Earn these career-relevant skills in weeks, not years.
- Examine the history, evolution, and contemporary applications of forensic science including its relationship to other scientific disciplines.
- Evaluate the education, training, and experience required for forensic scientists.
- Discuss the functions of a modern day crime lab as well as the cost-benefit analysis of the lab depending upon jurisdictional size.
- Assess evidence collection procedures including the significance of the chain of custody.
- Examine the objectives of the natural and social sciences.
- Discuss the importance of critical thinking skills as it relates to the empirical process and criminal investigations.
- Compare different types of evidence and evaluate their level of acceptance in a judicial setting.
- Evaluate the research process from hypothesis testing to analysis of results.
- Evaluate the importance of written documentation in reference to evidence collection and analysis.
- Explain the functions of crime laboratory instruments.
- Determine what information is required to develop a psychological profile.
- Explain the significance of modus operandi and signatures on the development of a psychological profile.
- Evaluate historical criminal cases and the value of psychological profiling on investigative efforts and the judicial process.
- Explain the value of the behavioral sciences to a criminal investigation.
- Identify the requirements necessary to obtain expert witness designation and the acceptance of expert witness testimony.
- Evaluate court rules regarding the acceptance of evidence and testimony related to the behavioral sciences in judicial proceedings
- Identify the areas of forensic science and psychological profiling that may be vulnerable to challenge in judicial proceedings.
- Discuss Supreme Court decisions regarding forensic science and psychological profiling.
- Analyze specific criminal cases in terms of the application of the natural and behavioral sciences as they relate to real or hypothetical investigative efforts.
- Evaluate the role of crime scene reconstruction, wound pattern analysis, and victimology to the development of a psychological profile.