Forensics to the fore
Brandon Hollingsworth
Issue date: 9/20/07 Section: News
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"When I found out that there was a career that was specifically dealing with that kind of information, that's what I decided I wanted to do," Stacy says.
The career she's talking about is forensics, the practice of applying investigative and scientific principles to crime solving.
It's a field that's been around in some way or form for the greater part of the past century, but has enjoyed a massive boost in popularity in the last decade due in large part to the success of television shows such as CSI, NCIS and Bones.
Today, Stacy is a graduate student working on her Master's in the science of criminal justice, and if current figures are any indication, she's far from alone.
On the rise
About 80 percent of Jacksonville State University's criminal justice students have a concentration in forensic investigation, according to Dr. Dean Buttram, who teaches the forensics classes in JSU's Criminal Justice department.
"And we have four concentrations," Buttram says. "So we've got one [concentration] pulling at least 80 percent of the weight."
Dr. Jason Linville heads up the Master's Degree in Forensic Science program at UAB. He began his work in the field in 1998, before forensics' popularity took off. He and others say that the depiction of forensic science and investigations on television is often times misleading.
"[TV programs] take something that doesn't work 100 percent of the time and transform to working 100 percent of the time," Linville says. "All of their tiny leads turn out to work perfectly for them. Stuff like that is a little irritating."
Unfortunately, that depiction shapes real public opinion about the nature of criminal activity, court cases and the abilities of forensic scientists to solve a crime.
"I think it's kind of silly to base what you wanna do with your life on a TV show," Johnson says.
Yet, that is what the general public and college students have been doing for most of the last decade.
The perception
The impressions formed by watching CSI stick with people and color the way they view investigations, and it irks forensics practitioners.
"A lot of juries now expect, at a crime scene, to find every element that you need to charge the crime," Johnson says.
"But in actuality, half the crimes don't even come with any blood or semen or any other DNA evidence that these shows have really pushed on the public."
Often victims and juries become frustrated with the pace and limitations of forensic research, believing that what is achieved on television in an hour should be replicated in real life, according to Johnson. Not surprisingly, observers call it the "CSI Effect."
Concurrent with the swell of popularity for forensics is a rise in the number of students taking forensics courses. But is that phenomenon producing quality scientists and investigators? Are students who see crime scene investigations on TV getting into it for the right reasons?
"Yeah," Linville says. "And those who aren't in it for the right reasons, they learn very quickly it's not what they expect. It's very difficult for a lot of the [incoming] students to understand what forensic science is."
But even for those who think they have a handle on what it takes to be in forensics, there can still be surprises.
The reality
Most students who enter criminal justice or forensics programs must choose one of two paths: become a scientist or become a police officer. Those candidates have to go through police academies or spend long hours in laboratories - not exactly the stuff of myth and legend.
"There are certain physical criteria you have to meet," Buttram says. "A lot of students come in not knowing that they have to go through any physical activity, and you do."
Buttram estimates that over 90 percent of people on a typical crime scene are law enforcement officers, meaning they spent time working in probationary positions before getting the chance to investigate in the field. He says that it's rare, except in urban areas, for police departments to hire civilians to work in forensic investigations without proper police training.
Linville says those factors disillusion many prospective students, an assessment with which both Johnson and Buttram agree.
Still, the interest has made a noticeable impact on the teaching of forensics.
Because so many students are now pursuing forensics at both undergraduate and graduate levels, more and more forensic science programs, certifications and specializations are popping up at colleges and universities across the nation.
So many, in fact, that earlier this decade the American Academy of Forensic Sciences intervened to ensure quality classes were being offered.
"[AAFS] decided to step in and start accrediting forensic science programs," Linville says. "Because all programs should be where you're training forensic scientists to go into a laboratory conduct the analysis and testify in court about it."
Since then, AAFS has maintained standards that hold forensic science programs to certain accountability and academic criteria that fulfill laboratory requirements and training.
Of the 130 forensics programs offered at American colleges and universities, only 16 programs enjoy full AAFS accreditation.
JSU is accredited to provide a Bachelor's of Science degree in Forensic Investigation. UAB's Master's of Science degree in Forensic Science program is also accredited. Outside of an accredited program, it can be difficult to verify the standards by which curricula are drafted and classes are taught.
Present and future
There are no gleaming, expensive labs bursting with plasma monitors and electron microscopes. There's no moment of glory where the entire case becomes crystal clear. The answers are hard to come by, and no mystery is solved in an hour.
Win, lose or draw, forensics is a vital part of crime solving in the 21st century. Even after CSI and its descendants are long gone from the airwaves, the need will still exist for talented, bright men and women to help unlock the mysteries present in criminal evidence.
The accused need defenders and the victims need advocates. Others will join people like Stacy Johnson, Jason Linville and Dean Buttram as the demand for investigators and scientists grows.
A decade ago, a criminal justice major with a forensic investigation concentration would have faced limited job choices.
"Odds of them becoming a forensic scientist: slim to none," Buttram says. "Nowadays, there are a lot more jobs out there. In the last fifteen years, forensic science has gone further than it has in history. No doubt about it."
And that's not something you can learn from television.
Here are some of the more unusual applications of forensic techniques to crime-solving:
Computer forensics: Investigates electronic devices for documents, files and other evidence tied to a crime.
Forensic animation: Computer animation that reconstructs the sequence of events or conditions present in a crime scene.
Forensic anthropology: The application of physical anthropology, usually for the recovery and identification of skeletonized human remains.
Forensic archaeology: The application of a combination of archaeological techniques to a forensic investigation.
Forensic entomology: The examination of insects in, on and around human remains to assist in determination of time or location of death. It is also possible to determine if the body was moved after death.
Forensic geology: Deals with trace evidence in the form of soils, minerals and petroleum at or near a crime scene.
Forensic meteorology: Used primarily in insurance investigations. Utilizes weather records to verify conditions at the time of a crime.
-source: Wikipedia
Here's where you can find out more about forensic science and investigations:
The American Academy of Forensics:
www.aafs.org
American Board of Criminalistics:
www.criminalistics.com
Southern Association of Forensic Scientists:
www.southernforensic.org
JSU's Bachelor's in Criminal Justice (Forensic Investigations concentration):
www.jsu.edu/depart/criminal/undergrad.htm
UAB's MS in Forensic Sciences Degree:
http://main.uab.edu/show.asp?durki=12145
Brandon Hollingsworth is the News Editor of The Chanticleer. He can be reached at (256) 782-8521 or at chantynews@gmail.com.
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