Forensic science explained at Peters Township library program
Angela Novak uses a prop to help explain the discipline of forensic anthropology.
Angela Novak joins Raymond Hsieh, center, and Steve Hallock for the forensic science program at Peters Township Public Library.
Ashley DiCioccio discusses DNA.
As TV’s favorite forensic anthropologist, Dr. Temperance “Bones” Brennan has the advantage of working with some fanciful technology on the FOX television drama.
”I would love to have a 3-D hologram of an individual, which I don’t think Cal U has,” Angela Novak said. “I haven’t seen it.”
The California University of Pennsylvania senior and five classmates gave presentations as part of the “Justice Delayed: Solving Crimes with Forensic Science” program March 2 at Peters Township Public Library. And despite the occasional hyperbole, “Bones” fits right in with Novak’s topic.
“I like that there actually is a television show that explains what forensic anthropology is,” she said about the study of human skeletal remains to help establish identity. “Even if it’s not that high-tech in real life, it’s good to be represented in the criminal justice system.”
The students set up displays at the library addressing various elements of investigations, from the long-practiced procedure of fingerprinting to 21st-century tests for DNA, all falling under a certain umbrella.
“Forensic science actually is applied science,” explained Raymond Hsieh, the university’s director of justice studies. “You need to apply the science to the criminal or civil case.”
Hsieh joined Mt. Lebanon author Steve Hallock as featured speakers for the program, with the students available to talk about their presentations before and after.
“Each bone tells a story,” Novak, president of Cal U’s Forensic Science Club, said. “If you look at a skull or any bone on the human body, you can tell if it’s a male or female; Asian, black, white, Native American, European. You can tell the life story of the individual.”
Nearby, freshman Richelle Santangelo demonstrated how to dust for fingerprints.
“In most crime scenes, they’ll use powder and tape to lift it off surfaces,” she said. “Typically, black powder is used for lighter surfaces, and pink powder is used for black surfaces and darker colors, like browns.”
Also regarding crime scenes, senior Amanda Krausmann provided details about protocol at the sites.
“Before you touch anything, you want to take all of your pictures,” she explained. “One technique you learn being able to cover the whole crime scene. Basically, you take it when you enter, and then you take it from another aspect showing the rest of the scene.”
She described another crucial aspect:
“Along with that, you don’t want to contaminate it. So part of the techniques we learned are using gloves and shoe covers. Most people don’t really know that’s a thing,” Krausmann said, mentioning the lack of such on a typical TV crime show.
Junior Jennifer Costolo spoke about the roles of coroners and medical examiners.
“Whenever there’s a suspicious death, an autopsy is required,” she said. “They determine the cause and the manner of death. It could be listed as natural death, accidental, homicide, or undetermined or pending.”
Senior Kristin Nunkester addressed collection and preservation, with an emphasis on chain of custody.
”You need to track every little bit of who touched the evidence, who opened the evidence, who did anything to that evidence, and where it’s going and at what time,” she explained. “It’s all so important, and it needs to be documented.”
For an example of what can go wrong, Nunkester cited the O.J. Simpson murder investigation.
“If you can’t properly collect evidence and properly get it through the chain of custody, you can’t use the evidence. You can’t use it in court. And as you can see, he got off,” she said about the Simpson case.
Another well-known case, the killing of JonBenét Ramsey, served as a focal point for senior Ashley DiCioccio’s presentation about DNA profiling. Initial efforts to apply the relatively new technology to the slain 6-year-old were inconclusive, but more rounds of testing are planned for this year.
In conducting her research, DiCioccio developed a theory:
“My thought is there was a man out there who pretended he had children. He went to the pageants. He went to all of her functions.
”There was an open house at their house before Christmas,” she said about the Ramseys’ Colorado residence. “So anybody could have come in and saw their house, what the house looked like, and mapped out the house.”