Forensics (Basic)

The basic Crime Scene Investigation course exposes students to many aspects of forensic investigation through lectures on forensic theory and practice with hands-on activities, including a day spent at ONU Crime Scene House recognizing and collecting evidence. The week also emphasizes the importance of on-site and field presumptive testing and analysis with final laboratory reports and presentations being the end-work product. The presentations will be assessed, and feedback will be provided prior to the final presentation.

Types of teaching strategies:
The essentials of crime scene investigation and testing in the forensic laboratory will allow the students to gain knowledge through lectures and the majority of the class periods on laboratory exercises whether in the field or in the classroom. The inquiry-based exercises are directed according to the evidence that is collected. This open-ended approach allows the students to search in directions of a normal unsolved case but with direction of the instructions re-routing the student with new data. These exercises will allow the student to draw inferences from the data from the scientific testing and not just eyewitness testimony supplied with the case.

Course activities:
On one or more of the evenings, we will recount some famous crimes and crime scenes of years past and more recent history. Since some of this nation’s most horrific murders occurred not in metropolitan areas but in rural settings we have the perfect setting to envision the calm prior to the horrific events. Some of these in Ohio include serial murders occurring in one day to serial killings over the course of years perhaps decades. In Ohio, these include the murders of cultists in Lake County, Ohio and the serial killings of Jeffery Dahlmer in a rural area just south of Cuyahoga County. In addition, we will review some of the most famous case studies regarding crime scene investigation. This is, usually in regards, to examples of poorly managed cases, proving we learn from our mistakes even in law and criminal justice.

Measures of Student Learning and Growth
The full understanding of the basis of scientific data in the light of a forensic case brings to bear the importance of the scientific method in the determination of whether evidence collected at a crime scene is linked to the events of a crime or not. This physical evidence will help associate the evidence and the crime scene and possibly a victim and suspect to the crime scene or exclude one or more from association with each other. The explanation of these associations and identification can be performed with physical evidence to a higher degree than eyewitness testimony. The student will gain an appreciation of these aspects of forensic science. Students will work on, submit laboratory reports, and perform administrative reports summarizing their results. The students will review each other’s results and documentation with the final laboratory reports. The class and instructors will in turn grade these.

Course and Instructor Evaluation:
Evaluations will be done by the students appraising the levels of information and general achievement of learning throughout each individual lecture and exercises. The pre-course assessment will allow for the evaluation of the basis and level of knowledge with which the students arrive at the camp. The entire process will be recapped by the instructor to gain general acceptance of the correlation between goals and outcome. Each instructor will be evaluated for effectiveness and laboratory exercises will be evaluated for content and usefulness in light of the case.

Crime Scene Investigation - The Crime Scene to the Forensic Laboratory

Instructors:
Dr. Dennis De Luca (also Institute Director) is Associate Professor of Biological and Allied Health Sciences at the IHE. He earned his Ph.D. in Regulatory Biology in 1989 at Cleveland State University. His area of expertise includes molecular biology and gene regulation. He has performed molecular biology experimentation at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Case Western Reserve University and Veterans Administration Hospital in the areas of cardiovascular disease, nephrology, dermatology and periodontal disease. He was a past recipient of numerous awards and grants in graduate school and in post-doctoral positions including An Individual National Research Service Award from NIDDK. His experience in forensic laboratories and medical examiners offices has enabled him to lend his expertise to many crime laboratories Ohio for setting-up the procedures of forensic DNA genotyping. He now enjoys his time teaching molecular biology and forensic science to undergraduate students and is the coordinator of the Forensic Biology program in Biology Department. He is the director of the Summer Honors Institute.

Ms. Judy MaGaw is the Director of Biological Laboratories in the Department of Biological and Allied Health Sciences at Ohio Northern University. She received a B.A in biology in 1977 from ONU and graduated from Wright State University in 2003 with a Master’s degree in anatomy. While her background prepared her to teach biology at the secondary level, she joined ONU in September 1977 and is currently in her 32nd year in the biology department. She teaches laboratories for Anatomy and Histology (Biology 126), Biosciences Laboratory 322 and Biology 110 for nursing majors. Last summer she participated in a 5 day intensive short course on laboratory methods for the identification of skeletal remains at Cedar Crest College in Erie, PA and also completed a 2.5 day Master Teacher Workshop.

