Supplemental Information
Lesson One

Introduction To Forensic Science, The Crime Lab,
and The Forensic Scientist

Wide Scope of Activities

     While crime labs are primarily involved with the analysis of evidence, many are also involved with issues of recognition, collection, and preservation of evidence. Their involvement usually consists of training police officers and crime scene technicians to recognize evidence, collect it properly, and preserve it. However, in special situations usually involving very important cases, unusual cases, or cases with especially challenging evidentiary problems, crime lab workers respond to the crime scene and take part in evidence recognition, collection, and preservation.

    However, even when crime lab workers do not go to the scene, it is important that police personnel and crime scene technicians communicate sufficient information to lab personnel so that they are knowledgeable about the case. If the lab personnel do not know what is going on, they cannot subject the evidence to all appropriate testing, they may overlook important facts or inconsistencies in the evidence, and they will not be able to offer proper information and suggestions to investigators.

    In other words, police officers, detectives, criminalists (crime lab scientists and crime scene technicians), and forensic specialists are all part of an investigatory team that functions best when all members are kept informed about relevant facts and feel free to communicate information and suggestions to each other.

Maintaining Professional Standards

    Crime labs maintain high levels of performance the same way that other professional organizations do so. Crime labs participate in accreditation and quality assurance programs and they require staff members to be certified and engage in continuing education programs.

Crime Lab Accreditation

    "Accreditation" is an endorsement or seal of approval from some respected institution charged with setting and maintaining standards for institutions within a profession. The  American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors (ASCLD) is the organization which accredits crime labs in the United States. Accreditation is a voluntary process.

    To achieve ASCLD accreditation, crime labs must meet ASCLD standards for management, operations, personnel, procedures, equipment, physical plant, security, and personnel safety procedures. Adherence to standards is judged by subjecting the lab to a vigorous inspection and occasional re-inspections to maintain accreditation.

Criminalist Certification

    "Certification" is an endorsement or seal of approval from some respected institution charged with setting and maintaining standards for personnel within a profession. (Thus, institutions receive accreditation and their employees receive certification.) Certification for criminalists (crime lab scientists and crime scene technicians) comes from either the American Board of Criminalists (ABC) or the International Association of Identification (IAI).

    To achieve certification as a general criminalists or in a specialty area, an applicant must agree to adhere to professional standards and meet educational and work experience criteria. Passing a competency test may also be necessary.

Quality Assurance Programs

    Some crime labs maintain high standards of performance by instituting quality assurance programs. Quality assurance programs set educational and performance standards for personnel and mandate strict management and lab procedures. The program is often backed up and monitored by the administration of frequent proficiency tests which include subjecting lab personnel to unannounced simulated forensic cases.

Continuing Education Programs

    One of the differences between a "job" and a "profession" is that a profession recognizes that its "body of knowledge" is constantly expanding and its members must keep up to date on new information and procedures. Criminalists are required to maintain proficiency in their ever changing fields by engaging in continuing education activities, including attending additional college courses and professional seminars, going to the annual meetings of their respective professional associations, and reading professional journals. Certified personnel often must provide proof of engaging in continuing education activities to maintain their certification.

More About
"The Functions of The Forensic Scientist"

The Expert Witness

    Forensic scientists must understand that, ultimately, they serve the truth and not the interests of their employers, who often are police departments but sometimes may be defense attorneys, if they are acting as private consultants. Forensic scientists may shortchange the truth by inadvertently or purposely becoming biased towards their employer's side. Such bias can cause the forensic scientist to arrive at false conclusions by:

    1. Slanting judgment calls in favor of the side he or she supports

    2. Ignoring evidence not favorable or even harmful to the side
        he or she supports

    3. Focusing collection and testing activities on matters most likely
        to result in evidence favorable to the side he or she supports

    4. Lying, destroying evidence, or fabricating evidence in favor of
        the side he or she supports.

    Inadvertent bias occurs when the forensic scientist begins to identify too much with the police officers, detectives, and prosecutors with whom he or she works, often on a daily basis. Friendship and loyalty, while admirable qualities, can interfere with the logical, detached, professional approach that good science demands. Everyone must understand that all parties involved in an investigation are professionals in search of the truth.

    Unfortunately, sometimes even good law enforcement personnel forget that their goal is to learn the truth, convict the guilty, and exonerate the innocent. Good people are apt to act unprofessionally when they take cases "too personally" or get in to the mindset that the suspect is a bad guy who should go to jail no matter what because if he did not commit this crime, he probably committed others for which he was not caught and deserves punishment. Another cause of unprofessional conduct in an investigation is when the police are under intense pressure to solve "high profile" cases. They may be desperate for evidence which will allow them to arrest someone to get public pressure off them. This causes them to want the criminalist to either rush tests which compromises accuracy or interpret test results in ways unfavorable to the suspect.

  Purposeful bias can occur in either of two ways. First, the criminalist falls into the mindset that the suspect is a bad guy and deserves to go to jail. From this faulty and cynical rationalization, it is easy for weak and unethical people to falsify evidence and lie about test results. Second, the criminalist seeks personal gain or glory from his or her work. He wants to be known as the clever criminalists who "always gets his man" so he falsifies results. Or she needs money and become an "expert witness" with a reputation for testifying in favor of whichever side agrees to pay her a high professional fee. In return for the fee, she slants her testimony or analysis in favor of her benefactor. "Expert witnesses who slant their testimony for a fee are known as "hired guns" but a more apt name might be "courtroom prostitutes."

The Scientific Method

    Criminalists who work in labs often use the scientific method when performing their tests and related activities. The scientific method is a series of procedures that are logical and act as safeguards against introducing error and bias into scientific activities. All good scientists incorporate the scientific method into their work.

    An example of using the scientific method would be to use the same steps when performing a particular examination, unless extenuating circumstances make that unwise or impossible. By doing so, the scientist insures that he or she does not omit an important step and handles the examination without bias.

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Copyright 2007 John Kavanagh
john.kavanagh@sccmail.maricopa.edu
Last updated 8/7/07