• Question: if you could move to a different part of forensic science, what would it be and why?

    Asked by alexsaul to Anna, Craig, Richard, Shane, Sue on 20 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Anna Williams

      Anna Williams answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      Hi Alexsaul,
      Oooh, this is a nice question! I think that if I could be a forensic scientist but not an anthropologist, I would like to be a forensic psychologist. I am fascinated by the fact that there are patterns that govern how criminals, murderers and psychopaths act, and that there are ways to predict what they are like and how they will act in the future. Some forensic psychology crosses over into forensic archaeology and anthropology – for example when we are looking for buried homicide victims, we use principles from forensic psychology to work out the most likely places that a murder would have buried his/her victims. For example, when burying a body out in a field or woods somewhere, criminals tend to look for natural markers, like a particular tree or a pylon or something like that, and they tend to go in their cars, and then carry the body not far from where they left their car etc – so we can use this sort of behaviour pattern to locate the graves. I find it fascinating!

    • Photo: Craig McKenzie

      Craig McKenzie answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      Hi Alexsaul,

      good question and if I’m honest I haven’t really thought about that before – i think it would either be DNA like Sue or forensic anthroplogy like Anna works on.

      A lot of my friends work as scientists specialising in the recovery, analysis and interpretation of DNA and I have quite a good understanding of their job. As for Forensic Anthropology that just looks really interesting – it really is something you have to study for a long time though and be really dedicated too as there is so much to learn. But I think it would be worth it as I think the work would be extremely rewarding – often returning the bodies of people who have been missing for a very long time to their families which can really help the family to grieve. I don’t want to sound too unscientific about it though – the science behind Forensic Anthropology looks fascinating and I have met Forensic Anthropologists in a small number of cases. They don’t mind getting dirty and often end up in some ‘interesting’ places. I’ll let Anna confirm that!

      Like you I’m learning new things from taking part in I’m a Scientist.

    • Photo: Sue Carney

      Sue Carney answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      Alexsaul, this is a very hard question! I love the area of forensic science that I work in, especially the DNA part, so I’m finding it hard to imagine doing anything else. If I chose another field, then it would have to be forensic pathology so I could carry out post mortems on dead bodies to try to work out how and why people had died. I think it would be fascinating to look inside the body in that way, but I’d have to go off to medical school first and learn to be a doctor before I could specialize in pathology. That alone would probably take another 7 years, so I’d have to be very dedicated if I decided to do that.

    • Photo: Richard Case

      Richard Case answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      Hi Alexsaul,

      Tricky question… I have never thought about this one too much before.

      I must admit, the other forensic scientists in this zone put forward an excellent case for their disciplines….

      but I have always liked technology and gadgets, and have developed an interest in computer forensics…. this is examining computers, mobile phones or any other piece of technology capable of storing information found at the homes of criminals for any evidence.

      I work with a few guys who work in this area and they are always smiling, so I guess they enjoy their jobs.

    • Photo: Shane Pennington-Cooper

      Shane Pennington-Cooper answered on 20 Jun 2011:

      Hello Alex.

      I would have to say it would be Pathology, finding out the cause and time of death would be a very skillful and important role in forensic science. I have already carried out a real life autopsy and I can tell you the smell was very strong due to the formaldehyde (preservative so the flesh does not decay) however the dead people did not look real, they looked like plastecine people, the skin rubbery and faces like they were mannequins. I think this helped me in carrying out the autopsy without being grossed out. I have always been interested in using microscopy and would like to also help with diagnosing diseases from tissue samples. I have had a lot of experience in identifying heart disease, strokes, liver damage and other diseases.

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