Dr. Keith Durkin is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the IHE. His teaching and research interests are in the areas of Criminology, Victimology, and Deviant Behavior. Articles based on his research have appeared in journals such as Deviant Behavior, Federal Probation, Sociological Spectrum, and the Journal of Drug and Alcohol Education. His work has appeared in a variety of edited volumes including the Encyclopedia of Criminology and Deviant Behavior, Reading in Deviant Behavior, Theories of Deviance, Deviance and Social Control, and Investigating Deviance. He has participated in previous Crime Scene camps and Summer Honors Institute programs.

Rick D. McGinnis is a special investigator with the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office in Cleveland, Ohio. His responsibility include: investigation of child abuse and exploitation and online line investigation of child pornography, chat rooms, newsgroups and websites. He also leads investigation of cyber tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and initiates undercover online operations and profiles for child pornography cases. He is responsible for writing subpoena requests and writing and executing search warrants. He is currently an agent on the FBI/Joint Terrorism Task Force and previously serves as an officer with the Ada and Kenton Police Departments in Ohio. He completed to the Ohio Peace Officer Basic Training Program in 1991 and since then has completed numerous training courses related to his job responsibilities. He has been an instructor for previous Crime Scene Camps and the Summer Honors Institute at Ohio Northern.

Guest Lecturers
The course work in CSI (Basic) in the past has included: Graduate students and instructors who lend their expertise of their filed of study and include: forensic entomology, forensic anthropology and forensic polygraph examination. This year is no different and will include experts in the area.

The Advanced CSI camp is centered on several aspects adopted and expanded from the CSI- Basic course with two intense arenas – forensic laboratory and the crime scene.

This course will focus on the select subject areas of crime scene photography, forensic DNA analysis, firearms examinations, bloodstain pattern analysis, and forensic toxicology. There will be approximately one instructional day per subject area. The course will be open to students who have attended the CSI (forensic course) in previous years and for students who attend the 2008 Crime Scene Investigation – Basic. Class size will be limited to 16.

What to bring:

There are always questions about what to bring to an overnight or week long activity. Here are some suggestions. You will want to bring a small amount of spending money since the university bookstore is usually open. Also, you can bring along some of your favorite snacks although there are vending machines located on campus, a local grocery store, and a Rite Aid for unplanned essentials. Bring a cell phone or calling card to make long-distance calls, sometimes Ada has poor reception for cell phones for such carriers as AT&T and Nextel. If you have a camera you may want to bring it. There are always picture perfect events all week long. The dorms are lockable and secure so you should be able to bring normal things such as clock radios, small CD players, or alarm clocks. If medication needs to be dispensed, the SHI director will make appropriate arrangements.

List of essentials aside from normal everyday apparel.

• Alarm clock
• Soap, comb/brush, toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, deodorant, etc.
• Insect repellent – DEET-based works best, Off Brand, pump instead of aerosol
• Ball Cap
• Extra socks
• A pair of long jeans or slacks
• Shorts, shirts or blouses
• One nice outfit (khaki slacks/polo shirt) for Friday presentation
• Sweatshirt/jacket (classrooms are air conditioned and can be cool)
• T-shirts
• Rain gear
• Comfortable shoes, closed toed shoes, shoes to be worn in the gym
• Hiking appropriate shoes
• Swimwear, beach towel
• Camera
• Sunscreen
• Sandals
• Flashlight with new batteries
• If you anticipate washing clothes, bring along a small container of clothes detergent and $.25 for the washing machines
• Single extra long sheets, pillow and blanket

What you do NOT have to bring?
All meals are provided in the cafeteria. There will be snacks and bottled water provided during the day and evening. What should you leave home? Candles and incense, TV, dart board, draperies, drum set, electric guitars, electric blankets, firecrackers, fish net wall hangings, flags, firearms, halogen lamps, hot plates, microwave ovens, pet snakes, spiders, lizards, cats, dogs, birds and fish, sunlamps, heat lamps and space heaters, toaster ovens, valuables, water beds, and weights.