LIsa Black
Cape Coral, FL
Female, 49
I spent the five happiest years of my life in a morgue. As a forensic scientist in the Cleveland coroner’s office I analyzed gunshot residue on hands and clothing, hairs, fibers, paint, glass, DNA, blood and many other forms of trace evidence, as well as crime scenes. Now I'm a certified latent print examiner and CSI for a police department in Florida. I also write a series of forensic suspense novels, turning the day job into fiction. My books have been translated into six languages.
If you have a list of homework questions, please email me at: Lisa-black@live.com
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That all depends on where you work, what the caseload is, and what your job duties are. If you work someplace with a huge backlog and more work than you have personnel for, it could be stressful. When I was at the coroner’s office it was exhausting, we had a ton of work, not much staff, were underpaid, and my boss was a little crazy, but i loved it so much I didn’t care. At the police department now we have just enough people to manage the work, so even though it gets busy at times we stay on a pretty even keel. Good supervisory management is key (in any field). Best of luck!
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That depends entirely on what in the field of forensic science you want to do. The best way is to call some of the places you’d like to work as ask what their requirements would be, because they can vary all over the country. Smaller labs will want you to cross train.Larger ones might want you to specialize.
Good luck!!
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The perpetrator could be imitating a scene from the movie “Wedding Crashers” in which they put Visine in a man’s drink to give him diarrhea and vomiting. However Google tells me that’s not what it actually does, it can cause drowsiness and can be dangerous. So the motivation depends on whether the perpetrator knew what the actual effects would be or not.
As far as detecting it, it’s apparently in the imidazole family which includes histidines, so perhaps a chemical lab could detect it or some compenents of it. That would utilize thin layer chromatography and I don’t know how many labs actually do that any more—but I truly have no idea where or how or if a lab could test for it since I don’t have much of a background in chemistry, sorry!
Hope that helps.
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That depends entirely on where you want to work and what you want to do. If you want to do DNA analysis and testify in court about it, you may need a PhD in genetics. If you want to work at crime scenes bagging and tagging evidence, you may need only a high school diploma, with added hireability for advanced degrees. The only way to know is to check job opening notices or call the agencies and ask. Best of luck to you.
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No, you would really need a pathologist for that. Generally, exits tend to be larger than entrances, but it depends on what someone is shot with and where. If the muzzle is very close or in contact with the body, then the entrance will likely be larger than the exit. if the bullet fragments inside, then there might be a small exit. So different factors can affect it. Best of luck to you.
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It may depend on what you want to do. If you want to work crime scene, then you might be a more attractive candidate with all the hands-on practical work of a forensic science degree. But if you want to be a DNA analyst, then I’d go with biology. Best thing to do is call the labs where you might someday apply and ask them. Best of luck!
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