Different Jobs in Forensic Science

Jobs in forensic science play an important role in the legal system, because they provide investigators with the information that they need to solve crimes. Forensic science jobs can be found in many professions, and workers in these jobs possess a wide variety of skills. Some forensic professionals work with bodies, others with living victims, and some use their eye for artistic detail to assemble the pieces of a legal puzzle.

Forensic Nurse

Forensic nurses use their abilities to treat patients while helping to solve crimes. When working with patients, forensic nurses attend to crime victims' physical needs and collect vital information and evidence that can be useful in an investigation. The kinds of cases that involve forensic nurses generally include sexual assaults, domestic violence, child abuse, elder abuse and human trafficking.

In addition, forensic nurses also treat patients during natural disasters. In these cases, forensic nurses help patients with their injuries, as well as help them cope with the loss of their loved ones or homes.

Forensic entomologists who focus on medicolegal matters study bugs in order to determine the details surrounding an individual's death. An examination of the larval weight and length of the bugs found on a body can tell forensic entomologists when the insects began to colonize. Forensic scientists also pay close attention to a lack of bug activity on a body, which can indicate that the individual had been frozen or wrapped up, denying bugs the opportunity to colonize.

In addition to death cases, forensic entomologists also work on rape and abuse cases, where bugs are found on victims. In these cases, bug activity can be indicative of a victim who has been incapacitated, resulting in feces and urine attracting bugs to the individual.

Forensic toxicologists examine a deceased person's body tissue and fluids in order to determine if poisons or other toxins caused the death. In addition to death cases, forensic toxicologists may also look for drugs in an individual's system during sexual assault cases.

Forensic scientists may also be hired in cases where doping of some kind is suspected. This can include testing professional athletes, testing animals or even performing drug tests in the workplace that can affect an individual's employment status.

Forensic artists are often involved in cases where identification is needed; a forensic artist takes information from the victim of a crime to create a composite of what the perpetrator looked like. In addition, when remains require identification, forensic artists study the skull of the body and create a facial image of how the person may have appeared when they were alive.

Forensic artists also work in missing persons cases, when either someone has been the victim of a crime or a criminal has escaped. In these cases, forensic artists use age progression techniques to project how someone may look years after they were last seen.