法醫學4

Forensic Science 4 focuses on two seemingly distinct areas of evidence that can be found together in various cases: Forensic Anthropology and Forensic Linguistic Analysis.

Weeks 1-3 will focus on Forensic Anthropology, which largely involves the use of bones in crime scene or archaeological analysis.  Specific areas of inquiry will include:
•	History of Forensic Anthropology, including the removal of pseudoscientific elements that pervaded the field in early years
•	General discussion of the functions and structure of bones
•	Discussion of areas of the skeleton used for determination of characteristics, such as age, gender, height, weight, medical issues, and to a lesser extent, region of origin.
•	Specific uses of the jaw and teeth in estimating period of life/death and potential for confirming identity once a tentative identification is made.
•	The use of Stable Isotope Analysis to help determine approximate locations of birth and early years of life.
•	Case studies, both recent and involving archaeological specimens.

Weeks 4-7 will cover Forensic Linguistic Analysis and Handwriting Analysis.  Topics will include:
•	Analysis of multiple writings from general to specific
•	Analysis of tone and overall sound of the writing
•	Analysis of vocabulary and sentence structure
•	Examination of specific areas of punctuation that prove most useful in connecting writings from the same author
•	Regional and national variations in use of specific words or idioms
•	Identification of specific words that a person may use noticeably more often than is generally seen, and discussion of the likelihood of such clues being adopted by copycats.
•	Case studies of linguistic content, and yes, we may have to dip into the Zodiac bag in this section.
•	Discussion of the methods employed by handwriting analysts.
•	Discussion of ways to minimize the possibility that a suspect will successfully fake their handwriting while giving samples
•	Analysis of handwriting in real cases to determine the level of confidence in a match or exclusion.
•	Analysis of writing samples with some being written by the same person, in an attempt to link writings and authors, either in terms of linguistic content or handwriting.

Weeks 8-10 will include our mock scene.  This case is different from those in my other classes, in that we are being called in to examine bones (including skulls) and documents in a historical case.  There will be plenty of skeletons, pirates, conflict between early colonists and Native Americans, a hurricane, a raging fire, and one skeleton that seems oddly out of place.

As with my other forensic science classes, this class will be a discussion-based class that aims to encourage students to think about interesting and complex concepts and cases.