You might know a bit about what forensic science is, but some people aren’t fully sure what forensic pathologists do. They have very complex jobs that involve examining evidence from a forensic perspective. Many crime units make use of forensic pathologists to help catch criminals and identify victims. If you’d like more information about what forensic pathologists do, then you should keep reading.
The Training of a Forensic Pathologist
The first thing to know about forensic pathologists is the type of training that they go through. These experts are taught about several forensic science disciplines and they also receive an education in traditional medicine. To be an effective forensic pathologist, an individual will need to have an understanding of toxicology, trace evidence, wound ballistics, firearms, DNA technology, and even forensic serology. A forensic pathologist needs to be able to become a case coordinator during the medical and forensic assessments of various deaths.
Working Cases
Forensic pathologists will work cases to help law enforcement officials determine information about cases. You’ll often find these professionals helping to determine the time of death and they will also examine evidence to determine how someone died. They know how to examine corpses to get various pieces of information that will allow investigators to gain a more complete picture of what happened. They can look for certain injury patterns to determine a cause of death and can sometimes even find information that will directly lead to apprehending a suspect.
Experts like this often perform autopsies to get the necessary information. They also examine evidence at crime scenes to get more data and they examine things such as DNA evidence. Some forensic pathologists will also use tools such as DNA sequencers to get more information from degraded DNA samples. They need to know how to use many advanced tools to get the most forensic information possible.
Identifying victims is sometimes necessary and degraded corpses might need to be matched with DNA samples to get a positive identification. Sometimes techniques such as 3D facial reconstruction will be used to get a better idea of what a victim looks like, too. These professionals have important and complex jobs that help to catch criminals.