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Forensic Toolbox Students Guide

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Forensic Toolbox Students Guide Grant Agreement number: 2016-1-PT01-KA201-022893 Forensic Toolbox Students Guide Coordinator Partners CONTENTS HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE _______________________________________________________ 4 CASE 1 ___________________________________________________________________________ 6 CASE 2 ___________________________________________________________________________ 8 CASE 3 __________________________________________________________________________ 10 Summary of Evidence, Suspects and Activities __________________________________________ 12 INTRODUCTION ______________________________________________________________ 14 Forensic Science – What is it? _______________________________________________________ 15 History of Forensic Science _________________________________________________________ 15 _______________________________________________________________________________________ 15 Fingerprints _____________________________________________________________________________ 16 Entomology _____________________________________________________________________________ 16 Toxicology ______________________________________________________________________________ 17 Haematology ____________________________________________________________________________ 17 Ballistics ________________________________________________________________________________ 18 DNA Testing _____________________________________________________________________________ 18 Areas of Forensic Science ___________________________________________________________ 19 References ______________________________________________________________________ 21 CHAPTER 1: HUMAN INDIVIDUAL IDENTIFICATION__________________________________ 22 Blood Analysis ___________________________________________________________________ 23 Composition of Human Blood ______________________________________________________________ 24 Blood Typing ____________________________________________________________________________ 24 Forensic Analysis of Blood _________________________________________________________________ 25 Presumptive Tests _____________________________________________________________________ 25 Luminol ______________________________________________________________________________ 26 Kastle-Meyer Test _____________________________________________________________________ 26 Fingerprints _____________________________________________________________________ 27 Characteristics of Fingerprints ______________________________________________________________ 27 Types of Fingerprints _____________________________________________________________________ 28 DNA Profiling ____________________________________________________________________ 30 DNA Structure and Function ________________________________________________________________ 30 Forensic DNA Profiling ____________________________________________________________________ 31 References ______________________________________________________________________ 33 Pag | 1 Blood Analysis ___________________________________________________________________________ 33 Fingerprints _____________________________________________________________________________ 33 DNA Profiling ____________________________________________________________________________ 33 Real Life Case Studies ______________________________________________________________ 35 Stratton Brothers (1905) ___________________________________________________________________ 35 Ludwig Tessnow (1901) ___________________________________________________________________ 36 Tommie Lee Andrews (1986) _______________________________________________________________ 37 ACTIVITIES ______________________________________________________________________ 38 Activity I: Is this Really Blood? ______________________________________________________________ 38 Activity II: Blood Typing Analysis ____________________________________________________________ 45 Activity III: DNA Profiling___________________________________________________________________ 53 Activity IV: Comparison of different fingerprint patterns _________________________________________ 61 Activity V: Dusting and Lifting Latent Fingerprints ______________________________________________ 66 Activity VI: Revealing Latent Fingerprints using Iodine Fuming ____________________________________ 70 CHAPTER 2: ENVIRONMENT EDUCATION _________________________________________ 74 Palynology ______________________________________________________________________ 75 Morphology of Pollen Grains _______________________________________________________________ 76 Entomology _____________________________________________________________________ 77 The Importance of the Life Cycle of Insects in PMI ______________________________________________ 77 Hair and Footprints _______________________________________________________________ 78 Hair ___________________________________________________________________________________ 78 Footprints ______________________________________________________________________________ 78 Footprint characterization _______________________________________________________________ 79 _______________________________________________________________________________ 79 References ______________________________________________________________________ 80 Palynology ______________________________________________________________________________ 80 Hair and Footprints _______________________________________________________________________ 81 Real Life Case Studies ______________________________________________________________ 83 Mellory Manning murder (2008) ____________________________________________________________ 83 Insect Informants ________________________________________________________________________ 84 Cold Case Murder Solved by a Hair (1977) ____________________________________________________ 85 ACTIVITIES ______________________________________________________________________ 86 Activity VII: The Hidden Secrets of Pollen Grains________________________________________________ 86 Activity VIII: The Insect Clock _______________________________________________________________ 90 Activity IX: Hair and Footprints ______________________________________________________________ 98 Pag | 2 CHAPTER 3: HEALTH EDUCATION _______________________________________________105 Alcohol effect on liver ____________________________________________________________ 106 Ethanol _______________________________________________________________________________ 106 Potential harm of ethanol consumption _____________________________________________________ 106 Effect of Alcohol in Human Liver ___________________________________________________________ 106 Forensic relevance ______________________________________________________________________ 107 Excess of sugar consumption _______________________________________________________ 108 Forensic relevance ______________________________________________________________________ 109 References _____________________________________________________________________ 111 Alcohol effect on liver ____________________________________________________________________ 111 Excess of sugar consumption ______________________________________________________________ 111 ACTIVITIES _____________________________________________________________________ 112 Activity X: Alcohol effect on liver ___________________________________________________________ 112 Activity XI: Sugar in Blood _________________________________________________________________ 119 CHAPTER 4: CHEMISTRY ______________________________________________________125 Document Evidence ______________________________________________________________ 126 Ink ___________________________________________________________________________________ 126 Ink Composition ________________________________________________________________________ 126 Paper _________________________________________________________________________________ 127 Document analysis methods ______________________________________________________________ 128 Alternative light sources __________________________________________________________________ 128 Chemical analysis _______________________________________________________________________ 128 Microscopic analysis _____________________________________________________________________ 129 References _____________________________________________________________________ 130 Real Life Case Studies _____________________________________________________________ 131 The Hitler Diaries (1983) __________________________________________________________________ 131 ACTIVITIES _____________________________________________________________________ 132 Activity XII: Invisible Ink __________________________________________________________________ 132 Pag | 3 HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE This Toolbox Students Guide has been developed to provide information for students, so they can implement the Forensic Science activities in the classroom. This guide contains four main chapters to be used by students. These chapters’ help students better understand the nature of the various forensic disciplines (blood analysis, fingerprints, botany, entomology, DNA analysis, toxicology, and general forensics) as they think critically about authentic situations. Students will learn to apply the skills used by forensic specialists to observe, recover, analyse, identify and explain evidence. Each chapter includes: Learning Objectives Background context and scientific information for each topic Case studies, providing real-life examples of
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