[ARCHIVED CATALOG] 2014-2015 Graduate Academic Catalog

Dec 30, 2024

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[ARCHIVED CATALOG] 2014-2015 Graduate Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

CRJ 547 - Forensic and Medicolegal Death Investigation

3 credit hours

This course will review the various forensic science disciplines that collectively represent the field of forensics known as forensic medicolegal death investigation. It will explore the complex relationship between law enforcement (the investigator) and the technical and often mysterious world of the medical professional (the pathologist and medical examiner). The course will survey investigative techniques currently having significant impact upon death investigation from a variety of perspectives, both legal and medical. These perspectives will include such areas as post mortem investigations by pathologists and on the scene investigations by the medical examiner, all determinative of how the law enforcement investigations will proceed. The course is designed to introduce students to various specialized areas of medicolegal aspects of death investigation, such as childhood death. An additional purpose of this course is to expand the students' exposure and understanding of the various death scene situations that they may encounter from both a law enforcement perspective and a medical perspective when there may not be trained medical examiners available on the scene. Students will be introduced to the scientific and investigative techniques used in processing evidence and information found in death cases that are discovered and retrieved during autopsy, toxicology studies, anthropological opinions, and various other forensic disciplines.