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The desire to identify lawbreakers and bring them to justice is so great that it has inspired countless stories, novels, plays, movies, and television series. But how accurate are the fictional portrayals of crime investigations? What happens behind the scenes when forensic scientists crack a case? Go from the crime scene to the lab to the courtroom to discover how this process really works.

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Episodes

1. Using Science

30m

Professor Murray opens the course by discussing her participation in a multifaceted homicide case that illustrates the many factors that go into a forensic investigation. Learn how the scientific method is rigorously applied in the field, and survey the topics you will cover in the course.

2. Crime Scenes and Forensic Evidence

30m

Locard's exchange principle holds that every contact leaves a trace. Starting with this rule, discover how a forensic scientist approaches a crime scene. Professor Murray suggests an experiment you can perform to understand the difficulty of finding evidence in an unfamiliar setting.

3. Fingerprint Science

30m

Explore the science of fingerprint analysis, which has been a tool of forensic investigators since the late 1800s. Learn the different coding systems for classifying fingerprints, the techniques for recovering prints where they appear absent, and the innovation of computerized matching.

4. Telltale Marks

30m

Many people know that a gun leaves telltale marks on the bullets it fires. But firearms evidence is only part of a much broader field called toolmark analysis. Examine the ways forensic scientists match a tool to the impressions it leaves on a surface it contacts.

5. Good Impressions

30m

Continue your study of the crime scene by looking at the importance of forensic photography and the marks made by shoes, tires, and textiles. Professor Murray describes a case in which crucial clothing impressions on a body showed a death was accidental.

6. Forensics of Fibers, Paint, and Glass

30m

Turn to examples of trace evidence that can clinch a case in court - as long as samples are properly handled and analyzed. Fibers, paint, and glass fragments sometimes have a vivid story to tell about their origin and the events that left them on a victim or at a crime scene.

7. Traces of Hair and Fur

30m

Hair is one of the most commonly analyzed forms of trace evidence and may contain DNA that can pin down its source. Discover that the difficulty of DNA testing makes hair more often used to rule out suspects, since hair has distinctive characteristics that are easily observable.

8. Soil, Protist, Plant, and Animal Traces

30m

Enter the field of wildlife forensics, which involves not just attacks by animals on people but the many ways that evidence from nature is used to solve crimes. Soils, wood, pollen, and animal traces can all connect a person or object to a crime scene.

9. Serology

30m

What does an investigator do when a murder scene has been scrubbed spotlessly clean by the perpetrator? TV dramas often get the facts wrong. Survey the arsenal of tests for body fluids that can uncover a hidden crime.

10. The Forensic Analysis of DNA

30m

Learn how DNA profiling became the gold standard in both victim and perpetrator identification, even though humans have more than 99% of their DNA in common. Professor Murray discusses the landmark case in the United Kingdom that was the first to use DNA to convict a killer.

Extended Details

SeriesGreat Courses

Closed CaptionsEnglish

Artists

Elizabeth A. MurrayWriter

Elizabeth A. MurrayActor

Trails of Evidence: How Forensic Science Works

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