2014/05/13
C&EN May 12 2014: Forcing Change In Forensic Science
Scandals in labs across the country illustrate the need to reform the discipline, but change has been slow in coming
Five years ago, the National Academy of Sciences put out a report condemning the state of forensic science. It concluded that many common forensic techniques—the analysis of fingerprints, bite marks, blood splatter, and ballistics, for example—lack sufficient scientific underpinnings. Thousands of convictions were thrown into question.
But in the years since, little has been done to shore up the discipline’s scientific base or to make sure that its methods don’t result in wrongful convictions. Quality standards for forensic laboratories remain inconsistent. And funding to implement improvements is scarce.
While politicians and government workers debate changes that could help, fraudsters like forensic chemist Annie Dookhan keep operating in the system. No reform could stop a criminal intent on doing wrong, but a better system might have shown warning signs sooner. And it likely would have prevented some of the larger, systemic problems at the Massachusetts forensics lab where Dookhan worked.
A glimmer of progress is starting to emerge, though, in the form of initiatives at the Department of Justice and the National Institute of Standards & Technology. These agencies are creating two oversight organizations that will attempt to make reform ideas a reality, both in Washington, D.C., and in forensic labs nationwide. more