Forensic Psychology

Want to know more about forensic psychology? Read on to know more about Forensic Psychology and the various functions of a forensic psychologist…

What is Forensic Psychology?

The word ‘forensic’ is derived from the Latin word ‘forum’ which was the place of public gathering in the Roman cities where the process of justice was carried out through debates. Thus, when the legal system is combined with the practice of psychology, we have a study of forensic psychology.

‘Forensic Psychology’ is therefore defined as ‘an intersection between Psychology and the Criminal Justice system’.

Thus, forensic psychology consists of understanding criminal law, make legal evaluations and interact with judges, attorneys and such other legal professionals. It also includes the capability to take psychological findings and translate them into the language of the law, so that the information is understood by the legal practitioners. Towards that end, it is essential that a forensic psychologist understand the philosophy of the law and legal processes.

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The questions that are normally asked to a forensic psychologist are not regarding psychology, but legal questions where the forensic psychologist must be able to convert psychological data into legal language for the court.

A forensic psychologist therefore must have had relevant training in psychology, including clinical or counseling psychology and then gain relevant experience in forensic psychology by working with other practitioners and gaining experience and expertise in one’s field.

Therefore, a forensic psychologist is very different from a typical clinical psychologist. A forensic psychologist does not see the situation from the client’s perspective; neither does he empathize with the client. During the process of a forensic psychological evaluation process, therefore, it is important for the forensic psychologist to examine the consistency of factual data across several sources.

Forensic psychologists thus find employment in different places such as community mental health centers, juvenile detection facilities, jails, prisons, state hospitals, federal and local law enforcement agencies, colleges and universities. Forensic psychologists can also have their own private practice.

Forensic Science Career Options

Functions of a Forensic Psychologist

There are several functions of a forensic psychologist. The primary function is to provide testimony in court. This has grown to become quite a daunting task because attorneys have now become quite competent at undermining the testimony of these psychologists in the court of law.

Apart from this primary function, forensic psychologists also perform various other functions. They are:

Competency Evaluations:

The forensic psychologist is usually appointed by the court of law to assess the competency of the individual to stand trial. If the assessment states that the individual is incompetent to stand trial, it will also state recommendations for the procedures to be followed in order to render the individual competent to stand trial. The forensic psychologist may also prescribe medication for the treatment of the individual. If these medications and treatments do not take the required effect, the forensic psychologist may then advise the court to commit the individual to a psychiatric facility till he can be declared competent to stand trial.

Evaluation of Sanity:

The forensic psychologist is appointed by the court to assess the individual’s state of mind at the time of the offense. This also happens when the lawyer pleads ‘not guilty’ stating the reason of insanity.

Malingering:

Often the individual may also fake symptoms of mental illness during competency evaluations. This will often be revealed by the forensic psychologist by observing the individual in other settings, because it is difficult to consistently maintain false symptoms over a period of time. Such offences can also add more time to the sentence of the individual, when found guilty.

Mitigation of Sentence:

An evaluation by a forensic psychologist is very important when considering the mitigation of the sentence for the individual. Even when the individual’s mental disorder does not meet the criteria for a ‘not guilty’ by reason of insanity plea, other considerations such as the individual’s state of mind at the time of the crime, relevant past history of mental disorder and psychological abuse, medical history, family and social history including physical abuse, mental abuse, domestic violence, and exposure to traumatic events and criminal violence are taken into account. The forensic psychologist considers all these factors before making a recommendation to the court about mitigating the sentence of the individual.

Other Evaluations:

A forensic psychologist is also referred while making other evaluations in the legal processes. One such evaluation is to about assessing whether the individual will commit the same crime again, or whether he is still to be considered to be a danger to society. They are also consulted during probation hearings, parole hearings, and also provide their assessment of the individual’s capacity to be rehabilitated after their release from jail. They also provide information about the credibility of witnesses, help select the jury during the process of a trial and also provide profiles of criminals to law enforcement authorities.

Thus a forensic psychologist performs a very important function in today’s world, especially at the junction of law and psychology.

