Reddit mentions: The best forensics science law books

Hello. I'm from Australia so the books we use might be a bit different to what's in the US, but I've found Knight's Forensic Pathology to be of great help when I was doing my forensic rotation. It's full of pictures with succinct, to-the-point prose, and is written with a kind of dry British humour. Dolinak's Forensic Pathology is also full of amazing photographs, but to me seems rather haphazardly put together and not as instructive.

Spitz and Fisher is too detailed and excessive for a four-week rotation, during which you should just get your head around what a "routine" autopsy case entails. I don't have much experience with Di Maio unfortunately.

Just show up, be interested and ask to get involved. Prereading is probably of minimal help to be honest - reading around each case you see will be more instructive.

Hopefully this post will help and get to you before your interview.

The FBI manual is still the go to book for classification. I have not been able to find a website that allows you to practice classification, but there is certainly a need for one. I would recommend classifying the numerous fingerprints printed in the FBI manual then reviewing the classification rules for each pattern type to see how you did. Also, be a little familiar with the Henry Classification System.

Chances are there will be a lot of in house training around the subject. Kudos to you for studying beforehand. It will help out a lot during the application process and in the long run.

For a general overview of fingerprints I would recommend the NIJ Fingerprint Sourcebook.

For crime scene investigation the go to book is Practical Crime Scene Processing and Investigation by Ross M. Gardner.

For more recommended readings check out the Forensic Certification section of the IAI's site .

Oh yes, and know what the definition of a latent print is. There is a really good chance they will ask, and the question often trips people up.

Your girlfriend and I are kindred spirits ❤️

I was watching something a while ago where Spitz and Fisher's Medicolegal Investigation of Death was mentioned, so immediately looked it up and drooled, but at $120-130, it's not happening any time soon (I'm also in an adjacent field, not forensics directly, it's just an interest, so I can't justify it). However, the recommended books from that one are pretty gnarly. I highly recommend giving it a look. There'll be a coffee table-type book among those, I'm sure.

I don't quite know what forensic genetics is, but if you want to learn more about bones you should get The Human Bone Manual! I loved this book. It's what we used in my human osteology class. Of course it's much easier to learn when you have bones to look at - my professor was very good too, but there's also nice online stuff and books. What kind of job are you trying to get?

Forensic Science: The Basics by Siegel and Mirakovits is a great choice. It is written to be used in a high school curriculum, but it is very indepth and easy to understand. It gives a good all around solid understanding of most forensic techniques. I personally know both of the authors and combined they have such a great understanding of Forensic Science it isn't even funny.

Crime Scene to Court - Has a UK focus but delves into all fields in fair detail without overloading you, its a good reference manual.

Forensic Science - May be a bit of a hefty one but also covers everything.

Practical Skills in Forensic Science - Probably better for when actually studying but has a lot of the information for being a forensic scientist rather than just knowing forensic science.

I would say those three, as well as those that ayeroger has mentioned will be all you need for an overview of the subject, if you have any specialist fields in mind I have a wide selection of reading material.

Copper is better at shielding electrical fields than ferrous metals (iron and galvanized steel).

How is copper used with aluminum foil?

Thanks for referring a video by Steve McGee. I have not seen that one. Several posts linking to Steve's videos and books are in /r/electromagnetics. Steve commented referring his book Electrical Forensics.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1492118907/ref=cm_sw_su_dp

Would any one like to write a book review summarizing the research on shielding?

The video makes an important point that grounding strengthens shielding.

Forensic Pathology is a med school track.

Death investigation is an odd assortment, and really depends on the jurisdiction.
Some I've worked with studied criminal justice, others were LEOs from the local department that got a crash course on the job, some ex-LEOs, ex-military,ex-PI's.
I'm a forensic anthropologist by trade, and there is a move within the forensic community to change the system towards a highly trained civilian cadre to work these jobs instead of sworn law enforcement officers who took a few weekend seminars.

