Forensic Science

Final Exam (Fall 2017) Study Guide

1. Forensic science is the application of science to:

2. The fictional character of Sherlock Holmes was created by:

3. Who is known as the “father of forensic toxicology”?

4. Who developed the system known as anthropometry?

5. Who undertook the first definitive study of fingerprints as a method of personal identification?

6. Who devised a technique for determining the blood group of a dried bloodstain, which he applied to criminal investigations?

7. Who established the comparison microscope as the indispensable tool of the modern firearms examiner?

8. Who wrote the first treatise describing the application of science to the field of criminal investigation?

9. Who established the first workable crime laboratory?

10. What is the oldest forensic laboratory in the United States?

11. Which entity maintains the largest crime laboratory in the world?

12. Which of the following would not be included in the work of the biology unit of a crime lab?

13. Which unit is responsible for examining body fluids and organs for the presence of drugs and poisons?

14. Which of the following makes a false statement? An expert witness must be able to demonstrate:

15. Who is the final evaluator of forensic evidence?

16. Bite marks would be least likely to be found in cases involving:

17. Forensic odontology refers to the study of which of the following?

18. The scientific method requires that scientific evidence be validated by what means?

19. The effectiveness of an expert’s testimony is almost always dependent on:

20. The dramatization of forensic science on television has led to a phenomenon known as what?

21. The lay witness provides testimony that relies on what?

22. What area of forensic science examines the relationship between human behavior and legal proceedings?

23. What area of forensic science is concerned with failure analysis, accident reconstruction, and causes and origins of fires or explosions?

24. Approximately how many crime labs are currently operating in the United States (including federal, state, county, and municipal labs)?

25. Which of the following can be said to explain the rapid growth of crime labs during the last forty years?

26. After providing medical assistance for the injured and arresting any suspects on the scene, the first officer should immediately:

27The center of the crime scene, which is always included within the crime scene’s boundary, is:

28. The conditions at a crime scene can be compromised by all of the following actions except:

29. What is the initial survey of the crime scene that is carried out by the lead investigator called?

30. The size and location of the crime scene as well as the events that occurred there will determine:

31. Which crime-scene search pattern does not require more than one investigator?

32. To formulate a successful strategy for recovering relevant physical evidence at crime scenes, what must the investigator ultimately rely on?

33. What is the name of the search pattern in which one or two investigators start at the boundary at one end of the scene and walk straight across to the other side?

34. Which search pattern employs several people moving from the boundary straight toward the center of the scene (inward) or from the center straight to the boundary (outward)?

35. Officers should attempt to locate tool marks at the point of entry during the investigation of what type of crime?

36. Police barricades and the strategic positioning of guards are used prohibit access to the crime scene by whom?

37. The most common methods of crime-scene recording do not include which one of the following?

38. The advantages of recording crime-scene notes on an audio-recording device include all of the following except:

39. If the crime scene includes a dead body, the photographer should:

40. Crime-scene sketches serve a unique purpose in permanently documenting the location of which type of evidence?

41. A rough sketch does not need to include which one of the following?

42. In a crime-scene sketch, the location of an item of evidence is specified in terms of its precise distance from points of reference that:

43. Investigators should collect possible carriers of trace evidence, which may include which of the following?

44. S<P>mall amounts of trace evidence can be conveniently packaged in a carefully folded paper package called what?

45. Charred debris from an arson scene should be:

46. Which of the following items is likely to contain DNA evidence?

47. Which one of the following is a correct evidence-collection procedure?

48. What should a victim’s fingernail scrapings be packaged in?

49. A properly maintained chain of custody is not the responsibility of which one of the following?

50. The collection of standard/reference samples at the crime scene is important because they:

51. At an arson scene, the collection of a substrate control would require the arson investigator to do what?

52. The relative evidential value of laboratory test results is almost always dependent on what?

53. Success in the recognition and collection of physical evidence is determined primarily by what factor?

54. Which of the following items may not be placed in an airtight container?

55. The successful outcome of a criminal investigation is almost always directly related to what?

56. The removal of any evidence from a person or from the scene of a crime must be done in conformity with the privileges of which amendment to the Constitution?

