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Would you trust forensic science?

Do you trust how forensic science evidence is used in criminal investigations? Do you want to learn about how and in what circumstances police, crime scene investigators and the court would use DNA and mobile phones in a case?

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After studying this course, you should be able to:

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First Published: 10/12/2025

Updated: 10/12/2025

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Course content

- Week1Week 1 Trusting forensic science
2 pages contain editor comments.
- Current section:
  Introduction
  Do you trust how forensic science evidence is used in criminal investigations? Do you want to learn about how and in what circumstances police, crime scene investigators and the court would use DNA and mobile phones in a case? This four-week course takes you through a fictional crime, from crime scene to courtroom. You'll see how the evidence is collected, analysed and presented in court. Along the way, you'll learn about trusting the science and the scientists, with a focus on how ...
  (1)
- Learning outcomes
- 1 What is forensic science?
- 2 In the case
  (1)
- 3 Forensic science evidence processes
- 4 What is trust?
- 5 Trusting forensic science and the criminal justice system
- Conclusion
- References
- Acknowledgements
- Glossary
- Week2Week 2 The forensic analysis process
3 pages contain editor comments.
- Current section:
  Introduction
  This week, we will follow Dave’s case as it progresses through the criminal justice system (CJS) – from crime scene to courtroom. We focus on how evidence is documented, recorded, recovered, retrieved, analysed, interpreted, evaluated, reported and stored. Next week we will cover the way that forensic science evidence is interpreted, evaluated and communicated in court.If you need a recap, take another look at The scenario in the Week 1 Introduction [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open ...
- Learning outcomes
- 1 Crime scene to court
  (4)
- 2 DNA: Forensic Scientist
  (1)
- 3 Digital Forensic Scientist
  (2)
- Conclusion
- References
- Acknowledgements
- Week3Week 3 Forensic science in the courtroom
3 pages contain author comments.
3 pages contain editor comments.
- Current section:
  Introduction
  Please can we get a week 3 title?This week we will continue looking at the crime scene to courtroom process with the focus on courtroom. The forensic evidence in Dave’s case has been provided to the prosecution legal team by the police and the forensic scientists. A suspect (Mike) has been identified using the DNA and digital evidence that you learned about in week 2. We will now visit the court to see how the evidence is presented. Most importantly, we will consider whether Dave should/can ...
  (1)
- Learning outcomes
- 1
  (3) (2)
- 2 Some typical questions for DNA Evidence
  (1) (1)
- Conclusion
  (1)
- References
- Acknowledgements

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Would you trust forensic science?

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Would you trust forensic science?

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