Class Location:
TBA or Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center, California State University Los Angeles
Class Description:
This four-day class (32 hours) presents scientific principles useful for understanding effects that alcohol can have on a person's ability to operate a motor vehicle safely. Topics to be addressed include: a) Overview of value and purpose of forensic alcohol analysis; b) Pharmacology, toxicology, and physiology of alcohol; c) Widmark hypothesis; d) Impairment; e) Field sobriety tests; f) Legal aspects of alcohol analysis; g) Common courtroom challenges; h) A practical drinking correlation experiment; i) Hypothetical questions regarding drinking scenarios.
Teaching Methods:
Lectures, discussions, demonstrations, drinking/correlation experiments.
Objectives:
Students will understand better how impairment relates to blood alcohol concentration; absorption, distribution and elimination of alcohol in humans; the design and execution of drinking/correlation experiments; how California regulations address alcohol and impaired drivers.
Prerequisites:
Competence with forensic analysis of alcohol in blood, breath and urine. Familiarity with chemical properties of alcohol, general physiology, and legal statutes regulating driving with alcohol.
Preparation:
Pre-class reading material may be assigned.
Tuition:
No cost to California public laboratory personnel. A $480.00 tuition fee will be required for all other public agencies, private sector, or out of state applications. Checks may be made payable to CA State Department of Justice.