Crime Scene Investigation

The students will be exposed to theory and practice of:

1. Crime scene investigation and
2. Forensic laboratory analysis and reports and
3. The interpretation of investigators’ reports and
4. The forensic laboratory results

The two major aspects of the forensic science side of the course will:

1. Include the practice and theory of crime scene investigation including the recognition, collection, preservation, packaging and storage of many types of evidence and
2. Include the scientific theory and background for the forensic laboratory analysis of the collected evidence and practice. The student will perform all aspects of testing that is necessary for report writing in the case presented to them.
   Instruction in aspects of crime scene investigations in formal lecture settings will be done. The practical and instructional side will include how to: secure of the crime scene, preliminary investigation (walk through) of the crime scene, the recording of the crime scene, note taking, sketch, and photography of the scene and its physical evidence. The students will be divided into teams for the entire course and will acquire the knowledge to evaluation the crime scene. They will rotate through the crime scene and learn the aspects of general crime scene procedures and management that are important for the uses for and information from physical evidence in criminal investigations. Inclusive with attendance in this course will be: Crime Investigation, Definition of a Crime Scene, Scene management, First responding officers, Securing the crime scene, Crime scene survey, Crime scene documentation, Recognition of bloodstain patterns, Collection and preservation of physical evidence, and Crime scene reconstruction.
   In these small team groups the students will perform the proper forensic laboratory analysis for the evidence collected and learn how to correctly compose forensic laboratory reports and have peer review performed prior to the filing of the actual final report to the investigating agency.
   The forensic laboratory lectures and experiences will include: Identification of blood and bloodstains, Identification of biological fluids and stains, Extraction of evidence and forensic DNA analysis, Fingerprint identification and analysis, Trace evidence analysis, Analysis of controlled substances, Impression evidence including footwear, tire and tool mark, Role of the pathologist, Identification of entomologically important species, Identification of skeletal remains, Pathological conditions in human skeletal remains and Toxicology. Subjects will be covered in a manner consistent with the corpus delecti and recovered evidence.
   

Types of teaching strategies:
The essentials of crime scene investigation and testing in the forensic laboratory will allow the students to gain knowledge through lectures and the majority of the class periods on laboratory exercises whether in the field or in the classroom. The inquiry-based exercises are directed according to the evidence that is collected. This open-ended approach allows the students to search in directions of a normal unsolved case but with direction of the instructions re-routing the student with new data. These exercises will allow the student to draw inferences from the data from the scientific testing and not just eyewitness testimony supplied with the case.

Course activities:
On one or more of the evenings, we will recount some famous crimes and crime scenes of years past and more recent history. Since some of this nation’s most horrific murders occurred not in metropolitan areas but in rural settings we have the perfect setting to envision the calm prior to the horrific events. Some of these in Ohio include serial murders occurring in one day to serial killings over the course of years perhaps decades. In Ohio, these include the murders of cultists in Lake County, Ohio and the serial killings of Jeffery Dahlmer in a rural area just south of Cuyahoga County. In addition, we will review some of the most famous case studies regarding crime scene investigation. This is, usually in regards, to examples of poorly managed cases, proving we learn from our mistakes even in law and criminal justice.

Measures of Student Learning and Growth
The full understanding of the basis of scientific data in the light of a forensic case brings to bear the importance of the scientific method in the determination of whether evidence collected at a crime scene is linked to the events of a crime or not. This physical evidence will help associate the evidence and the crime scene and possibly a victim and suspect to the crime scene or exclude one or more from association with each other. The explanation of these associations and identification can be performed with physical evidence to a higher degree than eyewitness testimony. The student will gain an appreciation of these aspects of forensic science. Students will work on, submit laboratory reports, and perform administrative reports summarizing their results. The students will review each other’s results and documentation with the final laboratory reports. The class and instructors will in turn grade these.

