LIsa Black
Cape Coral, FL
Female, 49
I spent the five happiest years of my life in a morgue. As a forensic scientist in the Cleveland coroner’s office I analyzed gunshot residue on hands and clothing, hairs, fibers, paint, glass, DNA, blood and many other forms of trace evidence, as well as crime scenes. Now I'm a certified latent print examiner and CSI for a police department in Florida. I also write a series of forensic suspense novels, turning the day job into fiction. My books have been translated into six languages.
It's concerning because juries expect more than is reasonable. Not every case is going to have DNA evidence and you don't always find fingerprints on a surface and eyewitness testimony sounds convincing but can be very unreliable. However an expert can hopefully explain all these issues to make the limitations clear, provided the jury listens.
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All the interesting, different, bizarre stories that make up the crimes that have happened that we have to investigate.
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I'm sorry but that can, and has, fill several textbooks. There's just no way for me to summarize it in a paragraph.
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Usually in forensic science or any kind of natural science. If you want to go to into drug testing or toxicology, major in chemistry. If you want to do DNA analysis, then biology or biochemistry.
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Subway Store Manager
The 6" sub is too small and the 12" is too big. Why no 9-inch sub?
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Why do hotel room toilets clog so easily?
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Do the kids treat you with the same amount of respect as other authority figures at school?
Your nuclear DNA is the same in the skin cells holding your hair in place, your saliva, your blood, your skin, your bone marrow etc. Your friend's DNA is of course different from yours, but the same in their saliva, their blood etc. The criminals probably threw someone else's hair around the crime scene so it wouldn't match them.
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Sure, because fingerprints will have ridges and gloves will not.
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You can't go wrong with a lot of science classes. When I was in college they didn't have courses specifically in forensic science, so that wasn't an option. And different agencies will have different requirements, so you might want to go online and check out the different vacancies to get some idea of what requirements are out there. You can also call labs you're interested in and ask, that way you get to 'meet' some people too.
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