57. The police are not required to obtain a search warrant in which of the following situations?

58. The presence of blood and semen at crime scenes exposes investigators to which of the following infectious agents?

59. Physical evidence can be used to exonerate or exclude a person from suspicion if:

60. Forensic databases are not maintained for which one of the following?

61. The Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) became fully operational in what year?

62. A component of the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network is called

63. Which of the following is the computerized database used to store DNA information?

64.

</INST>Who ultimately determines the significance of physical evidence during a trial?

65. Which of the following is the source of CODIS that contains DNA profiles from unsolved crime-scene evidence?

66. The death of an individual due to chronic alcoholism is ruled what?

67. What is the cause of the largest percentage of accidental deaths?

68. Where can partially digested or dissolved pills be seen?

69. A body that displays a cherry-red discoloration might lead a pathologist to suspect what type of poisoning?

70. Where are defense wounds most typically seen?

71. Death at a fire scene is most often attributed to inhalation of what?

72. Lividy can be expected to be fixed after how long?

73. A pathologist would expect rigor mortis to disappear after how long?

74. Time of death can be approximated by analyzing the vitreous humor for the levels of what?

75. What does hemoglobin transport in the blood?

76. What are negative photographs?

77. What part of the victim’s body often is covered in bags in order to prevent loss of trace evidence?

78. Death intentionally caused by another person is typically ruled to be what?

79. Homicide, suicide, accident, natural, and undetermined are all categories of what?

80. Evidence of tampering with the position of a body after death can be obtained by evaluating what?

81. What does the term rigor mortis refer to?

82. A corpse was discovered in an apartment last November. It was that of a 50-year-old male who died of a heart attack. At the time of discovery, the body temperature was determined to be 89°F. What is the most probable postmortem interval?

83. The rate of cooling of a dead body is not influenced by which of the following?

84. According to forensic entomologists, which “witness” is the first to arrive at the crime scene?

85. What part of a decedent’s body resists rapid decomposition and is used by forensic anthropologists to provide information about the decedent?

86. To determine the sex of skeletal remains, a forensic anthropologist would examine all of the following areas of the skeleton except which?

87. The stage of fusion of various bones within a skeleton can be examined to learn what about the decedent?

88. The pointed end of a bloodstain always faces:

89. What is the most common type of bloodstain pattern found at a crime scene?

90. The intersection of straight lines through the long axis of several individual bloodstains in an impact spatter pattern illustrates the pattern’s what?

91. At the crime scene, the string method is used to find out what about the impact spatter pattern?

92. Which weapon would create cast-off patterns consisting of small droplets in a linear pattern?

93. The removal of an object or surface that was located between the origin of blood and the target surface during the bloodstain deposition leaves what behind?

94. When an object with blood on it touches one that does not have blood on it, this produces what?

95. Which of the following may show movements of objects or bodies while the pattern was still forming or after the blood has dried.

96. A trail pattern leading away from the victim at a stabbing scene was most likely created by what?

97. Proper location and documentation of bloodstain patterns at the crime scene is the responsibility of whom?

98. Which of the following is of paramount importance in the interpretation of bloodstain patterns?

99. When an object partially blocks the deposition of blood spatter onto a surface or object, what type of pattern is created on the target surface or object?

100. Rough surfaces usually result in stains with what type of spatter?

101. An investigator can estimate the minimum number of blows inflicted on a victim by locating and counting the matching patterns of what type of spatter?

102.. In general, as both the force and velocity of impact increase, what happens to the diameter of the resulting blood droplets?

103. What should one surmise if a blood flow found on an object or body does not appear consistent with the direction of gravity?

