Forensic Science, Television, and the Internet Revisited

The subject of forensic science has been a subject of growing interest among the public, particularly over the past few years as televised trials and television programs focusing on forensic science are multiplying. A year ago, I featured information on the excellent information provided on the websites related to popular forensic television programs including "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "Forensic Files," and HBO's "Autopsy." As interest in the topic has not waned, particularly with new programs such as "CSI: Miami" and the occasional addition of "Forensic Files" to NBC's lineup. Moreover, the sites reviewed earlier have made some improvements and include new information, multimedia, and helpful interactive tools to help foster an understanding of scientific techniques among the average layperson.

The website for HBO's "Autopsy" has not changed a great deal since a year ago, but it is still a high quality website with excellent multimedia, including an interactive casebook where you can look at crime scene photos, collect evidence, and learn what the forensic experts did in a major serial killer investigation. The site also allows you to take place in an interactive autopsy with Dr. Michael Baden and gives you a tour around the virtual crime lab. The virtual crime lab is a little disappointing as it only explores a small variety of equipment. This site is, however, excellent for gleaning information on forensic history. One of its best features is a comprehensive forensic timeline which highlights the major advances in forensic science throughout history and a section on forensic firsts which looks at more recent innovations in the forensics field. The newest feature on the site is a section in which you can read an excerpt from Michael Baden's book Dead Reckoning. This is helpful because you can get a preview of the book before you buy. Moreover, it is an added bonus for fans of "CSI" because a version of the case he describes appeared in a "CSI" episode entitled "Burked."

The "Forensic Files" website, www.forensicfiles.com, still has a good episode guide and a comprehensive glossary of forensic terms, good descriptions of various members of a forensic team, as well as links to forensic sites. That site itself has not changed a great deal and is still a little less thorough than the other websites for the major forensic science programs. For more information on "Forensic Files" you may want to check out www.courttv.com/onair/shows/forensicfiles/index2.html. This site includes additional information on forensic techniques featured on episodes of "Forensic Files," the same glossary of terms, and a forensic timeline that is a nice complement to the one on the "Autopsy" site. Many of the same historical incidents are mentioned, but the slight differences in description make an understanding of forensic history more complete. This site includes a link to CourtTV.com's virtual forensic lab. This lab features three floors with four rooms and each room highlights a specific forensic technique. Floor 1 has rooms featuring DNA evidence, the Global Positioning System, Fingerprinting, and bite marks; Floor 2 features fiber comparison, time of death, firearm comparisons, and ritualistic behavior; and Floor 3 features accelerants, shoeprint characteristics and casting, blood spatter, and presence of blood.. Each room on each floor may have a slideshow of forensic scientists exhibiting techniques, a video explanation of the technique by a forensic scientist, video footage of experts demonstrating techniques, or possibly all three. It is an excellent use of multimedia for teaching the public more about forensic science.

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