Forensic science stands as a major and significant tool in raveling out the unknowns of crimes, relying on the scrutiny of the tiniest of traces such as a single strand of hair, a minute particle of paint, or a tiny droplet of blood that could easily be missed by the naked eye but under a microscope, could reveal more than you could guess. Forensic scientists investigate those and much more in a crime laboratory. This is a special center where technicians analyze, examine and test the evidence that was unearthed at the crime scene. In the smaller laboratories, there would be only a handful of technicians handling the job but in the bigger ones, there are multiple experts focused on one topic at a time.
Central to the crime lab is the autopsy room where pathologists conduct detailed examinations on the bodies of murder victims. Pathologists not only find out how a person died, but also when, which was explained in-detail in the first chapter .An autopsy room usually looks like that of a surgeon’s but it’s not a generic surgeon holding the tools but instead pathologists, and the purpose there isnt to restore one’s health and is rather finding out as much information a dead body can tell. Pathologists carefully document the entire process, going through steps such as photographing and x-raying the body to document damages. As every death and murder case is usually different, there arent many autopsy cases that are completely alike, but most of the time it starts with the body being carefully undressed and searched for evidence. The scientist weigh the body and take measurements, dutifully examining the physical state of it. Any kind of injury, cuts, bruises and signs of anything else are noted out loud into tapes.
When the outer examination turns out to be insufficient and the cause of death remains unknown, the pathologists start cutting up the bodies and performing autopsies all over. They follow standard procedures and examine each limb and organ one by one. This procedure starts by the pathologists cutting a T- or Y-shaped cut in the chest in order to reach the chest cavity and then the inner organs, where they are methodically removed, analyzed, weighed, and sampled. These tissue samples undergo examination by toxicologists to determine whether or not there was any kind of sedative, drug, alcohol, or poison in the body. Changes or differences from the expected weight of an organ can be caused by an illness or an external reason.
Pathologists search for signs that could easily be lost to the eye. For instance, someone being held in a chokehold or having their throat constricted usually wouldn’t leave any marks on the outside, at most a few faint bruises, but the signs that tell what happened are under the skin. Or when a body was stabbed to death, in order to find the path the knife followed, there had to be a significant effort made. The findings of a pathologist can alter the course of a case, revealing a murder hidden behind covered-up clues as suicide or, conversely, exposing a framed murder as coming from natural causes.
Finding someone’s cause of death is what leads a case into it’s course; a ruling of suicide or natural causes may prompt the case to close once and for all, while evidence pointing to external causes rather than anything else, it would easily lead to a reopening.
Causes of death can vary in a whole spectrum in more ways than what’s countable and pathologists ask the questions to find the answer to the very question of “what could have killed this person?”. It could be an overdose which could be determined by blood tests and tissues taken from the liver; couldve been bloodloss from a stab or bullet wound, or even an open laceration; maybe an electric shock from a source that is to be found in the crime scene which stopped the heart or something as simple as a heart attack. Sometimes it seems like the answer is out in the open yet a throughout analysys may show that nothing is actually as it’s seen on the outside.
Take a case of “suicide”, in which the body of the dead person is found in the trunk of their car burned to a crisp, with a gallon of gasoline in one hand and a match in the other; the story seems simple enough, right? Yet when the scientists take a look at the lungs to see wether or not there is any soot in them; if the person died by burning themselves then they must have inhaled smoke and ashes which would easily be found in the lungs yet it there isnt any, then the case would be ruled out as a murder since as much as fire can cover up evidence, there’s still a lot that cant be hidden by flames eating up a body. Or if someone old, weak and ill is found dead in their bed, it might not be questioned too much at once but a quick examination at their face and the finding of mild crushing around the nose and mouth area or blood clotting around the veins on the neck could point to them being choked with a pillow and turn the peaceful, slow death of an elder to the search of a killer.
All in all, the criminology labs provide crucial information for any and all types of death and murder cases. The officers that work in the scene collect evidence, find bodies and preserve all of their findings for the scientists in the laboratories to give answers in order to be able to take any other steps in the investigations. The world outside and everything it contains could also be a considerable mean to find information about the cause of death; the dirt found on bodies and any kind of plant or bugs could also tell the investigators a whole bunch about the crime committed once they are found by the pathologists. And toxicologists search the bodies, blood, bodily fluids and organ tissues for any remnants of drugs or poison post-mortem that could be useful in the case.
In conclusion, the precise work conducted within criminology laboratories, from the careful analysis of microscopic evidence to the well rounded examinations done in autopsy rooms, serves as the basis for unraveling the complex reasons, results and trails of death and murder cases, providing invaluable insights that guide investigators in their road of pursuing justice.