104. What is the main ingredient in ordinary glass?

105. Which of the following is true of Pyrex glass?

106. Where is tempered glass used?

107. Flotation is a method used by scientists to determine what about a particle of glass?

108. When a bullet penetrates a pane of glass, it leaves a crater-shaped hole that:

109. Which is a true statement about the fracturing of glass?

AB

110. In the diagram above, what is the correct sequence of the two impacts?

111. What is indicated by the larger opening of a crater-shaped hole in glass made by the penetration of a projectile?

112. The fracture pattern of a piece of glass usually exhibits what kind(s) of lines?

113. Stress marks on the edge of a radial crack near the point of impact are:

114. In routine blood banking, which antigen(s) must be determined in testing for compatibility?

115. Type AB blood contains which of the following?

116. To determine whether a bloodstain is of human or animal origin, what will the serologist perform?

117. The technology of DNA typing had its beginnings in 1985 with the work of whom?

118. DNA is which of the following?

119. Who deduced the molecular structure of DNA?

120. The building blocks of the DNA molecule are known as what?

121. A gene pair made up of two similar alleles—for example, AA and BB—is said to be what?

122. Where are buccal cells obtained from?

123. What does the PCR technique do?

124. The PCR technique requires the use of a thermal cycler to do what?

125. Why has STR analysis replaced other DNA typing techniques?

126. CODIS is a national system of what?

127. The presence or absence of how many antigens determines an individual’s blood type in the A-B-O system?

128. An individual who is “type O” has what type of antibodies?

129. Where are antibodies found?

130. If blood is found to have both A and B antigens, what type is it?

131. Assume that two strands of DNA have been separated and that the base sequence on one strand is ATGC. State the sequence of bases on the second strand.

132. Which of the following statements about mitochondrial DNA is incorrect?

133. What structures transport oxygen from the lungs to the body tissues and carry carbon dioxide back to the lungs?

134. The clumping together of red blood cells by the action of an antibody is known as what?

135. Acid-phosphatase is a major constituent of what?

Use this DNA STR pattern of evidence from a rape investigation to answer the question(s) that follow.

Blood of Victim / Semen Recovered
from Victim / Blood taken from Suspect A / Blood taken from Suspect B / Blood taken fromSuspect C
______
______
______
______
______
______
______
______
______

136. The evidence suggests that which suspect raped the victim?

137. Small amounts of blood are best submitted to a crime laboratory:

138. How should blood-containing clothes from a victim be packaged?

139. Whole blood collected for DNA-typing purposes must be placed in a vacuum tube containing a preservative known as what?

140. Telltale signs of arson include which of the following?

141. Which of the following factors can contribute to abnormal observations at a fire scene?

142. The rapid combination of oxygen with a fuel that results in a noticeable release of energy is called what?

143. What is the minimum temperature at which a fuel will spontaneously ignite called?

144. The span of concentrations at which a vapor-to-fuel mixture in the air is capable of burning is referred to as the what?

145. When investigators search a fire scene, what must they focus on first?

146. Hydrocarbon accelerants can be detected by which of the following?

147. What is the decomposition of organic matter by heat called?

148. The minimum temperature at which fuel vapor will ignite is known as what?

149. The heat generated in a chemical reaction comes from what?

150. Complex chromatographic accelerant patterns can be simplified by what method?

151. Which of the following is not true about primary explosives?

152. Which of the following is not a high explosive?

153. Most explosives can be recovered from debris for future study by being rinsed with what?

154. What is the most widely used low explosive?

155.What are the typical chemical ingredients of black powder?

156.Which of the following is not a military explosive?

157. A search of the fire scene must focus on finding what?

158. What does a single-base smokeless powder consist of?

159. Many explosives must have their own source of what?

160. A low explosive has a speed of deflagration of less than:

161. Which of the following explosive materials is available in commercial form as fertilizer?

162. Which of the following is often used as the explosive core in a detonating cord?

163. Explosives that decompose at relatively slow rates are classified as what?