This is a 5-day, 40-hour course focused on the basics of medicolegal death investigation, with an emphasis on scene investigation. The NIJ publication Death Investigation: A Guide for the Death Scene Investigator will serve as the guide to the principles taught. Introductory-level sessions in each of the specialized forensic sciences will equip the participant with the essential theories and techniques required for practice.

Topics will include: First Steps in Scene Arrival; Basic and Advanced Methods of Decedent Identification; Trauma (gunshot, blunt and sharp force injury, thermal and explosive injuries); Sudden Death from Natural Causes; Asphyxia; Narcotic and Drug Related Deaths/Toxicology; Pediatric Deaths and Sudden Unexplained Infant Death; Court Testimony and Trial Preparation; DNA in Death Investigation; Introduction to Mass Fatality Management; Introductory Crime Scene Reconstruction and Bloodstain Pattern Analysis; Death Scene Photography; Forensic Anthropology.

The Basic Course is designed for practitioners who seek a fundamental grounding in medicolegal death investigation techniques. The course is targeted at those who are relatively new to the profession, preferably with no more than 5 years of death scene investigation experience, as well as at individuals working in non-medical examiner-based systems. 
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Advanced Training in Medicolegal Death Investigation

This 5-day 40-hour course focuses on the application of advanced forensic techniques in death investigation, geared toward the practicing investigator with some years of experience. The Advanced Course will include at least 8 workshops from which the trainee may choose; each will be repeated throughout the week. These sessions will be hands-on and laboratory/field-based.

Advanced Level Workshops will include:
a. DNA Techniques in the Field and Lab
b. Basic Bloodstain Pattern Analysis
c. Scene Documentation and Mapping in the Field
d. Mass Fatality Management and Disaster Response Field Exercises:
a. Disaster morgue operations
b. Family Assistance Center Operations for Missing Persons
e. Forensic Anthropology Lab
f. Recognition and Documentation of Patterned Evidence
g. The Investigator as Expert Witness

Course Dates

Registration for all the courses will open on September 15, 2009