Forensic psychology is a growing and popular field of inquiry. Forensic psychology is the application of psychological insights, concepts, and skills to the understanding and functioning of the legal and criminal justice system. Students will examine the interaction between theories and applications of psychology and the practice of civil and criminal law. Insanity, malpractice, competency, civil commitment, violence, jury selection, and expert-witness testimony will be discussed.
Prerequisite(s): FORSC 5150 Advanced Crime Scene Investigation or FORSC 5400 Analytical Science as Bases for Investigation with grades of "B-" or better; Abnormal Psychology, Social Psychology, and Personality Psychology, or permission of the instructor.
FORSC 5150 Advanced Crime Scene Investigation (4 hours)
This course focuses on recognizing, protecting, and preserving all prospective physical evidence at a crime scene. Crime scene reconstruction involving the use of the scientific method and classical logic will be discussed. Students will learn about crime scene photography methods, making impressions from imprints, collecting fingerprints and trace evidence, and analyzing and interpreting blood spatter evidence through lectures and hands-on experiences.
Prerequisite(s): FORSC 5050 Fundamentals of Crime Scene Investigation, FORSC 5060 Fundamentals of Evidence Processing, FORSC 5070 Criminal Law and the Law of Evidence, FORSC 5080 Medicolegal Death Investigation, FORSC 5090 Cold Case Homicide Investigation, and FORSC 5970 Internship with grades "B-" or better.
FORSC 5400 Analytical Science as Bases for Investigation (4 hours)
This course will explore the place of analytical chemical concepts and instrumentation in the robust and dependable identification and quantification of those biological and chemical compounds that are of interest for forensic investigations. The use of statistical techniques, including Bayesian statistics, are examined in the forensic context. Forensic evidence collection and chain-of-custody requirements are examined. Laboratory exercises include familiarization with chromatographic and mass-spectrometric techniques and instruments.
Prerequisite(s): FORSC 5050 Fundamentals of Crime Scene Investigation, FORSC 5060 Fundamentals of Evidence Processing, FORSC 5070 Criminal Law and the Law of Evidence, FORSC 5080 Medicolegal Death Investigation, FORSC 5090 Cold Case Homicide Investigation, and FORSC 5970 Internship, with grades of "B-" or better in each course.