That would certainly help cut down on the number of cases where I get called to check out some "human" bones only to find out it's another damn wild boar or deer.

If you're interested, this is the bible for this line of work. Everyone I've ever worked with has a copy. Mine looks like a porcupine with all the sticky notes I have poking out of it with random annotations. It's amusing because it can get rather esoteric and specific because the guy who wrote it worked in Florida for years. There's a huge section about cave scuba diving accidents, which for most people is completely irrelevant, but the rest is gold.

edit basically get a good relevant education to the field, and ask to intern with your local coroner/ME office. They like free grunt work because they are often under funded and over loaded. Practical experience is key.

Hey there! Full disclosure, I'm not a forensic scientist/criminologist myself, but I work in the overall field.

The two books our forensics director gave me to get the quick and dirty were Fisher's Techniques of Crime Scene Investigation and Criminalistics: An Introduction to Forensic Science - though of course as you're already a criminology student I'm sure you wouldn't need that much from the latter.

I highly recommend the Fisher's text, and make sure you do the first international edition I linked. It's Prime Day on Amazon today so it might be a good day to book shop!

Let me know if you want any recommendations for specific topics within the field and I'd be glad to look into our library.

Whoops. The book link was truncated because it's from an archived thread in The High Road forums, which was quoted in the threads I linked. It's Vincent J.M. Di Maio's book 'Gunshot Wounds.' Here's the non-truncated link.

Whether .22LR is the best tool for the job or not depends on the situation I think. A .22LR rifle is going to be lightweight for a rifle and you'll be able to carry tons of ammo compared to other calibers. To illustrate, a case of 1,000 of the following rounds and their weight:

.22 LR = 3.75 kg or 8.26 pounds.

9mm = 12.25 kg or 27.01 pounds.

.223 =14.25 kg or 31.41 pounds.

.308 = 30.63 kg or 67.53 pounds.

Source

So if you're on the move on foot and you want to avoid restocking at population centers or other risky areas, .22 LR is good. You can travel lightly and not worry about running out of ammo. If resupplying is not an issue then a higher caliber rifle/carbine is going to be much better. It's got a small wound channel, there's a higher percent chance of it deflecting off the skull instead of piercing it, and when you do pierce you have a 10-15% chance of it moving within the skull and doing much more damage than a straight wound channel would.

I can't recall if there was cocaine, but I believe he did do some drugs (edit: alcohol mostly, but fuzzier on any other details) and the hookers and womanizing was well known, particularly among the FBI. Source:

The Bureau: The Secret History of the FBI by Ronald Kessler

I listened to the audiobook, so I can't recall chapter or page numbers. Interesting book, for what it's worth.

Anyone have any experience with this book? https://www.amazon.com/Ballistics-Theory-Design-Ammunition-Second/dp/1466564377/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Seems like another great book pitched at the level I am looking for.

I'm reading a book currently about how the UK police do interviews, and the striking thing is how they've had to address this problem from another angle. It turns out that the more forceful Reid Technique is not only vulnerable to giving people false memories, but also, since the advent of interview recording, to court challenge.

Their solution is a much more ethical conversation-based interview involving fact checking and discovery without the psychological pressure to get a confession.

The authors draw a distinction between Interviewing (to find out the details, usually considered a low-status task), and Interrogation (to force a confession from someone the police already "know" to be guilty, previously considered a high-status task) - and their book puts forward the point of view that actually interviewing is the future, not interrogation.

Every PGY-1 at my program gets a copy of Molavi which is a great intro text but is obviously more focused on surg path and less applicable to forensics. DiMaio has a good, affordable book that's more specific.

I'm still in school so unfortunately I can't give you an accurate answer of what is expected of you going in for a job. However, this is the book we used for my forensic photography class at my university.
Also, if it is all encouraging, my brother-in-law made it very far into the interview process in a major city for a forensic photography job with a normal photography degree. I'm confident that if he had some sort of side courses/training in the area he could have sealed the deal.

