The Forensic Science Education Blog

Multiple loan repayment and forgiveness options are available for forensic scientists and CSIs. Read on to learn more about student debt repayment and forgiveness programs for forensics and CSIs.

Established in 1973 to enforce the controlled substances laws of the US, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) keeps Americans safe from dangerous drugs and those who traffic them. In service of that mission, it’s a leading practitioner of several forensic subdisciplines, with its Office of Forensic Sciences providing expertise in friction ridge examination, forensic chemistry, and digital forensics.

Ask a room of investment professionals to define cryptocurrency fraud, and at least one will tell you the term is redundant. The total amount of stolen cryptocurrency sits at over $46 billion in today’s value. But if you ask a room of forensics professionals to define cryptocurrency fraud, you’ll likely get a more serious and nuanced answer.

There’s no shortage of true crime gift ideas. Gifts range from practical and silly to informative and interactive and take the form of knickknacks, clothing, stickers, books, subscriptions, and useful tools. Whether you love it or hate the genre, friends and family of true crime lovers have plenty of ways to say “I see you” with the perfect gift.

The cyberattacks of the past aren’t necessarily the same as those we’ll face in the future: cybersecurity is a rapidly evolving field, with multiple attack vectors and increasingly complex hacks.

Fraud is big and getting bigger. Generally speaking, fraud is defined as actions that deceive for financial or personal gain—a category broad enough to include everything from lying about one’s age to masterminding a billion-dollar pyramid scheme.

Forensic science and crime scene investigation are necessary to bring criminals to justice, and this collection of cool forensics blogs help shed light on what goes on behind the scenes, and in some cases how forensics is being used or was used to bring criminals to justice. Without forensic scientists, toxicologists, or osteologists, thousands of crimes would go unsolved every year.

Benjamin Franklin said that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” and this quote remains relevant, particularly regarding crime prevention. Not only does crime prevention help keep communities safe, but it also can save lives and save money.

Cybersecurity has become one of the driving narratives of the 21st century. In recent years, cybercriminals have shut down critical national infrastructure, interfered with presidential elections, and held both companies and institutions for ransom.

According to the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer, violent crime is at some of its lowest rates in recorded history. But the public’s appetite for stories about those crimes is more voracious than ever. Today’s true crime stories have captured the public’s imagination and impacted how investigations are conducted and how justice is dispensed—sometimes positively, and sometimes negatively.

Do you think crimes always get solved? Think again. These 10 excellent cold case blogs shed light on gruesome murders that remain in need of resolution. The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) defines a cold case as one in which “probative investigative leads have been exhausted.”

Investigators rely on evidence to help them solve crimes. Sometimes, evidence isn’t readily available or has been degraded due to time or exposure to the elements. When this happens, alternative forensic research methods can be applied to extract results. One such method is the use of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) typing.

White-collar crime is, on the surface level, nonviolent, which sometimes lends it a false patina of benignity. But these are not victimless crimes. In college admissions fraud, students gaining fraudulent admission to universities take places away from those who would earn it honorably, depriving them of high-quality education and the lifetime earnings that go with it.

Podcasts like Serial set a new bar for the genre. Suddenly, true crime podcasts weren’t just guilty pleasures: they were Peabody-winning stories that could have an impact on precisely the topics that they were exploring.

Four-year degree-seeking students choose from either a bachelor of arts (BA) or a bachelor of science (BS) degree in criminal justice. Depending on the school program, specializations are available in homeland security, criminology, law enforcement, corrections, or cybercrime. Earning a degree specialization involves completing a unique course sequence of classes to deepen one’s knowledge and prepare for a career or graduate degree in a related field.