Crime scene investigation online activity

Do you have an interest in why people commit crimes and how society should deal with crime? Do you want to learn how to investigate forensic evidence of crimes? 

Get an introduction to criminology and forensic studies with these interactive criminal justice and crime scene investigation activities.

What is criminology?

Criminology is the study of crime and criminals, but what are the three parts that make up the study of criminology?

Test your knowledge of criminal justice

The term 'criminal justice' relates to the agencies involved in the justice and penal systems – such as police, prisons, probation – and their responses to crime.

How much do you know about the criminal justice system? Take this short quiz to test your knowledge.

Become a crime scene investigator

A key step in many criminal investigations is forensic investigation, in which investigators gather any evidence of the crime, for use in a criminal trial.

One of the things our students do to learn about this is to work on a mock-up of a real crime scene.

There are two scenarios for you to work through below, both involving a mock crime scene that needs to be investigated.

Scenario 1: Assault at Old Portsmouth

You’re a forensic investigator and you’ve been sent to the scene of an assault located on the beach in Old Portsmouth.

Your task is to identify all evidence and set the scene for the crime scene photographer.

Your task:

• Take a look around this 360 image of the crime scene.
• What evidence can you find?
• Write down everything you find and why it might be significant.

Check if you missed any evidence by reviewing the same 360 image that now contains scene markers for photography.

There are 14 different types of evidence in this scene - did you find them all?

Scenario 2: Hotel assault

You are the crime scene manager and lead investigator on an assault that has taken place in one of the rooms at a hotel.

You’re responsible for leading the investigation and your task is to identify the steps that need to be taken for the investigation, including the examination of the evidence at the scene.