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.
That would depend entirely on the circumstances and method of murder, wouldn't it? If they are such that it would be impossible for the person to have died by accident, suicide, or of natural causes, then murder would be suspected.
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They might. I couldn't say for sure one way or the other.
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First of all, no teacher should ever tell you you're 'not smart enough' for a field.
Second, not all forensic work involves a great deal of biology--really only DNA analysis and serology do. Toxicology will require a good chemistry background. But specialized fields such as latent prints, crime scene investigator, questioned documents, digital evidence, ballistics and impression evidence would use little to no biology.
If a formal degree becomes a problem, you might want to see if you can start out in an Evidence/Property area and work up from there.
Best of luck!
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That depends on what you want to go into. If you want toxicology, go with chemistry. If you want serology or DNA, go with biology. If crime scene, general forensic science.
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Couples Therapist
Does a therapist aim to "fix" the client, or just treat the client indefinitely?
Navy Officer (Former)
Just how educated is the typical US military serviceman?
Social Worker
What do you think that New York does better or worse than other States?
Well, you could simply say you're going to be an anthropologist, which is true--I believe you'd have to be an anthropologist first and then specialize in forensic work. They might be disapproving because they believe it will be difficult to get a job--which is probably also true. When I was at the coroner's office our anthropologist was a college professor who would drive two hours to come and consult whenever we had skeletal remains. Very few agencies are large enough to have a full-time anthropologist on staff. So you might want to have some sort of back-up plan.
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I think those sound like fabulous courses for this field.
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Gunshot is the most common, then bludgeoning, then stabbing.
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