Introduction to Forensic Science

Teacher(s)

Bitzer Sonja;

Language

French

Main themes

The introduction to forensic science will address the history and development of the discipline, as well as its relationship to criminology. The overall process, that is, from crime scene to trial, will be presented by considering the trace as its central element.
The second part focuses on the diversity of traces found on a crime scene; from anthropometric traces, to traces from people and objects, and physicochemical and biological traces, without neglecting digital traces. All types of traces will be examined for their nature, characteristics, specificity, search methods, sampling and analysis. Finally, the interpretation of the analysis results will be studied through the likelihood ratio of Bayes' theorem.
The last part focuses on the integration of traces in the Belgian judicial system. The focus is therefore on the laws in force concerning the application of scientific methods in the service of the judicial procedure as well as the status of forensic expert in the legal sense.

Content

Introduction to the foundations of forensic scince, recognised as science in itself, with a particular focus on the intrinsc reasoning processes of this discipline. Initiation of a critical thinking process in regards to the holistic process from the collection of traces at the crime scene to their use at court level, by reviewing the investigation methods, the different types of tracees, their analysis techniques and their integration in the investigation and the judicial system. 

Teaching methods

Lectures

Evaluation methods

The evaluation aims to measure the achievement of the targeted learning outcomes.
The assessment is conducted through a written exam (in French) consisting of part including multiple choice questions and part including open questions. The final mark is the arithmetic average of the marks of both parts.

Online resources

Moodle

Faculty or entity

ECRI