Jordan Hoang
Mr. Ippolito
Forensics C Odd
3/29/20
Sandomir, Richard. “Betty Pat Gatliff, 89, Whose Forensic Art Solved Crimes, Dies.” The New
York Times, The New York Times, 14 Jan. 2020,
Betty Pat Gatliff, who recently passed away from a stroke at the ripe age of 89, was one of the most influential forensic scientists in the field. Gatliff began her career with a degree in both art and science. Her keen interest in sculpting however, eventually led her to help forensic scientists reconstruct faces for crimes. Before beginning her reconstruction, she would gather information from investigators about the skull- such as the age, race, and body type of the person. Then, she would make “plastic markers” to identify how deep she believed the facial tissue to be. Finally, she would smooth over the entire face with clay and shave it down to make it look more realistic. Her work mainly focused on reconstructing the “skulls of people whose faces had decomposed or been rendered unrecognizable by acts of violence.”
Gatliff's work was extremely influential to the field of forensics. Throughout her years of work, she was able to build 300 different faces and produce identification for over 70% of them. Her focus however, was not only identifying and reconstructing faces, but teaching others how to do the same. When showing her technique to other aspiring sculptures and forensic scientists, she noted “I guarantee after these four days you won’t look at a person’s face the same way again.” Although she was mostly reconstructing the faces of victims rather than perpetrators, her skills ultimately helped many forensic scientists gather significant information about the events of a crime. Gatliff noted, “That’s the reason I do it, is to help solve a crime.”
There were many positives about this article. I liked how the author gave details about the life of Gatliff along with insightful information about her work as well. The only minor critique I would give is that there wasn’t a lot of visuals. I think it would have been interesting for readers to see more of the faces that Gatliff reconstructed throughout the years. Overall however, the article was very enlightening. It showed me just how significant Gatliff’s work was to the field of forensics.
1 comment:
Madison Meehan
3/30/20
Sandomir, Richard. “Betty Pat Gatliff, 89, Whose Forensic Art Solved Crimes, Dies.” The New
York Times, The New York Times, 14 Jan. 2020,
www.nytimes.com/2020/01/14/science/betty-pat-gatliff-dead.html.
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=4250390869532540972&postID=94097624478710412&bpli=1&pli=1
Jordan’s current event about the article, “Betty Pat Gatliff, 89, Whose Forensic Art Solved Crimes, Dies” by Richard Sandomir was very interesting and new to me. Jordan summarized this article very well in her first paragraph, which helped me understand this new topic easily. She also included quotes from the article, which helped support her various opinions about the article. The last thing I believe Jordan did very well with was picking an article that related to forensic science. This article showed how important reconstruction is in forensic science.
Although Jordan did a good job with her current event, there were some small things she could work on to make it better. One thing she could’ve done differently was be a little more specific in her conclusion while criticizing the article. One last thing she could have done differently was explain the exact process a little better because some parts were slightly confusing to understand.
I enjoyed reading Jordan’s current event and article she chose a lot and I definitely learned a lot. I learned more about reconstruction and just how much of an impact they can make on cases with the help of a forensic scientist. I haven’t heard much about this topic at all which made it even more interesting to read. I will definitely take this knowledge with me as I continue to learn more about forensics.
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