Forensic Science

Observation Skills

OBSERVATION AND AWARENESS TEST

• ?funny ad awareness test?? – YouTube

• Stop at 25 seconds

• How many did you count?

Forensic Investigator

• Important skills: observe, interpret, and report observations clearly

• Identify and record evidence• Determine its significance

AFTER collected• The first step is CAREFUL

OBSERVATION– Consciously paying attention to

the details of your surroundings– Our brains do not naturally do

this—they automatically filter out what we deem unimportant

Activity

• http://www.shodor.org/succeed-1.0/forensic/observation/observation.html

• Each row of two tables will have 1 forensic investigator and 3 observers

• Pick your investigator now

Observation vs. Perception• Perception– 3 sides to every story– Limited, and may not accurately reflect what is

really there– Our brains fill in information that is not really

there. Arocdnicg to rsceearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy,

it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer are in the rghit pcale. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit pobelrm. Tihs is buseace the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

What Influences Observation Skills?• Emotional state

– Anxiety, fear, happy, upset, depressed• Alone or with a group of people• Number of people or animals in the area• Activities going on around you

– This is how conflicting statements from witnesses arise– Different descriptions of bank robbers

• Where were you on 9/11?

• People will stick to what they think they saw, even after they have been shown that it is impossible

Ex)Ronald Cotton 20/20 Interview

HOW TO BE A GOOD OBSERVER 

1. Examine your environment systematically  We know we are not naturally inclined to pay

attention to all of the details of our surroundings • What is your system?

2. Train yourself to turn off your “filters”Observe everything at a crime scene, as you do not know what will be important…be data gathering robots

HOW TO BE A GOOD OBSERVER

3. Do not interpret or make conclusions until all evidence has been gathered and processed

Don’t make the evidence fit YOUR hypothesis or interpretation, let the evidence create your hypothesis

4. Document and photograph all the information. This is very important when investigators are trying to reconstruct the crime scene.

 Also, a judge will not accept evidence that has not been properly documented and photographed

WHAT FORENSIC SCIENTISTS DO

• Find, examine and evaluate evidence from a crime scene

• Act as expert witnesses for the prosecution lawyers

What skills should they possess?Analytical skills Patience

Deductive Reasoning (verify facts)

EX) Sherlock Holmes

CASE STUDIES• Carlo Ferrier (1831)– 15 yr old Italian immigrant–Money exchanged for corpses (natural causes

of death) at King’s College in London– Three men sentenced to death– Evidence: body was fresh, no marks except

for back of neck (blow to back of head), police noticed soft earth in back yard of one of the three men that were questioned The victim’s bloody clothes were buried there

CASE STUDIES• Michael Evans and Paul Terry (Florida)– Convicted of rape and murder of Lisa Cabassa– Based on faulty eyewitness testimony– August 2003, 27 years later, DNA evidence proved their

innocence.

CASE STUDIES• Frank Lee Smith

– Florida death row inmate– Convicted of 1986 rape and

murder of an 8 year old child

– No physical evidence found, eyewitness testimony

– 4 years after the crime, she recanted her testimony, saying she was pressured by police to testify against him

– Prosecutors refused a post conviction DNAtest

– He died of cancer in 2000.– A DNA test was performed

after his deathand he was exonerated

 

Sherlock HolmesSherlock Holmes: The True Story