Part 1:
1. What is crime-scene reconstruction?
2. Which of the following is of paramount importance in the interpretation of bloodstain patterns?
a. The direction of impact
b. The surface texture
c. The angle of impact
d. The amount of blood
3. How can an investigator tell the direction of travel of blood from the shape of a bloodstain?
4. What is the difference between the shape of a bloodstain that impacts a surface at a low angle and one that impacts at a higher angle?
5. What is the difference between forward spatter and back spatter? Which is more likely to be deposited on the object or person creating the impact?
6. In general, as both the force and velocity of impact increase, what happens to the diameter of the resulting blood droplets?
7. Why might investigators overlook some high-velocity spatter?
8. Define the terms area of convergence and area of origin and explain what kind of information each reveals to an investigator.
9. Name three factors that affect the amount of backward spatter produced by a gunshot wound.
10. What is the drawback effect? How is it helpful to an investigator?
11. What determines the size of blood drops in a cast-off pattern? Explain.
12. What is expirated blood? Name two ways to distinguish expirated blood from other types of bloodstains.
13. What is a void pattern? How might a void pattern be useful to investigators?
14. What is a transfer pattern? How is a simple transfer pattern created?
15. How does the first transfer pattern in a series differ from subsequent ones?
Part 2:
1. How is the hair cuticle used to identify different animal species?
2. What aspect of the hair cortex is most important for the criminalist and why?
3. What is the follicular tag and why is it important to forensic scientists studying hair?
4. In comparing two hair samples, what aspects of the hair is the criminalist particularly interested in matching? What other features of hair are important to compare?
5. Which of the following cannot be confidently determined by a microscopic examination of hair: age, sex, racial origin, the part of the body from which the hair came, or whether the hair was pulled out or fell out?