Forensic Anthropology

            In the times of crime scene investigations, victims can be killed and their remains could be found unrecognizable, luckily, forensic scientists can identify the individual and help solve the case. In reference to the show Dexter, Dexter had always identified all of the victims alive or dead and he so happened to be the forensic scientist. In the show, Dexter seems to be skilled in all forensic sciences and in this blog I wanted to talk about forensic anthropology; the science of identifying the deceased. No matter the damage to the body, whether it be decomposed, burned, mutilated or anything to make the body unrecognizable, the forensic anthropologist has techniques to discover the person's identity.

            The services of a forensic anthropologist are needed when highly decomposed or charred human remains are found to the point where one is unrecognizable. Lerner and Wilmoth emphasize forensic anthropologists stating, "forensic anthropologist are requested [...]when difficulty in gathering physical evidence is experienced, or when the identification of the victim or the cause of death is not apparent" (1). Forensic anthropologists study osteology , in which the scientist specializes in the skeleton of a human. With the basic steps of osteology analysis, the scientist goes through the age, stature, ancestry, and sex of the skeletal remains. According to Lerner and Wilmoth, "a series of physical changes and interactions with soil bacteria, insects, and animals takes place when humans are buried, especially in mass graves" (1).  The anthropologist analyzes and remaining hair, bone, and soft tissue to determine gender, race, approximate time of death, and often the cause of death. The methods of analysis usually involve archeological techniques, soil analysis, identification of buried debris, recognition of buried marks of hands or footwear, and animal evidence (Lerner and Wilmoth 1). Forensic anthropologists are often consulted for "cold case" investigations when human remains are unexpectedly found. The anthropological gathering of evidence will take at least a full day, and when the remains are buried, two days. Only after this phase is completed can the remains be removed from the site. This conduction of evidence gathering is a different procedure than usual protocol which is not familiar to most crime scene investigators, thus the use of forensic anthropologists.

            Forensic science is a broad spectrum of crime scene investigation sciences and there are many specialties. While one is not more important than the other, they are all very essential  to criminal justice and finding the truth to the crime scene. The forensic anthropologist not only gives relevant physical evidence, but contextual information that can lead to the end of the case. In the end, forensic scientists are vital to every crime scene investigation, and there is always a specialty for each scenario.

Works Cited

"Crime scene investigation." The Gale Encyclopedia of Science. Ed. K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner. 4th ed. Detroit: Gale, 2008. Science In Context. Web. 20 Feb. 2013.

DNA Profiling

            There are many different ways to classify criminals and capture identities, but the classification I wanted to learn about today was DNA profiling. DNA Profiling seemed the most interesting and the science behind it is incredible. Blueprints are the foundation and making of buildings, which is similar to DNA and our foundation. DNA is essentially the blueprint of our life. Forensic scientists can identify criminals in crimes and check for family relation in immigration or disputed paternity. DNA profiling is a technique that has advanced quite rapidly over the years and has helped forensic scientists better their work.

            Many people such as myself, do not know much about what DNA really is and how one can use it to identify a person's relation to the situation. According to Lerner and Wilmoth, "DNA is the material within every cell of the body and represents the blueprint of life. It allows physical traits to be passed on from one generation to the next"(1). The majority of the human genome is actually very similar to all ethnic populations, but there is a slight difference in each and everyone's genetic makeup. Thus the unique DNA pattern. Forensic scientists use DNA profiling to acquit suspects involved in serious crimes such as rape and murder and have used it to convict individuals of crimes years after the investigation has closed (Lerner and Wilmoth 1). Scientists used to require the size of ink in a pen of DNA to identify someone, over the last few decades we have advanced to identify someone with a touch of saliva. This technique of forensics has significantly improved solved crimes.

            When one acquires DNA from a suspect or whomever, it goes through a process called DNA typing. This process is where the DNA is extracted from a biological sample which is then analyzed through one of many different tests. The object of this process is to create a unique pattern to that individual so future samples can link this individual to the crime being investigated. The current analysis method is called STR (short tandem repeat)analysis, in which the samples are repeatedly analyzed in shorter sequences (Lerner and Wilmoth 1). Unfortunately, this method does have its drawbacks, if very little DNA is recovered, it can lead to incorrect conclusions due to lack of amplification to the small sample of DNA.

            Forensic science is a very unique science to study and investigate different interests relating to criminal activity or civil law, it doesn't cease to fascinate me with this technique. DNA profiling is not the only classification but in blood splatter analysis, it is a very simple and easy process. Every cell, tissue, or organ in a person's body contains the same DNA pattern, so the United States law enforcement and armed forces has developed databases to collect information related to an individual's DNA identity. This great technique not only helps with murder cases and family relations, but it also helps us identify missing people and the deceased.

