Ethics is defined by Miriam Webster as “the discipline dealing with what is good and bad with moral duty and obligation.” This publication also commonly defines ethics as “the principles of conduct governing an individual or group,” and/or “a guiding philosophy.” Ethics are arbitrary rules that define appropriate behavior in personal and professional life. In this course, the theme of ethics will be applied to forensic science.

Background
This course has been developed in response to the lack of formal ethics education specific to forensic science. While this course includes many “basics,” it also relates those ideas to the forensic science profession. West Virginia University Extended Learning and WVU’s Forensic Science Initiative presents these learning materials and this course to you on-line.

Objectives

Course Goal
This course serves as an orientation and overview of ethics in regards to forensic science. The materials in this course have been gathered to assist you in learning the preliminaries and are in no way meant to be a complete ethics course. They are strictly provided for educational purposes.

Course Objectives
By completing this course, the student will learn:

• Basic ethic principles.
• The relationship between science, law, and law enforcement.
• How science utilizes ethics.
• The codes of ethics specific to forensic science.
• The ethical issues facing forensic scientists.

Overview

Course Structure and Schedule
This is a non-credit course offered for 10 clock hours. Average completion time for the course is 8 weeks. The instructor should be notified if an extension is required. The course cost is $177 per registration, and a certificate for course completion will be issued to the student. Public laboratory employees are funded by NIJ Award 2001-RC-CX-K003 and 2003-RC-CX-K001.

Overview/Subject Matter
Topics covered in this course are:

• What is Ethics?
• Ethics in Justice
• Ethics in the Courtroom
• Ethics in Science and Research
• Forensic Ethics
• Unethical Behavior
• Future in Forensic Ethics

Requirements
Prerequisite(s)
No prerequisites or course materials are required for the course.

Computer Requirements

• Internet Explorer
• Adobe Acrobat
• QuickTime Player
• Macromedia Flash Player
• Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 1.5

(Free software plug-ins are available in the Getting Started area of the course.)

Basic computer skills required (i.e. turning on your computer, navigating to websites, etc.) The course is user-friendly but support is available if needed.

Materials
All required readings are provided in PDF format. There is no required text.

Registration Information

To Register
Public laboratory employees are funded by NIJ Award 2001-RC-CX-K003 and 2003-RC-CX-K001. Please fill out the Supervisor Approval Form and fax or mail it. No other form is required to register. Students that submit a Supervisor Approval Form will receive registration confirmation by email showing a charge of $177. Please disregard this charge if you are a public laboratory employee funded by the NIJ Award. When WVU Extended Learning receives the Supervisor Approval Form, you will receive class access information by email within 5 business days.

Others: Register online through our secure server or fill out this form and fax or mail it to Extended Learning. You will be given class access by email within five working days. Call 1-800-2Learn2, or email WVUEnrich@mail.wvu.edu if you have any questions. Major credit cards and electronic checks are accepted.

Refund Policy

Refund Policy
For all students: A $30 processing fee will be charged to the Department for any student that does not access or finish the class in the time allotted.

Others: All requests for cancellations/refunds must be in writing. Requests must be made within one week from when the class access information was emailed to the student. Mail to: WVU Extended Learning, P.O. Box 6800, Morgantown, WV, 26506 or email to WVUEnrich@mail.wvu.edu.

More Course Information

Contact
Forensic Science Initiative at fsi@mail.wvu.edu or (304) 293-6214.