How reliable is the evidence? When DNA evidence is presented in court, it's presented with great reliability as if it's infallible. But a very important part is not just the interpretation of the evidence, it's understanding how that evidence can be trusted and to what extent it can be trusted.

So it's how this evidence is interpreted by the forensic scientists. The evidence itself is merely physical objects or physical measurements. The evidence is found at the crime scene. It's about the interpretation of the evidence. So this course is about explaining to you some of the science, the scientific principles, that lets them make these statements.

Now, in this course, what is it we're trying to explain to you? What is it that we want you to take away from this course? It's basically summed up by this question, how did they know? When you hear forensic scientists or prosecutors or police officers saying they have very strong evidence that this act was done by this person, at this time, in this way, you should wonder to yourself, how do they know? And usually, how they know is based upon forensic science. *For Nanyang Technological University (NTU) students, please be noted that this course will no longer be eligible for credit transfer. Was Emperor Napoleon murdered by the perfidious British, or killed by his wallpaper? How can we tell how long someone has been dead? What if they have been dead for a really long time?Ĭan a little piece of a carpet fluff, or a single hair, convict someone? What happens (biologically and chemically) if someone tries to poison me? What happens if I try to poison myself? What is it? How can traces of blood be found and used in evidence? How did forensics come about? What is the role of forensics in police work? Can these methods be used in non-criminal areas?īlood. Some questions which we will attempt to address include: The course aims to explain the scientific principles and techniques behind the work of forensic scientists and will be illustrated with numerous case studies from Singapore and around the world. We have all seen forensic scientists in TV shows, but how do they really work? What is the science behind their work?

What is forensic science