Sherlock Holmes to CSI: Microscopy in the Forensic Geology Classroom

Williams, T

doi:10.1017/s1431927608083797

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Several such approaches are used in the American popular television series (CSI, Bones, NCSI), television programs, and documentary movies or radio programs (CSI Milan by radio105) devoted to forensic sciences where it is expected that traces of mineral grains seen under a microscope or clandestine burials of disappeared people assume a role during the criminal investigation fiction. This phenomenon increased forensic studies in higher education and university in the UK [69,70].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advances in Flipped Classrooms for Teaching and Learning Forensic Geology

Somma

2022

Education Sciences

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One of the most famous criminal investigations involved the use of forensic geology to assist law enforcement agencies in the homicide case of the Italian honorable Aldo Moro. Notwithstanding this important tribute to forensic geology, in Italy, the role and value of using geological and soil materials (known as earth materials) to support law enforcement agencies in solving criminal investigations remain uncommon. This absence may be due to few educational courses for geology undergraduates/graduates devoted to laboratory and field training in forensic geology. The flipped classroom model may encourage a modern educational approach for teaching and learning forensic geology. The designed flipped classroom model applies theoretical concepts for forensic geology, which is learned by the attendees at home, whereas the class activities are devoted to laboratory and field experiences assisted by teaching staff. The laboratory activities involve techniques for collecting geological trace evidence and comparing color/sedimentological/mineralogical/microfossil features, whereas the field experiences consist of sampling strategies, search activities for burials, and field surveying. This approach has been trialed by the Messina University since 2014 and represents a successful tool for multitasking teaching and learning aimed to further develop forensic geology, encourage the inclusion of forensic geologists within the police enforcement in Italy, and improve the knowledge of law experts such as prosecutors and defense lawyers.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advances in Flipped Classrooms for Teaching and Learning Forensic Geology

Somma

2022

Education Sciences

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“…Further implement scientific and didactic initiatives on forensic geology [108][109][110][111][112][113].…”

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confidence: 99%

Tracking the Route Walked by Missing Persons and Fugitives: A Geoforensics Casework (Italy)

Somma

2023

Geosciences

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Criminal investigations aiming to track the route walked by missing persons and fugitives (MPFs) usually involve intelligence analysts, military planners, experts in mobile forensics, traditional investigative methods, and sniffer dog handlers. Nonetheless, when MPFs are devoid of any technological device and move in uninhabited rural areas devoid of tele cameras and densely covered by vegetation, tracking the route walked by MPFs may be a much more arduous task. In the XVIII century, the expert Georg Popp was able to link a homicide suspect to a sequence of different sites of criminal interest, located in the countryside, by studying the stains of soils found on the footwear and trousers of the suspect. In such complex cases, a very efficient approach for tracking the route walked by MPFs may consist of comparing the geological traces found on the MPFs and their belongings with soils exposed in the event scenes. In particular, the search for peculiar or rare particles and aggregates may strengthen the weight of the geological forensic evidence comparisons. A match of mineralogical, textural, and organic matter data may demonstrate the provenance of the traces from the soil of a specific site, thereby linking the MPFs to the scene of events. Based on the above, the present paper reports geological determinations accomplished for a “mediatic” casework. The results allowed a general high degree of compatibility among traces collected on the MPFs and on the soil from the scene of events to be ascertained. The most significant positive matches, based on the finding of ten peculiar and rare particles and assemblages, allowed the reconstruction of a route about 1.1 km long, as the crow flies, on the event site. Although this procedure was extremely time consuming and available only in a backwards reconstruction linked to the MPFs’ findings, it was of uttermost importance in strengthening the inferences proposed, and for which other methods could not provide any information.

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Sherlock Holmes to CSI: Microscopy in the Forensic Geology Classroom

Abstract: Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2008 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, August 3 – August 7, 2008

Cited by 2 publications

References 1 publication

Advances in Flipped Classrooms for Teaching and Learning Forensic Geology

Advances in Flipped Classrooms for Teaching and Learning Forensic Geology

Tracking the Route Walked by Missing Persons and Fugitives: A Geoforensics Casework (Italy)

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