Forensic Files at SCCC

Staff Writer

Christina Apostolou swabs blood on a victim as Alyssa Culmone (left) records crime scene notes during a mock crime scene investigation.

On November 18, students in the SCCC forensics course investigated mock crime scenes as part of their final exam for the laboratory portion of the course. The final exam encompasses the setting up of several crime scenes, and small groups work to collect the evidence that are analyzed over the subsequent 2 weeks. 

After the findings are gathered, the groups prepare a PowerPoint presentation summarizing their scene and evidence analysis, and provide a recommendation to a fictional prosecutor for a suspect to be apprehended. Student volunteers played witnesses. During the course, students learn the intricacies and characteristics of different samples they will come face-to-face with at crime scenes in the real world, such as hair and fiber, fingerprints and shoeprints, blood typing, and DNA, among other analytical techniques.