Write an essay describing the crime.
After your topic has been approved by your instructor write between 600 and 1200 words detailing the crime. You should include your name(s) at the top followed by a title for your paper. Put the link or a citation of the source information at the end. If you do not have a link, then you should cite the source using the following
format:
article author(s) [if provided]. year. article title.Miami Herald. date. page(s). our name(s), title and citations do not count towards the total word count. Add the total word count at the top right as follows: “total words: ____.”
When writing the essay, do the following:
1. Include a very brief introduction with background relevant to understanding the crime.
2. This section is the most important part of your paper. Spend a significant amount of time discussing the
forensic evidence
used in the investigation & prosecution of the crime. This can be evidence used to convict or exonerate a defendant or simply used in the investigation especially if the crime is still unsolved. If there are multiple pieces of relevant evidence, focus on one or at most two main pieces. You are better off discussing one piece in detail than two or three too flippantly.
a. Discuss the theory behind the evidence. For example, how is it that we can identify someone’s height
based on the length of bones or how we can use blood spatter to determine the source of blood and its
speed? What is the science behind those things and how was it relevant to this case?
b. You should also discuss how the evidence applied directly to this case.
3. Briefly summarize the evidence as it related to the outcome of the case. If there were some problems you identified (e.g., the evidence was applied incorrectly or too broadly), this would be the time to explain that.
