What does a forensic scientist do? How do I become a forensic scientist?

Forensic scientists work in a variety of fields, including forensic pathology, forensic serology, and clinical forensics, and contribute to criminal investigations and medical incident analysis. To become a forensic scientist, you need to be licensed as a medical doctor and then undergo additional specialized training.

 

It’s been a while, but there was once a popular Korean drama called “Sign”. There were many interesting elements in the drama, including conflicts between characters, intrigue, and the fact that the main character was a forensic scientist. Before the drama, the public was largely ignorant of forensic science, and even after the drama, it’s likely that the public perceived a forensic scientist as a person who, like the protagonist of the drama, performs autopsies to determine how the deceased was killed. Of course, these are some of the things that forensic scientists do, but they are not the only things they do. Let’s take a look at what exactly they do and how to become a forensic scientist.
Forensic science, broadly defined, is “the study of medical and scientific matters of legal concern and their resolution to aid in the administration of justice and the defense of human rights. To break it down further, forensic science can be divided into three fields: forensic pathology, forensic serology, and clinical forensic medicine.
First, forensic pathology is the study of performing an autopsy or autopsy to determine the type or cause of death, the time of death, the method of death, the weapon used, and the poison used.
Forensic serology is the study of identifying individuals through blood tests, fingerprints, hair, and saliva, contributing to the identification of criminals and paternity tests. This is similar to the work of the main characters in the popular overseas series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. In fact, there are both forensic serologists and forensic pathologists who work for the Korea Forensic Science Agency.
Finally, clinical forensic medicine analyzes the relationship between the disease or injury and the cause of death, as well as the relationship between the medical practice and the cause of death, to determine whether a medical practitioner is negligent or not when a medical accident occurs.
While forensic pathology and forensic serology are relatively well known to the public through dramas and movies, and there are many areas where there is some connection between the two fields, clinical forensic medicine is relatively unknown and distant from the other two fields. However, clinical forensic medicine can play a large role in protecting the human rights of patients by advocating on their behalf when they may be harmed by a lack of medical knowledge. For example, before the advent of clinical lawyers or medical lawyers, if a patient’s illness worsened or even died due to medical negligence, the patient’s lack of medical knowledge often prevented them from receiving adequate compensation even if they sued the hospital or doctor. In recent years, such cases have been decreasing due to the development of clinical forensic medicine. Although we have categorized forensic medicine into three different fields, in reality, the three fields often complement each other closely.

 

The position of a forensic scientist can be ambiguous, as it requires the ability to practice both law and medicine. In order to become a forensic scientist in any country, you must be a licensed medical doctor. However, the exact process is a bit different in the United States and South Korea. In the United States, a medical examiner (similar to a forensic scientist in Korea) must first become a physician and then a pathologist, and the pathologist exam is only given after one or two years of training under a medical examiner performing forensic autopsies. In the case of a coroner in the Commonwealth (similar to a forensic scientist in Korea), the role was originally held by an administrator, not a doctor. When a case is brought to the court, an administrator would act as the coroner and refer medical issues to a renowned doctor, such as a professor at a local medical school, for advice, but nowadays, it is mostly a doctor.
In Korea, after obtaining a medical license, a doctor must complete a residency program in anatomical pathology (also known as diagnostic pathology), become board certified in anatomical pathology, and then undergo a period of training in forensic medicine. As of June 2024, there is no certification system, and the Korean Medical Association is in the process of promoting a certification system for forensic scientists. Currently, there are about 20 forensic scientists in South Korea, most of whom are employed by the National Institute of Forensic Sciences.