The International Association for Identification realizes the importance of education and research in the field of Forensic Identification.  The Johnson-Whyte Memorial Foundation Fund was established to fund scholarships.  Applications for scholarships are being accepted until June 1, 2018. 

The degree being sought must be related to employment in the field of Forensic Identification. Undergraduate applicants must be in third or fourth year during the Fall term of the year in which the award is to be given. Applicants must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale. 

Applications can be found at www.theiai.org/foundations

Third year student Allana Braga, in the Forensic Anthropology Specialist Program, was featured in a segment on Daily Planet. You can watch the clip here.

Student research from the University of Toronto Mississauga reveals new information about Indigenous homicides in Ontario. The study by Navneet Aujla, a fourth-year student with UTM’s Forensic Science program, confirms and updates 20-year-old conclusions that Indigenous people are more likely to be victims of homicide compared to the general population, and pinpoints homicide hotspots in the province.

Read the full research profile here

This summer, Dr. Larsen will be teaching this summer's special topics course in forensic psychopathology. Pathology is the study of disease and psychopathology is the study of mental illness. In forensic psychopathology, then, we make inquiries about mental illness in the context of forensic practices. 

This course will explore a general insight into the history, scientific merits, and practical relevance of forensic psychopathology. 

Students will:

• survey prevailing theories on mental health, illness, and treatment
• investigate psychiatric diagnoses such as (juvenile) Conduct Disorder, Antisocial Personality Disorder, and Psychopathy, 
• investrigate application and relevance in risk assessment, behavior prediction, and offender rehabilitation. 
• discuss methodological, ethical, and legal issues in the field, for example, the scientific validity of psychiatric diagnostics, the ethical implications of using psychiatric assessments in forensic institutions, and the legal responsibility of mentally ill offenders.

Prerequisites: FSC239Y5 (or PSY100Y5/PHL101H5). Priority will be given to Forensic Science Specialists and Majors.)

This course is designed to complement the material covered in both FSC300H5F (Forensic Identification) & FSC302H5 (Advanced Forensic Identification). The field school will be held on the U of T Mississauga Campus over a mandatory 2-week period during the summer term and during weekly two-hour labs in the fall term.

In these classes, students will experience practical exposure to field and laboratory methods related to evidence recognition, collection and interpretation. Emphasis will be placed on the types of evidence collected, processed, and analyzed by forensic identification specialists. General evidence and small object photography techniques will be an important component of the course.

Students will:

• Gain knowledge and understanding of the duties of a forensic identification specialist
• Demonstrate proper scene documentation techniques
• Be competent in use of forensic laboratories and equipment in a safe manner
• Gain knowledge and understanding of health issues surrounding forensic identification equipment
• Gain knowledge and understanding of different types of evidence
• Demonstrate a variety of proper scene management techniques, including proper protocol, fingerprinting, footwear impression, blood stains, 3D reconstruction, fire scene investigation, and more.

Prerequisites: FSC239Y5, FSC300H5F, FSC 302H5
Priority will be given to Forensic Science Specialists and Majors.)

Congratulations to program director and course instructor Dr. Tracy Rogers, who was recently announced as one of the best people of 2017 by Star columnist Heather Mallick"

"[As] One of Canada’s leading forensic anthropologists, she studies what bones and ashes have to say to the living. Having worked on the Pickton serial killings, she remains meticulous, even physically entering the extermination chamber that Dellen Millard bought to incinerate the kidnapped Tim Bosma in 2013....When I think of the Bernardo-Homolka serial killings, where a lazy autopsy of Karla Homolka’s little sister made the subsequent killings possible, I so value Rogers’ intelligence and care. It continued in the Millard-Smich trial over the murder and incineration of Laura Babcock."

Dr. Rogers' commitment to hard work and integrity is a great example to future forensic scientists in our program.

Last month, Professor Cahn was featured in The Medium, discussing the importance of experience in an education of forensic science, and what students can gain in the fourth year internship course.

You can read the full article by following this link. 

On October 11^th, 2017, UTM sessional law professor Enzo Rondinelli was called to be one of the ten new judges appointed to the Ontario Court of Justice. We are extremely proud to congratulate professor (now Justice) Rondinelli, who has been an adjunct professor at the Osgoode Hall Law School since 2003, and teaches FSC360: Evidence, Law and Forensic Science in Canada at the University of Toronto Mississauga.

Justice Rondinelli was called to the bar in 1997, and most recently worked with the Pro Bono Law Ontario-Supreme Court of Canada Assistance Program, the Pro Bono Inmate Appeal Program and the Legal Aid Ontario Committee. Earlier this summer, Justice Rondinelli won the Ontario Bar Association Award of Excellence in Criminal Justice.

Chief Justice Lise Maisonneuve has assigned Justice Rondinelli to preside in Toronto, and we are very fortunate to have him in such an honourable position within our legal system!