Pathology

"Real-life" crime dramas on television intrigue us with the details of postmortem examinations leading to the arrest of murder suspects—but how do forensic pathologists, the doctors who investigate unnatural deaths and chilling crime scenes, actually bring criminals to justice? The story lies in the body of evidence. Literally. The human body provides a wealth of scientific evidence that allows forensic pathology, or legal medicine, to help resolve criminal cases and convict even most elusive perpetrators. The human body records the story of a crime in the language of cuts, wounds, and bruises, and in the fingerprints and bloodstains. Forensic pathologists are trained to scrutinize and interpret this evidence in ways no other scientist can. Examining victims' remains from the outside in, forensic pathologists investigate every inch of the human landscape to discover when, how, and why the victim died. Sometimes, a time of death is all a jury needs to convict a suspect of murder, and forensic pathologists are experts at uncovering this crucial evidence. Visiting crime scenes, collecting bodies in the middle of the night, and excavating suspicious burial grounds are all in a day's work for the sake of bringing justice to victims who can no longer speak for themselves.