Membership in the General Forensics Section

Professionals who are trained in the application of accounting principles, theories, and disciplines to facts or hypotheses at issue in a legal dispute.

Professionals who apply archeological theory and methods to the resolution of medico-legal issues. Forensic archeologists may assist scene investigators by performing controlled searches, aiding in location, survey, sampling, recording and interpretation of evidence as well as the recovery and identification of human remains and associated relevant evidence at forensic scenes.

Professionals who reconstruct the face and/or body features of an unidentified individual from skeletal remains for identification purposes.

Professionals who investigate collisions, mechanical failures, and other causes of accidents and who may reconstruct accident scenes for legal purposes.

Many disciplines, sub-disciplines and specialty areas of expertise may be subsumed under this category. Consultants who specialize in the death investigation process, police procedures, evidence collection, and so forth may be included. Other persons who, for example, reconstruct crime scenes and death scenarios, may also be included. Generally, applicants shall be active as a consultant and must meet the requirements of the Academy as a whole and the General Section mandates as follows:

1. Must have previous experience in a forensic discipline approved by the General Section or another section of the AAFS.
2. Must be an active consultant in a forensic science field acceptable to the General Section

Professionals who investigate deaths falling under the jurisdiction of the medical examiner or coroner including sudden and unexpected deaths and are responsible for performing scene investigations emphasizing information developed from the decedent and determining the extent to which further investigation is necessary, in order to assist in the determination of cause and manner of death.

Professionals who assess the reliability and validity of information, using instrument-based (e.g., Polygraph, fMRI, etc.) or non-instrument based methods (e.g., interview, Statement Validity Analysis, etc.). This information includes physiological and behavioral measures acquired overtly or covertly.

Professionals who recognize, document, process, preserve and collect physical evidence at crime scenes for further forensic analysis or courtroom presentation. Crime Scene Investigation includes, but is not limited to, the use of techniques such as photography and sketching, fingerprint processing with powders and chemicals, casting of impression evidence, the use of presumptive tests and enhancement reagents and the examination of evidence using alternate light sources.

Professionals who research or teach in a college, university, or government forensic science program or who teach courses on forensic science topics. Applicants shall be a professor (lecturer, instructor, assistant professor, associate professor) or adjunct professor or researcher who meets the requirements of the Academy and the General Section mandates as follows:

1. The applicant shall be an active educator of fully matriculated students of a two-year program of a community college, a four-year degree program and/or graduate program of a college or university in forensic science or one of its disciplines, during which the majority of the applicant's teaching effort has been in subjects involving forensic science or,
2. The applicant shall be an instructor or adjunct instructor of employed professional law enforcement investigators, medico-legal death investigators, coroner's investigators, or professionals in a forensic-science technical specialty during which the majority of the applicant's teaching effort has been in subjects involving forensic science.

Professionals who analyze firearms and ammunition usage in crimes.

Professionals who assess evidence relating to minerals, soil, petroleums, and other materials found at a crime scene or suspected crime scene to address questions raised in legal proceedings

Professionals who work in management or policy-making positions in crime laboratories, medical examiner's offices or other laboratory settings carrying out forensic examinations or investigations.

Professionals who use photography, and specialized photographic techniques, to document evidentiary items for use in medicolegal investigations, criminal investigations, and courts of law. This includes forensic photography work in the field at death scenes and crime scenes, in autopsy facilities (morgues), medicolegal offices (medical examiner/coroner) and forensic laboratories to create permanent records of the scene, evidence and forensic findings.

Professionals who utilize radiological techniques and apply the results to assist physicians, pathologists and others in matters pertaining to the law such as, the identity of human remains, the location of foreign bodies, and documentation of fractures and other related forensic investigations.