By Shayal Gurung ’24, staff writer

The smallest details can be the biggest evidence, and crime scene investigation is a job that looks at those minuscule features.

Michael Corricelli is an adjunct professor of criminal justice and a recently retired federal agent specializing in crimes against children and violent crimes. He teaches crime scene investigation, which is a newly approved lab course.

Students in his class learn about what resources are used to find evidence and how crime scene investigators work through a scene. Students must do fingerprint, blood pattern and footprint analysis.

“This course is a basic introduction to crime scenes and evidence,” Corricelli said. “Students are teamed in pairs and provided a kit with basic tools to do things like fingerprinting, casting shoe prints and trajectory analysis. We discuss the different types of available evidence and then demonstrate various techniques for collecting it in a legally defensible manner. Students are then assigned small projects where they get to experience and try these same techniques.”

Within this course, there are exciting skills for students to learn. Evidence can be so small that it is hidden from the naked eye, such as tiny fibers on clothing. Crime scene investigation is a class that broadens students’ minds to what evidence can be.

“It’s exciting to see students start class with preconceived notions based on fictional television and then be able to articulate and demonstrate how things are done in the real world,” Corricelli said. “Watching them produce quality work that can match or exceed some current law enforcement officers is inspiring. Several former students could serve on a crime scene team right now, and I would have no problem taking some of them with me on real crime scenes.”

Corricelli is an inspiration to many students. His work as a federal agent and as a professor of criminal justice is crucial for students who want to work in this field.