In apparent recognition of the CSI Effect, the American Judicature Society has finally convened a Commission on Forensic Science and Public Policy, co-chaired by former Attorney General Janet Reno, former FBI Director William Webster, and Carnegie Mellon University Statistician Stephen Feinberg. The Commission includes 38 high profile scientists, law professors, defense attorneys, prosecutors, cops and academics, and is charged with planning a course of action that will lead to improvements in 5 highlighted areas:

1. Ensuring the preservation, scientific testing, and access to evidence;
2. Improving the quality of eyewitness testimony;
3. Promulgating standards for, and the systematic evaluation of the nation’s forensic labs;
4. Encouraging research and evaluation of pattern recognition techniques associated with forensice evidence to help solve crimes; and
5. Developing mechanisms to improve science education for the legal profession.

There are lots of good reasons for each of these initiatives, but I’m particularly excited about this last point. Most criminal defense lawyers seem to almost pride themselves on being technologically illiterate and having an aversion to science. This has to change, and the Commission’s first meeting in April is a good place to start.

RP

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 23rd, 2006 at 11:52 am and is filed under Cool Science, News, DNA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.