Branches of Forensic F orensic Sciences Forensic Chemistry: Forensic chemists use their expertise to help law enforcement by analyzing trace evidence found at crime scenes. This evidence can include fingerprints taken from the scene and compared with the prints of suspects; and urine and blood, which are analyz analyzed ed for poison poisonss and drugs. drugs. Forens Forensic ic chemis chemists ts also also calibra calibrate te breath breathaly alyzer zer machines and testify in drunken driving cases about the devices' accuracy. Forensic Biology: Forensic biology, or pathology, deals with diseases and how they affect the body. Forens Forensic ic pathol pathologi ogists sts help help law enf enforc orceme ement nt throug through h autops autopsies ies,, whe where re scientists determine the cause and manner of someone's death by examining organs, blood and urine. Based on this information, the police are able to decid decidee if they they should should pursue pursue a killer killer or close close the case case becaus becausee someo someone ne actually died of natural causes. Forensic Behavioral Sciences / Forensic Psychology: Forensic psychologists and psychiatrists can work in criminal cases where issues like a defendant's fitness to stand trial, testify or decline representation are in dispute. They are also called to render opinions in civil cases that deal with patients' rights. These types of cases can revolve around around issuessuch issuessuch as involuntary involuntary hospitalizati hospitalization, on, whether a patient can refuse treatment and disability claims. Forensic !sychologist deals with psychological psychological and other cases like "rain Fingerprinting Fingerprinting,, !olygraphy !olygraphy,, #arco$nalysis, %ie &etection etc Forensic Anthropology: Forensic anthropologists work in cases that involve tragedies such as terrorist attacks, plane crashes cras hes and natural disasters disaster s when remains need to be identified. Through their examinations, forensic anthropologists can determine the gender, race and size of a victim, which helps police narrow down that person's identity. n some cases, forensic anthropologists will use skulls to reconstruct the face of a victim, and the rendering is released to the public to generate leads. Questioned Document and Handriting !"amination: (uestioned document examination )(&*+ is the forensic science discipline pertaining to documents that are )or may be+ in dispute in a court of law. The primary purpose of uestioned-forensic document examination is to answer uestions about a disputed document using a variety of scientific processes and methods. any examinations involve a comparison of the uestioned document, or components of the document, to a set set of know known n stan standa dard rds. s. The most ost comm common on type type of exam examin inat atio ion n invo involv lves es hand handwr writ itin ing g where wherein in the the exam examin iner er trie triess to addr addres esss conc concern ernss abou aboutt pote potent ntial ial authorship. Forensic Dentistry Dentistry / Forensic #dontology: #dontology: &eals with the collection, evaluation and proper handling of dental evidence in order to assist law enforcement officers and in civil / criminal proceedings. The role of such such an expe expert rt is to iden identi tify fy bodi bodies es and and skel skeleta etall rema remain inss from from dent dental al reco record rds, s, reconstruct faces from skulls as well as connect the crime scene with whatever little evidence is available from the scene.
Forensic linguists / $oice %dentification: Forensic linguists analyse the content of written or oral communication to identify the culprit and they can determine whether two communications are from the same person. This is found useful in various cases involving matching notes and handwritten contents. Forensic Fingerprint / Dactyloscopy: &actyloscopy is the scientific study of fingerprints. Fingerprints is perhaps the most well known of the forensic sciences. t also involves the identification of fingerprints and their ability to categorically link suspects to or exclude suspects from a crime scene. t reuires meticulous and painstaking efforts in gathering information about finger prints from the scene of crime. Forensic !ngineer / !ngineering: These experts deal with traffic accidents, fire investigations, and a variety of wrongful in0ury cases. *ngineers are involved in failure analysis, accident reconstruction, causes and origins of fires or explosions etc. Forensic Qccounting / Financial Fraud !"amination: Forensic accounting is the specialty practice area of accountancy that describes engagements that result from actual or anticipated disputes or litigation. 1Forensic1 means 1suitable for use in a court of law1, and it is to that standard and potential outcome that forensic accountants generally have to work. Forensic accountants, also referred to as forensic auditors or investigative auditors, often have to give expert evidence at the eventual trial. $ll of the larger accounting firms, as well as many mediumsized and boutiue firms, have specialist forensic accounting departments. 2ithin these groups, there may be further subspecializations3 some forensic accountants may, for example, 0ust specialize in insurance claims, personal in0ury claims, fraud, construction, or royalty audits. Forensic Ballistics: "allistics is the study of the flight paths of pro0ectiles. t also involves the determination of the angle and distance a gun was fired from to hit a specific target to recreate the crime scene and link suspects with crimes. Forensic !ntomology: Forensic entomology is the application of the study of insects and to legal issues. The time of death, for example, can be determined using insect evidence gathered from and around a corpse. 4arious crime investigations have been successfully completed based on this vital piece of information. Forensic Pathology: Forensic pathology is a branch of pathology concerned with determining the cause of death by examination of a corpse. The autopsy is performed by the pathologist at the reuest of a coroner or medical examiner usually during the investigation of criminal law cases and civil law cases in some 0urisdictions. Forensic pathologists are also freuently asked to confirm the identity of a corpse.
