STEM+ x Criminal Justice

Welcome to our STEM+ Spotlight blog post! In these short posts, the Lyra team explores and describes the various intersections of STEM applications with other industries, careers, and fields.

Criminal justice explores society’s response to criminal behavior, including investigation, prosecution, and punishment of crimes. In our society, professionals from various disciplines work together to uphold justice, including law enforcement agencies, the judicial system, and correctional facilities. In criminal justice, STEM+ topics and fields, such as forensic science and technology, are used to provide a scientific and data-driven approach to ensuring public safety.

By incorporating DNA fingerprinting, chromatography and fiber analysis, the field of forensic science opens opportunities for those in STEM+ careers to contribute to upholding justice and ensuring public safety. For example, forensic investigators are able to use fingerprints, DNA and ballistic evidence from a crime scene to identify criminals and construct an objective narrative of what took place. But not all forensic analyses are performed on physical evidence from a crime scene - forensic accountants “follow the money” to uncover financial crimes and forensic computer analysts help uncover electronic transactions or digital crimes using hardware and data associated with suspects. Through the collaboration of experts specializing in physics, chemistry, finance, and computer science, many criminal organizations have been brought down and communities made safer.

Lyra has incorporated this intersection with a STEM+ workshop called “Forensic Case Files”, where we look at how forensic technologies can be used to solve crimes:

Image by Freepik

“Imagine that you have evidence from a crime, but no idea what to do with it. This is when you can turn to the fields of engineering, biology, and chemistry to analyze all of the evidence you gathered and find out who your criminal is. With this uniquely tailored presentation, learn about the world of forensic technology and the various techniques used to catch a criminal.”

Thank you to Neelaza Dahal for the graphics on this topic! Join us for additional mini blog posts for our STEM+ Spotlight. Check out our previous post where the Lyra team explores the intersection of humanities and the STEM+ field, and stay tuned for our next STEM+ Spotlight!