Week Four!

This week we were asked to find a peer reviewed article on the topic we are interested in. I chose an article called "The Revivification of Professional Focus on the Rights of the Child." This article is written to tell the reader about children's legal rights and psychological wellbeing. I found this article "Examples include educational entitlements, disability rights and entitlements, probate matters (divorce custody, protection from abuse and neglect, protection from exploitation, foster-care placements, parental-rights-termination proceedings), international adoptions, juvenile-justice matters (Miranda comprehension, competence to stand trial, criminal responsibility, diminished capacity), adolescent independent autonomy in consenting to a limited range of medical procedures, privacy rights, freedom of expression and religion, refugee rights, and rights to safety and security in home and school settings." I learned that children get lost in legal battle because of many different reason, some of which I quoted above. Again, I used Google to find this article. It was not too difficult to find a peer reviewed article. It was harder to find one that was about my subject. After this topic, I hope to learn more about child psychology. This article told me about the different ways children get messed up mentally but doesn't tell me about how they deal with it.
 

 

A Revivification of Professional Focus on the Rights of the Child
Lois Condie, Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

http://www.forensicpsychologyunbound.ws/OAJFP/Condie_2010.html

Week 3

Welcome to week three! This week we were instructed to research a book and write about it. I chose a book called U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Laboratory Division, Handbook of Forensic Services (Revised 2007). After reading this book, I now have a better understanding of the process of collecting evidence and analyzing it. If anyone wanted to send something in to be analyzed by the FBI, they are free to do so. In this book, they give the reader the appropriate recourses. I found this book to be highly educational and very beneficial for my research topic. I feel that I have a better understanding of what a person in the forensic field does.

I found the process of finding an ebook to be slightly frustrating. Most sites, including the Brandman library, did not have options to look at the book right then. Most other sites I encountered only had a buying option. As I research this topic further, I am hoping to find more information of how the forensic scientist analyzes and compares DNA, ballistics and fingerprints to find the perpetrator.

Here is the link to the FBI forensic book:

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/lab/handbook-of-forensic-services-pdf

Week 2 research

This week we were instructed to find two sources of information on the topic we want to learn more about. As I mentioned in the first blog, there are many different fields in forensics. The two I chose are on forensic DNA typing and ballistic fingerprinting.

"Forensic DNA typing is a technique for identifying people from their organic traces – blood, semen, saliva, or hair – and their genetic idiosyncracies. It involves the comparison of small portions of DNA." I think it is very interesting how forensic scientists take something that seems like nothing and figure out whos DNA is at the crime scene. Everyone has a different DNA pattern and everyone's fingerprints are different.

"A ballistic fingerprint is the unique pattern of markings left by a specific firearm on ammunition it has discharged. Ballistic fingerprinting efficacy as a tool of forensics is a matter of some controversy." I am very excited to be able to look at the discharged bullets, analyze the striations, and match the bullets to the gun.

Forensic DNA Typing -
http://www.blackwellreference.com.libproxy.chapman.edu/subscriber/uid=890/tocnode?query=forensic+science&widen=1&result_number=3&from=search&id=g9781405120289_chunk_g978140512028929&type=std&fuzzy=0&slop=1&authstatuscode=200

Ballistic Fingerprints -
http://go.galegroup.com.libproxy.chapman.edu/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=RELEVANCE&inPS=true&prodId=GVRL&userGroupName=chap_main&tabID=T003&searchId=R1&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&contentSegment=&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=1&contentSet=GALE%7CCX3403300066&&docId=GALE|CX3403300066&docType=GALE

Week One, Welcome!

Hi everyone, I'm Eleanor Hamlin. I'm new to Brandman University; this week has been my first! My major is Criminal Justice with a forensic emphasis. My career aspirations are to be a forensic scientist. I have always been interested in psychology, so I want my minor to be criminal psychology. Whenever I tell anyone of my plans, they automatically think of Criminal Minds and CSI. Those are actually great examples of what I would like to do!

I would like to research more of the specific aspects of the forensic field. One of the jobs I would like to focus on learning more about is ballistics, but that's only one of the topics in forensics that I'm aware of. After reading the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, an area I would like to improve on is finding information that is pertinent to the topic I am researching and deciphering what is the "fluff" from the important information. Also, I would like to learn how to find the accuracy, validity, of a researched article instead of reading and quoting something that anyone can publish.