There has always been a discussion on removing coroners and rebuilding it with a medical examiner system. However, that is rarely done because it just does not work like some would hope. It is important to keep in mind the reason for these discussions usually stems from a coroner not doing their job and, in…
Read More
Compassion v. Security. Police officers have the unique job of showing compassion to family and friends at the scene of a death while maintaining good scene security. This can be a slippery slope if not approached correctly. So what is your number one goal; compassion or security – and can you be successful in both?…
Read More
Forensic anthropology is the analysis of skeletal, badly decomposed, or otherwise unidentified human remains, and is important in both legal and humanitarian contexts. Forensic anthropologists apply standard scientific techniques developed in physical anthropology to analyze human remains, and to aid in the detection of crime. In addition to assisting in locating and recovering human skeletal remains, forensic anthropologists…
Read More
Ethnography is the study of cultures through close observation, reading, and interpretation. Ethnographic researchers work “in the field,” in the culture which they are studying. The activities they conduct are also often called fieldwork. Ethnographers define the word “culture” in broader terms, as a patterned behavior or way of life of a group of people….
Read More
The term “shaken baby syndrome” (SBS) was developed to explain those instances in which severe intracranial trauma occurred in the absence of signs of external head trauma. SBS is the severe intentional application of violent force (shaking) in one or more episodes, resulting in intracranial injuries to the child. Physical abuse of children by shaking…
Read MoreThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) collects data about mortality in the U.S., including deaths by suicide. In 2013 (the most recent year for which full data are available), 41,149 suicides were reported, making suicide the 10th leading cause of death for Americans. In that year, someone in the country died by suicide every…
Read More
A forensic pathologist can not work in a vacuum, they must have critical information gathered at the scene by qualified investigators. It is only with this information and the results of the autopsy that a ruling can be made. It is often that a ruling will be delayed, or no determination made at all,…
Read More
GENERALLY ACCEPTED GUIDELINES 1. Avoid bias; explore alternative hypotheses or explanations The most important thing for a child interviewer to do to obtain a reliable statement from the child is to have no preconceived belief as to what happened. The approach should be one of hypothesis-testing. Unfortunately, many interviewers try to get the child to…
Read More
Workplace Bullying is repeated, health-harming mistreatment of one or more persons (the targets) by one or more perpetrators. It is abusive conduct that is : Threatening, humiliating, or intimidating, or Work interference — sabotage — which prevents work from getting done, or Verbal abuse This definition was used in the 2014 WBI U.S. Workplace Bullying…
Read More
Because blood behaves according to certain scientific principles, trained bloodstain pattern analysts can examine the blood evidence left behind and draw conclusions as to how the blood may have been shed. From what may appear to be a random distribution of bloodstains at a crime scene, analysts can categorize the stains by gathering information from…
Read More