Forensic Sciences: Find Videos

What triggers a car crash? What catastrophic forces come to bear? Most importantly, what can you do to avoid one? In this program, some of the world's top experts bring a comprehensive approach to the sophisticated science of crash investigation. Using an actual accident as a case study, police investigators, medical specialists, and engineers dissect the critical components of the crash, from practical physics to human judgment. A Discover Channel Production. (DVD 51 minutes)

A case by case exploration of forensic science and autopsy. Content: Autopsy : confessions of a medical examiner. The Joan Bent story -- The Jane Doe murder -- The Marybeth Tinning story -- A case of probable suicide -- The death of Billy Martin -- The Donna Payant story -- Attica Prison : Sept. 9, 1971 -- The Latoya Thomas story -- The Medger Evers story -- Autopsy 2 : voices from the dead. The unidentified torso -- Maggots in the evidence -- The good doctor -- The jellyfish case -- The angel of death -- The Ron Settles case -- A mother's instinct -- The funhouse dummy. (DVD 120 minutes)

At the Body Farm, the dead speak. This clinical program travels to the world’s first open-air crime lab with founder Bill Bass, of The University of Tennessee, for a close-up look at how cadavers decay. As proxies for murder victims, these decomposing bodies are studied in the name of science and the cause of justice. Factors and biological markers that help pinpoint time since death, including wind and weather, insects and carnivores, fire damage, soft tissue leachate, mold, and bacteria, are addressed. Three homicide cases that hinged on data and expertise gained at the Farm are presented, and Ph.D. students are filmed doing field work and body processing. (DVD 52 minutes)

This riveting program demonstrates the art and science of criminal profiling through the work of renowned forensic psychologists David Caldwell, Gus Gary, Dayle Hinman, and Mike Prodan. Detailed reconstructions of the sensational Crystal Todd murder; the case of the cold-blooded Seattle serial arsonist; the devious murder of Rachel Carlson and her baby; the chilling case of Susan Smith, convicted of killing her two children; and the notorious Riverside, California, prostitute murders are featured. A concise retrospective on the Mad Bomber case, a model of criminal profiling, is also included. (DVD 48 minutes)

This ABC News program spotlights the work of Doug Owsley, curator at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, who is a keen interpreter of the silent yet expressive language of bones. Owsley and his biographer, Jeff Benedict, give examples of how he has used bioarchaeology for forensic anthropology to unravel mysteries ranging from identifying an exhumed Civil War cavalryman to determining the true cause of death of Branch Davidian leader David Koresh. Owsley's career-risking suit against the government for the right to study the Kennewick skeleton is also discussed. (DVD 14 minutes)

Terrorists and other killers who use explosive devices typically presume that their tracks will be covered--but they are wrong. After a car blast, this program reveals how investigators deploy extraordinary science to recover scattered evidence, interpret the events at the center of the inferno, and capture the bomber. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms' Robert Poole leads the investigation. In addition, surgical pathologist and forensic anthropologist Doug Arendt demonstrates how to identify victims through their dental records. Some content may be objectionable. A Discovery Channel Production. (DVD 46 minutes)

Before detectives set foot on a crime scene, forensic scientists must first painstakingly glean every bit of evidence. In this program, Professor Margot of the Forensic Science Institute of Lausanne describes advances in criminal science. New technology has made it possible to capture footprints with Mylar and static electricity rather than plaster; to cause fingerprints on a shell casing to reappear after the bullet has been fired and ejected; to computerize Identikit composites; and to identify firearms and ammunition by discharging weapons into pseudo-flesh and examining the results. The contributions of Reiss and Locard to crime scene analysis, along with Godart’s role in the 1927 Sacco and Vanzetti investigation, provide some of the historical antecedents of modern criminology. (DVD 55 minutes)

Genetic experts examine the ability of lucomalakite green to obtain DNA samples from minute quantities of bodily fluids and discuss the RFLP and PCR tests used to analyze them. Also examines ballistics, soil and glass analysis as well as the 1992 Arizona case that used genetic profile of tree residue on a vehicle to bring about a conviction. (DVD 55 minutes)

Using dramatic reenactments of an actual case, this program show how a key piece of evidence, time of death, can be determined through a knowledge of insects. A forensic entomologist discusses how blowflies are a particularly useful species to investigators. (DVD 24 minutes)