Living Forensics

Forensic science has by tradition been identified with investigations of questionable and criminal deaths. However, only recently a new discipline, called living forensics, has begun as a way for forensic scientists to deal with survivors of traumatic physical injuries and illnesses. As a result, living forensics is defined as the part of forensic science that deals with the unbiased solutions to legal issues in cases involving living victims. (Forensic pathology is the other part of forensic science, which traditionally has involved only victims who are deceased.)

The application of living forensics deals with most of the wide range of subjects within forensic science, including the living victims of alcohol and drug abuse/addictions; domestic violence such as abuse of children, elders, and spouses; food, medicine , and drug tampering and poisoning; incest; medical malpractice; nonfatal assaults; pedestrian and motorized vehicle accidents; abuse while in the custody of law enforcement and correctional facilities; rape; suicide attempts; and work-related illnesses and injuries.

Forensic scientists who work within living forensics are trained to identify living victims of abuse, neglect, and violence in a wide variety of locations such as health clinics, correctional facilities, emergency centers, hospitals, occupational health centers, nursing homes and senior citizen living centers, schools, rehabilitation centers, and the community at large.

Forensic scientists, in addition to dealing with these subject areas, help to support the civil and constitutional rights of the living victim. Many of the important ways that these rights are guaranteed include recognizing physical evidence with regards to known or potential criminal acts, collecting and safeguarding such evidence , and preserving the overall chain of custody of this evidence.

Because living forensics is emerging as a forensic field, healthcare personnel and other people in positions to identify abuse, violence, and neglect of living victims are just now being made aware of such criminal acts so they can deal with the appropriate procedures to document and safeguard such evidence. As the field of living forensics matures, evidentiary materials (evidence) will be more properly detected, collected, preserved, and transmitted to appropriate authorities within law enforcement and the criminal justice system. These advancements will help to reduce the costs of prosecuting criminals and increase the protection that society needs for living victims of such criminal acts.

see also Careers in forensic science; Evidence, chain of custody; Food poisoning.