There are several journals available like The Journal of Forensic Sciences http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1556-4029, but there are also many open access ones like The Open Forensic Science Journal, Journal of Forensic Research, or The Canadian Society of Forensic Science. The ones that are free would be a good start, because books like Forensic Science: From the Crime Scene to the Crime Lab or Forensic Science: An Introduction to Scientific and Investigative Techniques, Third Edition (Forensic Science: An Introduction to Scientific & Investigative Techniques) will cost you.

Anatomic Path - Sternberg

Neuropath - Ellison & Love

Forensics - Spitz & Fisher

also a fun coffee table book useful for alienating visitors to your home

So right now I'm reading one called Being a Dog which would be really enjoyable for anyone who wants to learn a bit more about odor + dogs. I think the one you would be interested in is called Death, Decomposition, and Detector Dogs. Talk about really getting in there... bugs, guts, the whole shebang!

When I took osteology we used this book. It was hella helpful and I really liked it. https://www.amazon.com/Human-Bone-Manual-Tim-White/dp/0120884674

I don't think he testified though. My guess now is that was the price tag for either Sherry Culhane, the one who contaminated the bullet dna, or Marc LeBeau, the FBI expert who only tested half of the blood swabs but went on record saying the remaining untested swabs were positively Avery's.

Btw, I found Marc LeBeau wrote a book... http://www.amazon.com/Drug-Facilitated-Sexual-Assault-Forensic-Handbook/dp/0124402615/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1453225254&sr=1-1&keywords=Marc+LeBeau

I wonder if this book can be shown to invalidate his testimony. Meaning he wasn't even following his own advice. The $12k basically being witness for hire scenario.

I know that there is a chapter/s within the book I've linked above regarding statistics. I cant think of any books that are solely based on the relating statistics.

EDIT
[This has a great explanation of stats used] (http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Forensic-Analysis-Second-Edition/dp/0849302331)

Oh, remembered one:

He (and the rest of the family) actually had the gall to argue with Werner Spitz, regarding the results of Diane's autopsy. Spitz literally wrote the book on forensic autopsy: https://www.amazon.com/Spitz-Fishers-Medicolegal-Investigation-Death/dp/0398075441

This is a decent article: https://www.addiction.com/3425/aunt-diane/

Previous thread with great discussion: https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/3mptm3/was_diane_schulers_body_ever_exhumed_has_her_son/

My copy of The Human Bone Manual is one of my most prized possessions - it's indispensable as a reference text for bioarchaeology (or anyone in a skeletal anatomy class :D). Here's a relevant sample.

The Human Bone Manual is like a biblical source to me. Also, Stiff, by Mary Roach is some SERIOUSLY interesting stuff.

Hi! We have a subreddit wiki page of all the 'required reading' for our disciplines here.

This was my undergrad Forensic Science textbook. It's a nice overview type of book. Libraries or used bookstores tend to have this one. Pretty cheap paperback version.

Swing and a miss on so many levels. You're like the person who struck out on your first pitch.

As a forensic anthropologist with an emphasis in genetics, I can tell you specifically what science (anthropology specifically) says about this- race is a social construct that has nothing to do with genetics, and there's no such thing as "success" when it comes to culture or "racial groups" in science.

Here's a few books you can read up on:
Demographic Methods and Concepts

The Genetics of Human Populations


and for osteology:

The Human Bone Manual


This should clear up some of the bigger misconceptions you might have. I also recomment Svante-Paabo for ancient DNA work as well.

I don't know if you are in school or not but if you have access to an anatomy or biology lab that has real human bones you could use them as reference. You could look at the human bone manual https://www.amazon.com/Human-Bone-Manual-Tim-White/dp/0120884674/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1467507833&sr=1-1&keywords=human+bone+manual You should also think about are the bones you are modeling male or female, Juvenal or adult because these will change the dimensions.