Science Works” (Lecture 30: When forensics are on trial) As well as probative and relevant (see yesterday’s post), evidence must be deemed competent (ie: not prejudiced, not un-constitutional, not privileged, not hearsay) in order […]

The latest in my ‘Learn Something New Every Day’ series – taken from The Great Courses’ “Trails of Evidence: How Forensic Science Works” (Lecture 30: When forensics are on trial) In order to be admissible in court, evidence must meet criteria of relevance (pertaining to the matter at hand) and probative (has to prove something […]

Nearly there… only a few more lectures to go in this very interesting, very long course “Trails of Evidence: How Forensic Science Works” (Lecture 29: Forensic Psychology/Psychiatry) Only 1 in 100 cases in the US includes an insanity plea and, of those, only 1 in 10 are found to be criminally insane. Given the 1 […]