Welcome to the forensic science technician page. This page is designed to help anybody looking for information and resources relating to this particular forensic science career.
Whether you are considering becoming a forensic science technician, are looking for appropriate forensic science classes or simply want to find out what a forensic science technician does, we hope you find the following material useful.
What Does A Forensic Science Technician Do?
According to the National Institute of Health Office of Science Education, a forensic science technician collects, identifies, classifies, and analyzes physical evidence relating to criminal investigations. A forensic science technician will perform tests on weapons or substances, e.g., fiber, hair, and tissue to determine their significance to an investigation.
Forensic science technicians may also testify as an expert witnesses on evidence or crime laboratory techniques; as well as serving as specialists in area such as ballistics, fingerprinting, handwriting, or biochemistry.
Quality Forensic Science Technician Links
National Institute of Health Office of Science Education
The Office of Science Education coordinates science education activities at the National Institutes of Health and develops and sponsors science education projects. These programs serve elementary, secondary, and college students and teachers and the public.
Their website has a comprehensive careers section which includes some very useful forensic science technician information, which you can access by Clicking Here.
This information includes an interview with Angi M. Christensen a Forensic Science Technician, Evidence Analyst and Evidence Technician, at the Federal Bureau of Investigation Laboratory in Washington.
If you are seriously considering becoming a forensic science technician, we strongly recommend that you read the transcript of this very insightful inteview. Topics discussed include:
Work Experience
Education
A Typical Workday
you can read the interview transcript by Clicking Here.
US Bureau of Labor Statistics
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics has produced a detailed report on science technicians. Much of the information contained within the report pertains to forensic science technicians and includes information relating to:
Nature of the Work
Training, Other Qualifications, and Advancement
Employment
Job Outlook
Earnings
Related Occupations
Sources of Additional Information
If you'd like to read the report in full, you can do so by clicking on the following link. The science technicians report should open automatically. If it doesn't, you will need to install Adobe Reader on your computer, which you can get for free by clicking here (a new window will open so you can download without leaving this page).
Undergraduate students in a Forensic Chemistry Lab demonstrate how to develop fingerprints using a variety of methods: Cyanoacrylate (super glue), fuming, dusting, and iodine fuming.
Useful Resources
There are a number of pages right here on the All About Forensic Science website that provide additional resource material.
Every Contact Leaves a Trace: Crime Scene Experts Talk About Their Work from Discovery Through Verdict by Connie Fletcher
Book Description
Blood, fluid, fiber, hair, tissue prints every contact leaves a trace at a crime scene. Connie Fletcher presents, in the experts own words, what happens at the scene and in the crime lab, starting with discovery of the crime through criminal trial. Evidence technicians, blood spatter experts, latent print specialists, trace analysts, forensic anthropologists, entomologists, DNA experts, firearms experts, trace analysts, homicide detectives, and prosecution and defense attorneys more than eighty experts take you into their world behind the yellow tape. This is the experts book their words, their knowledge, their stories. Real Crime Scene Investigation.