By Cristian Reyna\/\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The criminalistics class, taught by associate professor of Law and Criminal <\/a>Justice Teresa Bean, is taking <\/a>a <\/a>different approach to learning about cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The students have become <\/a>a panel of experts and have been commissioned to review the facts of <\/a>a famous case. <\/a>Each panel is made up of three students and <\/a>each <\/a>group <\/a>will be covering <\/a>a case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>They <\/a>will be covering the O.J. Simpson case, JonBenet Ramsey case and the Steven Avery case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>In this class, <\/a>they go <\/a>over various areas of what to do <\/a>in <\/a>a crime scene, how to collect evidence, contamination and the <\/a>different areas of forensics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is more of <\/a>a deductive and inductive reasoning type class when you are looking at evidence and trying to make some determinations of evidence that was left at <\/a>a crime scene,\u201d Bean said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe look at arson, ballistics <\/a>in terms of when <\/a>a gun is <\/a>shot there are certain markings on the <\/a>bullet that we can determine what gun was used,\u201d Bean said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even though this isn\u2019t <\/a>a lab-based class, students still learn how to safely <\/a>transfer <\/a>DNA from <\/a>a crime scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe do look at how to lift fingerprints and we even look at <\/a>a lot of blood evidence called blood spatter,\u201d Bean said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, the students don\u2019t use real blood, but what <\/a>they use has the same viscosity as real blood. Students <\/a>will form groups and <\/a>they <\/a>will <\/a>drop the liquid from <\/a>different heights and see how far the blood splashes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAfter <\/a>a certain period of how far away it is, the diameter of the blood <\/a>drop remains the same,\u201d Bean said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>In one of the samples, <\/a>they dropped blood from two stories and the blood looked the same as the <\/a>drop from 24 inches. The diameter remained the same, but the only difference was the blood splashed more on the paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The significance of these kinds of experiments is to get <\/a>an idea if this blood was dripping from the weapon or if it was dripping from the <\/a>victim. It also gives you <\/a>an idea of how tall the <\/a>victim is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou don\u2019t think about these things, but it is truly fascinating,\u201d Bean said<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOne of the best things to hear as <\/a>a <\/a>professor is to hear a student say, \u2018Professor Bean, all my life I thought this person was guilty, and now that I have reviewed the forensic evidence myself, I am one hundred <\/a>percent certain the person did it\u2019 and that is <\/a>music to my ears,\u201d Bean said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The students <\/a>will present <\/a>their conclusions May 7 <\/a>in the moot <\/a>courtroom in Tatem Arts Center at <\/a>5:10 <\/a>p.m. Members of the panel will present the evidence, and after <\/a>they discuss the case, <\/a>they <\/a>will all come <\/a>forward with a conclusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>Each student <\/a>will need 20 sources for their presentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s magical to see from <\/a>a <\/a>professor’s perspective,\u201d Bean said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"