CUTM1672: Forensic Medicine

Teacher

Manisha Panda

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CUTM1647 FORENSIC MEDICINE

Course Credit: 4-2-0

Course Objective

The duties of the first responding officer who receives a call on homicide or suicide case.
The steps involved in processing the death scene.
The importance of ascertaining whether the crime was staged to appear as suicide or accident.
The importance of bloodstain patterns in reconstructing the crime scene.
The importance of autopsy.
The importance of forensic odontology

Course Outcome

SNO	DESCRIPTION	PO MAPPING
CO1	Know about the importance of forensic odontology.	PO1, PO2, PO5, PO6, PO11, PO12
CO2	Understand the importance of autopsy	PO1, PO2, PO4, PO5, PO11
CO3	Understand the importance of bloodstain patterns in reconstructing the crime scene.	PO1,PO2, PO5, PO6, PO7

Course Syllabus

Unit 1: Death Investigations

Fundamental aspects and scope of forensic medicine. Approaching the crime scene of death. Obtaining first-hand information from the caller. Rendering medical assistance to the victim, if alive. Protecting life. Recording dying declaration. Identifying witnesses and, if possible, suspect. Interviewing onlookers and segregating possible witnesses. Suspect in custody – initial interrogation and searching for evidence. Miranda warning card. Assessing the crime scene. Request for forensic team. Importance of command post and log book. Management of crowd and media. Importance of taking notes. Items to be a part of noting. Documenting the death scene. Processing evidence. Evaluation of injuries. Importance of canvass form. Indexing the death investigation. Handling buried body cases – search for buried bodies, methods of exhumation. Suicide cases – evaluating the type of injuries, gauging the psychological state of victim, suicide notes.

Unit 2: Autopsy

Forensic pathology. Medico-legal aspects of death. Causes of death. Determination of time since death. Investigation of sexual offences. Death by drowning. Injuries. Types and classification of injuries. Antemortem and post mortem injuries. Aging of injuries. Artificial injuries.

Unit 3: Forensic Odontology

Development, scope and role of forensic odontology in mass disaster and anthropology. Types of teeth and their comparative anatomy. Bite marks. Forensic significance of bite marks. Collection, preservation and photography of bite marks evidence. Legal aspects of bite marks. Estimation of age from teeth.

Suggested Readings

K. Smyth, the Cause of Death, Van Nostrand and Company, New York (1982).
M. Bernstein, Forensic odontology in, Introduction to Forensic Sciences, 2nd Ed., W.G. Eckert (Ed.), CRC Press, Boca Raton (1997).
J. Dix, Handbook for Death Scene Investigations, CRC Press, Boca Raton (1999).
H.B. Baldwin and C.P. May in, Encyclopedia in Forensic Science, Volume 1, J.A. Siegel, P.J. Saukko and G.C. Knupfer (Eds.), Academic Press, London (2000).
V.J. Geberth, Practical Homicide Investigation, CRC Press, Boca Raton (2006).
T. Bevel and R.M. Gardner, Bloodstain Pattern Analysis, 3rd Edition, CRC Press, Boca Raton (2008).
W.J. Tilstone, M.L. Hastrup and C. Hald, Fisher’s, Techniques of Crime Scene Investigation, CRC Press, Boca Raton (2013).