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The ethical behavior of a forensic psychologist is often a subject of speculation.

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Matching Unknown DNA to a Suspect

After finding DNA at the scene of a crime, CSI’s must then find out who left the DNA there. Forensic scientists will attempt to match the unknown DNA to a potential perpetrator.

When crime scene technicians find DNA such as semen at the scene of a crime and collect it, they must undergo the task of determining whose it is whether it is the victim’s or the suspect’s. You have seen crime lab technicians on CSI inject fluids into this rectangular medium containing a colorless gel. Then you see these little bands spread out within the gel. Just what exactly are those bands within the gel and how do they tie a criminal to the scene of a crime?

In this article, I will explain what those bands of DNA are and how forensic scientists use these bands to make comparisons of unknown genetic material found at the crime scene to known suspects.

When a forensic scientist comes across unknown bodily fluids containing DNA, they use a gadget called an electrophoretic gel. This gel is divided into several parallel columns called lanes. A DNA sample is then injected at the beginning of each lane just like you see on CSI. The scientist then runs the gel on an electric current which causes DNA fragments in each lane to move creating these bands are spread out through the entire length of each lane. Each sample of DNA separates into a series of bands determined by the size of the various fragments in each sample. The unique bands are then compared, and the unknown bands in one lane are compared to the known bands in another lane. If a lane containing unknown DNA has the same band pattern as that of a lane containing known DNA, this is a positive match. Technicians can make this comparison visually or with the help of a computer.

The samples put at the beginning of each lane are variable. Some are control samples taken from bacterial, viral, or lab-synthesized DNA. These samples contain DNA fragments of known sizes and can be used in determining the sizes of fragments in any unknown samples. Furthermore, one column contains the crime-scene sample, and the other columns contain samples taken from any suspects. For instance, suppose that an offender cut himself at the scene of a homicide, and crime scene technicians found and collected it.

The offender’s blood would be considered the unknown sample of DNA because nobody knows whose it is. When a list of suspects involves three people, DNA samples are taken from each one of them because they are considered known samples. The process of DNA fingerprinting compares the suspects’ DNA with that found at the crime scene.

No two people have the same DNA fingerprint except for identical twins. If this is the case, authorities can still determine which twin is which by their unique fingerprints. Now that you know what electrophoretic gel and DNA bands are, you will have a better understanding of them the next time you watch your favorite CSI TV program.

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What does a Forensic Toxicologist Do?

Forensic Toxicologists are vital to both the legal and medical industries. They provide invaluable data on poisons for court cases and their knowledge can have a large part in determining the outcome of a case. In the medical field, forensic toxicologists often work for one of the hundred plus poison control centers in the US, or another government branch such as the Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or Consumer Products Safety Commission.

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In order to become certified as a forensic toxicologist, a candidate must first have a Ph.D. or a doctorate usually in biology or chemistry. Some states have exception clauses for those who have worked six or more years in the field. The American Board of Forensic Toxicology is responsible for bestowing certification which is valid for three years. Forensic toxicologists earn the title "Diplomate" after they are certified. A certified forensic toxicologist will have a much easier time qualifying to be an expert witness for court cases if necessary.

FORENSIC TOXICOLOGY AND DRUG DISCOVERY

If a forensic toxicologist’s services are required for legal matters, he is normally given preserved samples of body fluids, stomach contents, and organ parts to test. He will also be able to access the coroner’s report which will tell him about the signs and symptoms the coroner observed postmortem. Since few substances leave a body unaltered, a forensic toxicologist must have a thorough knowledge of how the body metabolizes drugs. First, the toxicologist will carry out a basic acid-base test to extract the drug from the tissue or fluid. Nearly every drug is either an acid or a base; acid drugs are extracted with a lower pH solution and base drugs are extracted with a higher pH solution.