Course and Instructor Evaluation:
Evaluations will be done by the students appraising the levels of information and general achievement of learning throughout each individual lecture and exercises. The pre-course assessment will allow for the evaluation of the basis and level of knowledge with which the students arrive at the camp. The entire process will be recapped by the instructor to gain general acceptance of the correlation between goals and outcome. Each instructor will be evaluated for effectiveness and laboratory exercises will be evaluated for content and usefulness in light of the case.

Crime Scene Investigation - The Crime Scene to the Forensic Laboratory

Instructors:
Dr. Dennis De Luca (also Institute Director) is Associate Professor of Biological and Allied Health Sciences at the IHE. He earned his Ph.D. in Regulatory Biology in 1989 at Cleveland State University. His area of expertise includes molecular biology and gene regulation. He has performed molecular biology experimentation at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Case Western Reserve University and Veterans Administration Hospital in the areas of cardiovascular disease, nephrology, dermatology and periodontal disease. He was a past recipient of numerous awards and grants in graduate school and in post-doctoral positions including An Individual National Research Service Award from NIDDK. His experience in forensic laboratories and medical examiners offices has enabled him to lend his expertise to many crime laboratories Ohio for setting-up the procedures of forensic DNA genotyping. He now enjoys his time teaching molecular biology and forensic science to undergraduate students and is the coordinator of the Forensic Biology program in Biology Department. He is the director of the Summer Honors Institute.

Ms. Judy MaGaw is the Director of Biological Laboratories in the Department of Biological and Allied Health Sciences at Ohio Northern University. She received a B.A in biology in 1977 from ONU and graduated from Wright State University in 2003 with a Master’s degree in anatomy. While her background prepared her to teach biology at the secondary level, she joined ONU in September 1977 and is currently in her 32nd year in the biology department. She teaches laboratories for Anatomy and Histology (Biology 126), Biosciences Laboratory 322 and Biology 110 for nursing majors. Last summer she participated in a 5 day intensive short course on laboratory methods for the identification of skeletal remains at Cedar Crest College in Erie, PA and also completed a 2.5 day Master Teacher Workshop.

Dr. Keith Durkin is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the IHE. His teaching and research interests are in the areas of Criminology, Victimology, and Deviant Behavior. Articles based on his research have appeared in journals such as Deviant Behavior, Federal Probation, Sociological Spectrum, and the Journal of Drug and Alcohol Education. His work has appeared in a variety of edited volumes including the Encyclopedia of Criminology and Deviant Behavior, Reading in Deviant Behavior, Theories of Deviance, Deviance and Social Control, and Investigating Deviance. He has participated in previous Crime Scene camps and Summer Honors Institute programs.

Rick D. McGinnis is a special investigator with the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office in Cleveland, Ohio. His responsibility include: investigation of child abuse and exploitation and online line investigation of child pornography, chat rooms, newsgroups and websites. He also leads investigation of cyber tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and initiates undercover online operations and profiles for child pornography cases. He is responsible for writing subpoena requests and writing and executing search warrants. He is currently an agent on the FBI/Joint Terrorism Task Force and previously serves as an officer with the Ada and Kenton Police Departments in Ohio. He completed to the Ohio Peace Officer Basic Training Program in 1991 and since then has completed numerous training courses related to his job responsibilities. He has been an instructor for previous Crime Scene Camps and the Summer Honors Institute at Ohio Northern.

Guest Lecturers
The course work in CSI (Basic) in the past has included: Graduate students and instructors who lend their expertise of their filed of study and include: forensic entomology, forensic anthropology and forensic polygraph examination. This year is no different and will include experts in the area.

The Advanced CSI camp is centered on several aspects adopted and expanded from the CSI- Basic course with two intense arenas – forensic laboratory and the crime scene.

This course will focus on the select subject areas of crime scene photography, forensic DNA analysis, firearms examinations, bloodstain pattern analysis, and forensic toxicology. There will be approximately one instructional day per subject area. The course will be open to students who have attended the CSI (forensic course) in previous years and for students who attend the 2008 Crime Scene Investigation – Basic. Class size will be limited to 16.