2015/04/23

NIST April 20, 2015: New Report Recommends Policies for Improved Preservation of Biological Evidence

All states should have laws ensuring that criminal justice systems properly handle, store and retain forensic biological evidence, according to a new report* from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). NIST's guide, Biological Evidence Preservation: Considerations for Policy Makers, encourages legislators, judges, law enforcement officials, crime laboratory managers and other policy makers to implement or update laws that support best practices in this critical area.

"While 43 states and the District of Columbia have enacted statutes related to the preservation of biological evidence, policies and procedures can be enacted in states that currently have no laws," as well as states looking to improve existing legislation, according to the NIST report.

Biological evidence refers to two types of evidence commonly recovered from crime scenes or collected during criminal investigations: biological samples such as blood, semen and other bodily fluids; hair; tissue; bones and teeth; or items containing biological material such as a bloody T-shirt. An earlier NIST report, The Biological Evidence Preservation Handbook: Best Practices for Evidence Handlers,** detailed a set of best practices to help ensure biological evidence is properly stored to avoid contamination, protected against premature destruction or degradation, and accurately tracked to prevent loss. more