Next, the extracted drug sample is screened to determine what kind of drug it is and then a confirmation test is done to double check the accuracy of the screen test. An example of a screen test is a chemical spot test. This is where the drug sample is treated with a chemical reagent to produce a color change. The confirmation test is usually a mass spectrometry test which identifies the drug’s unique mass spectra "fingerprint". Drug overdose and alcoholic poisonings are the most common causes for a forensic toxicologist to be involved in a legal case. Typically, the toxicologist is not required to give his opinion of whether the toxic levels in the body were enough to kill a person. However, the exacting scientific testing a forensic toxicologist must perform is extremely important to the outcome of court cases.

Dr. Nachman Brautbar is a board-certified internist and nephrologist, with a specialization in toxicology. He specializes in the toxicological and internal medicine aspects of injury in the workplace, product liability, personal injury, standard of care. To find out more, please visit http://www.environmentaldiseases.com.

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Forensic toxicology refers to the use of toxicology to aid medico-legal investigation of death using poisoning. Several toxic substances do not produce characteristic lesions.

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For more information about Forensic Toxicology, as well as other forensic specialties, check out All-About-Forensic-com, a comprehensive forensics website maintained by two forensic professionals.

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Forensic Scientist Uses Dna to Explore Dali’s Bizarre Genius

Samples taken from nasal feeding tubes could also help to authenticate works.

It is like something from a surrealist still life – a hat, glasses, moustache and toilet seat. This is the collection of belongings that forensic scientist Michael Rieders was offered when he put the word out that he was trying to track down Salvador Dali’s DNA.

"I have been fascinated by Dali and his artwork since I was around 11 years old," he said. "I found it hard to believe that a person could come up with such exotic, bizarre art."

By tracking down Dali’s DNA he felt he could get closer to the surrealist artist. But more than that, he hoped that if he could characterise Dali’s DNA fingerprint, he could use it to help authenticate the handful of paintings and artworks that are not signed but are claimed by some to have been painted by the Spanish master.

Dali’s DNA might even hold clues to the man’s creative genius. "He was just a machine of creativity at all levels," said Bruce Hochman, director of the Dali Gallery in San Juan, California. "Not only was he a great painter, he could work in any medium." Dali also designed jewellery, designed sets for Disney, wrote and starred in an opera and was an accomplished draughtsman.

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When the "Dali universe", as Dr Rieders calls it, began offering to sell him objects to test for DNA he suspected most respondents were opportunists. But then he was given an unmissable chance of getting close to Dali’s DNA.

Mr Hochman put Dr Rieders in touch with two of Dali’s closest friends, Robert and Nicolas Descharnes. They had kept two nasal tubes nurses had used to feed the painter when he was recovering from a fire in 1984. The blaze, which was started by an electrical fault at his castle in Pubol, France, left Dali with second degree burns on his leg and burns to his throat from breathing in the hot smoke.

"I’m not 100% sure why [they kept them]," said Dr Rieders, a toxicologist and lab director at NMS Labs in Willow Grove, Philadelphia, "but I now had an artefact that I was reasonably sure would contain some of Dali’s DNA."

The Descharnes, renowned authenticators of Dali’s work, had stored the tubes in sealed envelopes signed and dated by Dali’s doctor and nurse.

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Dr Rieders told the annual meeting of the Academy of Forensic Sciences in San Antonio, Texas, that his team took swabs from 19 different places on the outside of the tubes. The profiles – which included DNA markers at 16 different sites on the chromosomes – all pointed in the same direction. "They all ended up coming back to a single male individual. This was a good sign," he said.

The next step is what to do with the DNA. "Let’s be clear about this. I have no intention of creating a cloned army of surrealist artists," said Dr Rieders, who sported a melting clock tie in honour of one of Dali’s most famous images.

One priority is to preserve the DNA for future testing. The team have offered one sample of the DNA to the Dali Foundation in Spain, one to the Dali Museum in St Petersburg, Florida, and one to the Forensic Archaeo-Toxicology Institute, an organisation that retains DNA samples from significant cases. "We want to make sure that if a catastrophe should happen in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, we won’t lose the chance of having Dali’s DNA," said Dr Rieders. Dali died in 1989 leaving no descendants.

One possibility would be to study Dali’s DNA for clues to his artistic genius. Perhaps he had a mild form of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder which fuelled his creativity.

