Forensic Science

     Last week, I gave a short summary about what kind of courses you could take in college in order to get your criminal justice degree. Now, I want to explain more about one of these courses that I found interesting to me. I went on the internet and found a site that had a lot of undergraduate and graduate courses. I noticed Forensic Science was one of the undergraduate courses offered by most criminal justice programs. Before I started to research more about it, I always thought forensics was only surveying dead bodies at crime scenes. 

     However, it's way more than that; it includes scientific analysis/identification of evidence and documents, interpretation of medical reports, and a scientific way to help juries/attorneys in understanding and solving a case. I looked for some good colleges that offer this degree and saw a lot of them. A few colleges that stood out to me were Pennsylvania State University, Syracuse University, and UC Davis, which happened to be at the top of the list. Syracuse offers many master degrees in forensic science, and talks about how the CIA/FBI offer internships that students can participate in. Pennsylvania State University offers a Masters of Professional Studies (M.P.S.) in forensic science and gives you the chance to be part of the Penn State Forensic Science Club. If interested in these colleges, go to http://educationcareerarticles.com/education-articles/higher-education-articles/top-forensic-science-colleges-in-the-united-states/

     After seeing this, I wanted to learn more about forensic science as a profession. I searched the web, and saw that a forensic scientist should have a major in science like physics, chemistry, and biology. Some requirements that I saw for a forensic scientist is to be able to re-create crime scenes, collect/analyze DNA samples, and being comfortable to testify as an expert witness of what may have happened at a crime scene. Next week, I will continue to examine certain criminal justice courses and find out how you can apply them to an everyday job.