Works Cited

"DNA profiling." World of Forensic Science. Ed. K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner. Detroit: Gale, 2006. Science In Context. Web. 20 Feb. 2013.

Plans for Success

            In school, at least in my experience, I have always been told to be prepared for the future and have a plan for my education, career, and life. I look back in my past and think of how blessed I was to have people telling me the right thing and positively influencing me. My high school career was decent at best but I knew I still had a chance during my junior year to make the best of my future. The feedback from my friends and family help me realize that I'm going through a great path in my life and I feel enamored by satisfaction. Throughout my school career  I've felt distraught at home with little support, but with the influence of education and the people I envelop myself around, I've developed a plan for the future and it makes me feel truly triumphant.

            As I started high school, I decided to take higher level courses to challenge myself despite the lack of prior guidance. I always had teachers talk about college in the future and how it was expected of all of us in class, I didn't feel as if college was forced upon me but it was heavily influenced. Other students would come in and tell me the importance of education and how it would help me in the future. Although the topic of college was running through my mind, my unsupportive family at home kept me from caring. I felt depressed at home with all of my family issues; parental separation, sibling drug use at home, and house foreclosure, and according to McCann, Lubman, and Clark, "being unsupportive, highlighted how, in the young people's view, lack of understanding, poor communication, criticism, family conflict, and coexisting mental illness in families compromised their ability to cope with their depression"(1). Eventually, I looked past my depression and felt that my situation was only going to get worse unless I put matters into my own hands. I decided that in my life I had to succeed and take care of all of the issues at home if things were to get better. Thus the start of my future goals and plans for my education and work.

            I moved into a smaller town house from my single family home and it was my adopted mother taking care of three boys in her home with me being the youngest. The eldest brother in the home was in between jobs and stole from the family to purchase drugs, while the other brother did absolutely nothing with his life. My mother's bills piled up and I decided to get a job at Best Buy during my junior year to help pay for bills. The coworkers I had always supported me and pointed out things I could do with my life. Most of the people I work with are prior military, that being said, I have always thought of military as an option. Throughout high school, I realized college and higher education was the path for me and planned to pay for it with my own money. To this date, I have never asked for money from anyone in the family to pay for any of my education needs while taking care of the two brothers and my mother. The support of my friends and coworkers relieved my stress at school and work, as McCann, Lubman, and Clark say, " other forms of coping [...] include social environments" (1). I am in my second semester of community college and I realized working at Best Buy will not be sufficient for four year colleges. This led to my plans for the Air Force for the benefits to pay for my future endeavors in school and take better care of my family.

            When I think about my past, I do not feel regret for any events that have happened but feel blessed that it made me the person I am today. Without the past problems at home, I wouldn't have wanted to plan so much for the future. I feel proud when I have friends or family asking me what I'm doing with my life because I know exactly what I want to do and how I'll reach my goals. In the end, having planned and thought over my future in high school, led to my current success as a student and will lead me through a bright future.

McCann, T. V., Lubman, D. I. and Clark, E. (2012), Views of young people with depression about family and significant other support: Interpretative phenomenological analysis study. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 21: 453–461. doi: 10.1111/j.1447-0349.2012.00812.x

Happiness

            What makes a family, friend, or oneself happy? The denotation of happiness is the quality of being happy. But what level of quality defines us as happy? Back in the day in the 1960s, the man of a household could work a full time job out of high school and support a family as a middle class income assuming the family has two kids and a wife. Nowadays both parents work and even kids get a job in high school for future college payments. The world as we know it has changed and we as human beings are never fully satisfied, we want more and more. People were worried about homes and food on the table in the 1960s and our generation today post 2000 want the future. I personally always hear how people are content with their lives but never hear "I'm happy with where I am". I want to know what makes a person today happy whereas back then, the simple necessities made a person happy. The rapid growth of technology, standard of education and thirst for capital is what fuels this lack of happiness.

            Technology today soars at a rapid pace, every year we have upgrades for phones, computers, and databases. Innovation, achievements and goals are accomplished every day, people work hard to achieve. In our Declaration of Independence, it is inscribed that we follow the pursuit of happiness. According to the online source, "Americans unceasingly and unsurprisingly ask themselves, "Am I happy?" Matters of money, health, job satisfaction, romantic love, family, and friendship are the principal concerns of both private and public life in our modem republic" (Stearns 1). People work hard for new technology in their homes for matters of fun and enjoyment but does this make one happy? From my experience it quenches our thirst but we are unsatisfied and grow evermore wanting for more enjoyment. I believe the rapid growth of technology acts as candy to our eye and keeps us wanting for something new every day.

