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Biological theory criminal justice
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William Maples is a forensic anthropologist, someone who specializes in the human skeletal system, its variations across the world, and its changes through life and across many lifetimes; not a forensic pathologist, a medical doctor with its residency training in pathology. Maples defends the use of science to understand human nature; he defends the science of forensic anthropology for its usefulness in solving gruesome crimes and historical mysteries. He says that it can pay for itself in reduced court costs and that every state in the United States should have at least one on staff. Decomposition involves two processes: autolysis and putrefaction. Autolysis occurs when digestives juices start to digest the gastrointestinal tract.
career journal activity: 1.2.3 Bone Detectives description: read interviews with forensic anthropologist and synthesize a definition of the career. my work: A forensic anthropologist is a group of people who investigate a dead body to discover its gender, ancestry, stature, ethnicity and other unique features about it. Through their investigations they can also discover how the victim may have died and other important background information that can move the investigation further in solving the case. A forensic anthropologist needs to be able to conduct research, know their bones, muscles and other body parts along with be able to make educated conclusions related to the received data and observations they find and make. activity: forensic anthropologist
In this paper I will be comparing contrasting two various aspects of forensic sciences used, and talking about the different tactics used to identify suspects; as well as the contrasts between the two methods. The man I will be talking about is John Wayne Gacy. The two methods I will be going over are, Finger print DNA and Forensic toxicology. These two are very similar, but made substantial differences in the evidence in his case. John Wayne Gacy was a murderer from Chicago, Illinois.
Using a loose timeline, the stage of mortis or decomposition that the cadaver is in can be used to determine time of death. The specific time of death can either confirm or disprove an alibi, which helps in narrowing down a list of suspects or ultimately convicting a criminal. These same factors, specifically rigor, can also determine if a person truly died where the body was found. During rigor, a body stiffens. If a body is found in an unnatural position in regards to their surroundings while still in the stage of rigor mortis, then it can be concluded that they did not die there.
For example, one can note how the introduction of the Daubert criteria in the courtroom has played an important role within forensic anthropology. The Daubert efforts allow for the connection between data and methods to be used as admissibility of the conclusions, rather than on the credentials of the experts (Dirkmaat, 2008, p. 36). This copernican shift of the legal system regarding the treatment of scientific evidence as it is presented in court, distinguishes the primary role of forensic anthropologists in mass disaster scenarios and the enhanced role for quantitative methods in human skeletal analysis (Dirkmaat, 2008, p.
In 1892, a young woman named Lizzie Borden was accused of murdering her father and stepmother (“Lizzie Borden on Trial” 2). This accusation was influenced by the lack of evidence at the scene of the crime. There appeared to be no murder weapon, very few witnesses, and the house did not show any signs of an intruder (“Lizzie Borden on Trial” 5). Once the scene was investigated, it was determined that the cause of death for both victims was multiple blows to the head by an axe. Two axes were found in the home, and neither had a speck of blood (“Lizzie Borden on Trial” 14).
cited Fradella, Henry, Lauren 'Neill, and Adam Fogarty. " The Impact of Daubert on Forensic Science". Pepperdine Law Review 31.4 (2004): 322-361. Print.
The police searched Robert Pickton’s farm, and found 80 DNA profiles of both men and women retrieved on pillowslips, inhalers, syringes, jackets, lipsticks, boots, bags and many more objects that were identified by forensic biologists (Palmer et al., n.d.). Additional assistance in this case was from “forensic scientists, odontologists, foot morphologists, chemical biologists, and archaeologists” (Mudede, Selcer, Berentson, & Lovejoy, 2003). However, due to the location and brutality of this investigation, forensic anthropology was the major forensic discipline in this case. Forensic anthropologists analyze human remains and apply it in a legal context. They use the study of bone and from that, they determine how a person died as well as the age, gender, height and ancestry of the deceased that leads to the identification of a human being (Forensic Anthropologist, 2015).
Science has come a long way over the years. It has helped countless every day struggles and cure diseases most commonly found. What you don’t hear about however is the advancement of forensic science. Forensic science has helped solve countless cases of murder, rape, and sexual assault. In the case of John Joubert, it helped solve the murders of three young boys with one small piece of evidence that linked him directly to the crime.
Anthropology Questions: 1. Was this crime indicative of the beliefs, morals, and culture of the two aggressors? 2. Were there any scratch marks found on the victim? Were there any fingernails found at the scene of the crime?
A problem with limiting investigations to people of certain ancestry is that people are frequently of mixed ancestry, which may result in contradicting information between what the police are looking for and the ancestry shown in the skeletal remains. In addition, forensic anthropologists are involved in studying taphonomy, which is the study of any activity that affects the remains since the time of death to the time it is discovered. This includes decomposition, approximate time since death, any interaction with the environment, and other organisms that affect the condition of the body. This is useful in determining an accurate biological profile from limited resources, as the human remains are not always in full skeleton form (Anderson,
Some of the overlapping areas of the subfields of anthropology are that forensic anthropology and osteology are connected because a forensic anthropology relies on processes that osteologists use to determine how an individual died, weather it was from diseases, natural causes, or other causes. Forensic anthropologists used the same methods when human remains are found in an archeological site, forensic anthropologists determine if the remains are recent or the remains of a hominin. Another overlapping area would be primate paleontology and primatology. These two subfields are similar because on focuses on the habits, environment, and lifestyles of fossilized primates while the other subfield focuses on the behavior patterns of primates and how they differ from the behavior of humans and other non-human primates. It is important to understand humankind from a holistic perspective because it will show how humans developed and evolved and adapted to their environments
A Long-term goal I have is to become a Forensic Anthropologist. Some short-term goals I have is to work hard and be mentally prepared for what life has to offer as well as to be a better reader. To become a Forensic Anthropologist I would have to do tedious amounts of work and also be able to pay for college as it will take up about 10 years of my life in college to be where I want to be with such a career. My short term goals have been set in place because as a senior I have been feeling myself get senioritis and my hard work has been becoming just work without its "umph". I have also been having many setbacks as a senior because I can feel the world coming in, the closer I get to graduation and I need to start preparing myself for the ups
The term “post-mortem examination” refers to any form of examinations that are carried out after death. While necropsy (look at the dead) and autopsy (see for oneself) are also used together with post-mortem examination, the word “autopsy” is more accurate in matching the procedural aim: to observe the body directly than to depend on disease indicators like signs and symptoms. Forensic medicine, on the other hand, comes as a subset of medical jurisprudence. It involves retrieving and analysing of medical evidences from samples to formulate objective information in legal usage.