The Evolving Forensic Sciences
Joseph L. Peterson
Sam Houston State University
College of Criminal Justice
Huntsville, Texas
Issues to be Addressed
Landmark changes in the past 35 years
 Key technological improvements
 Key progress in standards
 Key rules of admissibility changes
 Cultural changes
 Major problems that limit the field
 What needs to be done?

Landmarks of past thirty years

1970s
- Growth in violent crime and drug abuse
- Federal assistance (LEAA)
- Supreme Court decisions limiting police
and promoting science
- Tripling of laboratories
- Growth in state systems
Landmarks (cont)

1980s
-
Crime laboratory accreditation begins
Proficiency testing introduced/practiced
Data bases (fingerprints) established
DNA testing introduced in court
Major scientific entities approve of DNA
testing
- TWGDAM guidelines for DNA testing
Landmarks (cont)

1990s
-
Establishment of DNA databases (CODIS)
Convicted offender DNA testing approved
Post-conviction DNA testing/death penalty cases
Associated evidence evaluated (eyewitness)
Supreme Court decisions (Daubert trilogy)
OJ, whistleblowers, and FBI Audit
“Junk science” enters our lexicon
Landmarks (cont)

2000s
- Decade of remarkable changes
- Convergence of major forces
- Six primary areas
Landmarks (2000s)

Popular culture change
-
Public learns about forensic science
CSI TV phenomenon
Raised expectations and the “CSI Effect”
Journalists attack forensic examiners and
their science
- Reliability of science is attacked in press
• Chicago Tribune, etc.
Landmarks (2000s)

DNA
-
The science continues to evolve
Progress in precision and sensitivity
Serves to exonerate as well as convict
Becomes the new scientific “gold standard”
against which other scientific evidence is
compared
Landmarks (2000s)

Aggressive criminal defense litigation
-
Law school innocence projects (s)
Capital cases are overturned
DNA is instrumental evidence
Extends to other forensic testing
Other evidence (forensic included) questioned
Fallibility becomes issue and death penalty
sentences decline
Landmarks (2000s)

Legislative
-
Laboratory conditions cause for action
Coverdell et al.
Funds earmarked for DNA testing
Funding tied to meeting standards
NIJ 180 Day Report to Congress (2004)
Landmarks (2000s)

Rules of admissibility continue to evolve
-
The Daubert Cases
Was a scientific process followed
Frye standard also influenced
Long accepted techniques are questioned
Landmarks (2000)

Laboratory Management Hits Front Page
-
The Houston crime lab scandal (and others)
Backlogs stifle/cripple the field
Laboratory budgets are often the cause
Context effect is discussed
What Needs to be Done?




Funding
Organizational placement (Independence and
Neutrality)
Standards should be mandatory
Scientific research
- Technical
- Statistical empirical data bases

Continuing legal education
- Advisors to the courts
- Lawyers and judges