D&A profiling: &#$ profiling )also called &#$ testing, &#$ typing, or genetic fingerprinting+ is a techniue employed by forensic scientists to assist in the identification of individuals on the basis of their respective &#$ profiles. &#$ profiles are encrypted sets of numbers that reflect a person's &#$ makeup, which can also be used as the person's identifier. &#$ profiling should not be confused with full genome seuencing. t is used in, for example, parental testing and rape investigation. Forensic !ntomology / Cytology: Forensic entomology is the application of the study of insects and to legal issues. The time of death, for example, can be determined using insect evidence gathered from and around a corpse. 4arious crime investigations have been successfully completed based on this vital piece of information. Forensic artists ' sculptors: Forensic artists can draw a likeness of a person based solely on eyewitness accounts. odern techniues of computer animation are increasingly used in the process. Forensic sculptors can reconstruct faces, usually in modeling clay or on a computer from skulls or other fragments. The expertise may enable the police to find out who a person was when no other clues are available. This techniue was found extremely useful in umbai blasts investigation where the face of the suspect who was allegedly killed in the blast was also reconstructed with the help of this technology. (edical )urisprudence or Forensic (edicine: edical 5urisprudence or Forensic edicine, the application of medical science to legal problems. t is typically involved in cases concerning blood relationship, mental illness, in0ury, or death resulting from violence. $utopsy )see postmortem examination+ is often used to determine the cause of death, particularly in cases where foul play is suspected. !ostmortem examination can determine not only the immediate agent of death )e.g. gunshot wound, poison+, but may also yield important contextual information, such as how long the person has been dead, which can help trace the killing. Forensic medicine has also become increasingly important in cases involving rape. odern techniues use such specimens as semen, blood, and hair samples of the criminal found in the victim's bodies, which can be compared to the defendant's genetic makeup through a techniue known as &#$ fingerprinting; this techniue may also be used to identify the body of a victim. The establishment of serious mental illness by a licensed psychologist can be used in demonstrating incompetency to stand trial, a techniue which may be used in the insanity defense )see insanity+, albeit infreuently. Forensic to"icology: Forensic toxicology is the use of toxicology and other disciplines such as analytical chemistry, pharmacology and clinical chemistry to aid medical or legal investigation of death, poisoning, and drug use. The primary concern for forensic toxicology is not the legal outcome of the toxicological investigation or the technology utilised, but rather the obtaining and interpreting of the results. $ toxicological analysis can be done to various kinds of samples.
Forensic *eology: Forensic geologists can determine such things as where the suspect or victim walked by examining soil samples taken from their shoes or feet. Cell Phone / (o+ile Phone Forensics: obile &evice Forensics and 6im 7ard Forensics etc are subbranches of digital forensics relating to recovery of digital evidence or data from a mobile device under forensically sound conditions. The phrase mobile device usually refers to mobile phones however can also relate to any digital device that has both internal memory and communication ability. Forensic Serology: Forensic serology is the study of blood groups, blood, and other bodily fluids for identification purposes following a crime. Forensic serologists also carry out &#$ fingerprinting, which offers the possibility of positive identification of an individual from samples of blood or semen. Computer Forensics / Cy+er Forensics: 7omputer forensics is an exciting part of the T field, where computer experts with specialized skills recover data from erased, formatted, damaged or otherwise obscured sources. any times their skills are called on by law enforcement to recover data that can be used as evidence in a legal case. 6ometimes they are 0ust asked to recover data that was carelessly erased or to recover family pictures from a hard disk drive that was damaged in a power surge. 7yber Forensic *xperts deals with many cyber crime cases like *mail *xamination, 4ideo *xamination, ! Tracking etc