"Dali collectors will want to use the DNA profile to help establish whether the huge amounts of supposed Dali paraphernalia that exists is real. There are many Dali objects out there, some on eBay, that are claimed to have been in the possession of Dali," said Dr Rieders.

"We now have the art world very interested in using this Dali DNA reference as a way of looking to see if some of the other objects and artwork out there could perhaps be Dali’s."

One piece in particular, a small watercolour called The Snail and the Angel, has a brown stain on it that is supposedly Dali’s semen. The authenticity of that painting is not in doubt, but Dr Rieders thinks it would be a good place to start to try out the DNA fingerprint.

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Odontology, or forensic dentistry, is an exciting specialization within the field. This career path involves the application of dental science to physical and biological dental evidence. Odontologists participate in autopsies, conduct dental examinations and use both physical and biological evidence to determine and/or support the crime theory.

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Many times an odontologist is called in to ID and confirm the remains of a missing person or victim where other evidence, such as fingerprints, are no longer available.  The process uses dental records, prior photographs and even computer reconstruction to validate the findings. 

Occasionally, items at the crime scene will also need exam and cataloging such as food, towels, clothing and toys.  Each may be proof of a person actually being in a given place, and combining with other forensic specialties, can formulate enough evidence for conviction.

In case of abuse or rape, forensic dentists will take pictures of victim’s wounds for permanent files.  With accurate scaling, these can be used to match an alleged perpetrator ‘s dental pattern and prove or exonerate him/her.

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As far as careers, obviously one will have to go through dental school and then begin the process of specialization within odontology.  Check the professional board for more information:  American Board of Forensic Odontology .  Luckily, one can begin a normal dentistry career and begin work on specialization.

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While the current rage about forensic science came about with the hugely popular CSI shows, the basis of forensic science has been practiced for hundreds of years.  With the advent of modern tehnologies, such as DNA gathering, ballistics analysis and toxicology, the forensic scientist comes from many different disciplines.  Forensics are mentally challenging and can be a financially rewarding career!

Know About Forensic Science

All of us must have heard about the word "Forensic Science or Forensics" every now and then. You must have read excerpts, articles and technologies related to forensic science-its benefits, disadvantages and scope. Let me give you a better description about this new branch of science.

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In modern use, the term "forensics" in place of "forensic science" can be considered incorrect as the term "forensic" is effectively a synonym for "legal" or "related to courts". Let us take a look at some of the areas that comprises forensic Science. The subdivisions of Forensic Science are very important to know because we cannot have a deep knowledge about this subject, if we don’t know about its’ branches.

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History

Two early examples of English forensic science in individual legal proceedings demonstrate the increasing use of logic and procedure in criminal investigations. In 1784, in Lancaster, England, John Toms was tried and convicted for murdering Edward Culshaw with a pistol. When the dead body of Culshaw was examined, a pistol wad (crushed paper used to secure powder and balls in the muzzle) found in his head wound matched perfectly with a torn newspaper found in Toms’ pocket.

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Forensic Pathology is a branch of Pathology concerned with determining the cause of death by examination of a cadaver. The autopsy is performed by the pathologist at the request of a coroner usually during the investigation of criminal law cases and civil law cases in some jurisdictions.

Forensic psychology is the intersection between Psychology and the Criminal justice system. It involves understanding criminal law in the relevant jurisdictions in order to be able to interact appropriately with judges, attorneys and other legal professionals.

Forensic Science is a big and growing field and in order to become a forensic scientist, you need to have a deep knowledge about all the related fields. Becoming a forensic scientist requires lifelong commitment and dedication!

By: Michael Collins

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History of Forensic Science

Welcome to the history of forensic science page. The aim of this page is to highlight landmark cases, scientific breakthroughs and pioneers within the discipline.

Forensic Science: An Encyclopedia of History, Methods, and Techniques

From dandruff to DNA, from ammunition to infrared spectrophotometry, forensic scientists employ the commonplace and the esoteric to get their man or woman.

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