            Students all over the world are given the choice to higher their education to college with encouragements such as scholarships and financial aid. It is statistically proven that students with bachelor degrees earn millions more than a high school degree graduate. People stress themselves over with the known fact that one earns more capital through higher education but sometimes end up with a miserable job. Despite that fact, the extra money does not always achieve happiness. Stearns states, "once a comfortable sufficiency has been reached, surplus does not noticeably increase happiness; yet having a lot makes you want more and more, so that there is no such thing as enough"(1). Today, people need to educate themselves, especially when jobs can be competed for by anyone from any country who qualifies.

            The pursuit of happiness is inscribed into our very founding document of our country, perhaps this is the reason why many wish for it. Our background and past experiences can curve our definition of happiness, for example harsh living conditions and lack of education as a child will make one pursue a stable home and higher education. Once one achieves it, one can achieve happiness. But this happiness seems inconsistent, "pursuit of happiness" seems everlasting and maybe one can never completely achieve it, with everything rapidly changing today, it seems as if happiness is a dream we cannot reach and we can only be content with our lives at best.

Valiunas, Algis. "Have much, want much." Commentary 134.2 (2012): 87+. Gale U.S. History In Context. Web. 6 Feb. 2013.

           

           

Salem Witchcraft

            Before the 1700s, there was a specific place where the laws of science, facts and concrete evidence were not considered when convicting a person, and that town was called Salem. In the community of Salem Massachusetts, it was filled with a series of hysterical witchcraft affiliations, accusations trials, and executions. Witchcraft was the act of black magic and the use of spells to invoke spirits or other supernatural beings. Through my findings from a database, "during the course of the year, more than a dozen persons claimed to be afflicted by spells of black magic and sorcery that had been allegedly cast by men and women who had enlisted the supernatural powers of the devil" (Phelps and Lehman 440). Most of the persons claiming to be afflicted were teenage girls. In this town of Salem, people no matter the age or gender, were persecuted by pure accusations and without concrete evidence.

            Salem's witchcraft hysteria was mainly fueled by two families; the Putnams and the Porters. Phelps and Lehman state, "an inter-family rivalry began in 1672 when a dam and sawmill run by the Porters flooded the Putnam farms, resulting in a lawsuit brought by John Putnam Sr. A few years later the Putnams petitioned the town in an effort to obtain political independence for the village, and the Porters opposed them" (441). The arrival of Reverend Samuel Parris in 1689 intensified the Putnam-Porter conflict. Samuel Parris came to help solve the problem between the two families, but unfortunately caused more than bad than good. One evening, Parris came home to his family and found his children playing with a family slave, in which all of them were conducting an attempt to conjure evil spirits (Phelps and Lehman 441). The evidence left behind was the result of the children's conditions, leaving them " temporarily deprived them of their ability to hear, speak, and see" (Phelps and Lehman 441). These girls were checked on by the town physician and pronounced them under an evil hand.

            The accused people of witchcraft were punished without fair treatment nor legal counsel. According to Phelps and Lehman, "nearly 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft in Salem during the summer of 1692. Twenty accused witches were executed, 15 women and 5 men. Nineteen were hanged following conviction, and one was pressed to death for refusing to enter a plea. Four prisoners, three women and a man, died in jail." (441). Historians have identified a pattern of accusations, they were mainly girls that were seen as social deviants, outcasts, outsiders, merchants, tradesman, and others who threatened traditional Puritan values. People accused of witchcraft were always presumed guilty and those who were found guilty were almost always executed. Phelps and Lehman state, "no accused witches were afforded the right to legal counsel, and only those defendants who confessed were saved from the gallows upon conviction" (441).

            The evidence used during trials were poor and portrayed the people of Salem as scared and ignorant of proper forensic science. Evidence provided during the court resembled medieval superstitions of the Puritan community. " Nine witches were convicted on the strength of spectral evidence alone, meaning that the only connection between the accused and the afflicted girls was testimony that an alleged victim had been visited during the night by a ghostly figure who resembled the defendant" (Phelps and Lehman 444). Some ridiculous accusations were based on the evidence that these poor people could not recite the Lord's prayer, owned mysterious dolls, or suffered prior reputation for witchcraft. Without proper use of evidence, analysis of the crime, or any forensic science, crimes back in the day were solved solely on inconsistent evidence and fear for oneself.

"Salem Witch Trials." West's Encyclopedia of American Law. Ed. Shirelle Phelps and Jeffrey Lehman. 2nd ed. Vol. 8. Detroit: Gale, 2005. 440-444. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 6 Feb. 2013.