The Unrealized Promise of Forensic Science -- An Empirical Study of its Production and Use

Anderson, James M.; Matthies, Carl F.; Greathouse, Sarah Michal; Chari, Amalavoyal V.

doi:10.2139/ssrn.3178156

Cited by 4 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…The interdependence between the police and crime lab we documented in this study is concerning because the discipline of forensic science is supposed to be independent and autonomous from law enforcement, as noted by the National Academy of Sciences ( 2009): "Forensic science serves more than just law enforcement; and when it does serve law enforcement, it must be equally available to law enforcement officers prosecutors, and defendants in the criminal justice system" (p. 17, emphases in original). The fairness of the criminal justice system depends, in part, on the objective neutrality of forensic science, as Anderson et al (2018) explained, By being relatively independent of the conventional police investigative process, it can, in theory, provide a decoupled check and reduce errors of both inclusion and exclusion-that is both the wrongfully convicted and the wrongfully acquitted. (p. 47) In this community, the municipal crime lab was, in practice, neither independent nor functionally autonomous from law enforcement personnel with respect to SAK submission decisions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Just Bring Us the Real Ones”: The Role of Forensic Crime Laboratories in Guarding the Gateway to Justice for Sexual Assault Victims

Campbell

Fehler-Cabral²

2020

J Interpers Violence

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Throughout the United States, hundreds of thousands of sexual assault kits (SAKs; also termed “rape kits”) have never been submitted by law enforcement personnel to a crime laboratory for forensic DNA testing. Prior research indicates that negative stereotypes about victims influence police decisions to submit kits for testing, but forensic crime laboratory personnel may also be involved in SAK submission decisions. The purpose of the current study was to explore the communication and collaboration between police and crime lab personnel regarding SAK submissions within a community with large numbers of unsubmitted rape kits. Drawing from 3 years of ethnographic observations and longitudinal qualitative interviews, we found that the police department’s crime lab did not have sufficient resources to test all rape kits in police custody, which is a problem forensic laboratories are facing throughout the United States. However, we also found that access to this limited resource was controlled by crime lab personnel and their rape myth beliefs about which victims and which cases were considered worthy of the time, effort, and attention of the criminal justice system. Lab personnel emphasized that police should only submit “real” cases for forensic DNA testing, which they typically defined as physically violent stranger-perpetrated sexual assaults; “shady” cases did not merit testing, which they defined as known-offender assaults, reports made by adolescent victims, and cases in which the victim may have been engaged in sex work. We noted marked similarities in police and lab personnel’s rape myth acceptance, and stakeholders readily agreed that they did have a common understanding about which victims were not credible and therefore which SAKs did not merit testing. We discuss these findings in light of recommendations from the National Academy of Sciences for the independence and autonomy of the forensic sciences from law enforcement.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Just Bring Us the Real Ones”: The Role of Forensic Crime Laboratories in Guarding the Gateway to Justice for Sexual Assault Victims

Campbell

Fehler-Cabral²

2020

J Interpers Violence

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“…In that research design, Briody [29][30][31][32]) was able to assess the effects of DNA evidence on court decision and defendant confessions. For the first three categories, he found, among other things, that DNA evidence: "emerged as a positive predictor that prosecutors would pursue cases in court, and it demonstrated a powerful influence on jury decisions to convict" ([31]: 1; see also [33]).…”

Section: Dna Databases' Contribution To National Criminal Justice Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…"The data show that in 3% of the SC-cases and in 1% of the HVCcases, the DNA from the crime scene yielded a "cold hit" in the DNA database leading law enforcement to a suspect in a case, which had no previous suspects" ( [35]: 855; see also [33]).…”

Section: Dna Databases' Contribution To National Criminal Justice Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While the above discussed studies are incomparable and sometimes draw (partly) opposing conclusions, they provided evidence of the positive effect that national (and state) forensic DNA databases have on criminal justice systems (see [33,44]). They also demonstrate the difficulty in measuring the contribution of DNA databasing in a single jurisdiction's criminal legal system and its ability to help solve crimes.…”

Section: Available Information Regarding Dna Data Exchange and Comparison In The Prüm Regimementioning

confidence: 99%

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The Prüm Decisions as an Aspirational regime: Reviewing a Decade of Cross-Border Exchange and Comparison of Forensic DNA Data

Toom¹,

Granja

Ludwig

2019

Forensic Science International: Genetics

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The automatic exchange and comparison of DNA data between national databases to combat terrorism and crossborder crime in the EU area has been facilitated by the 2008 Prüm Decisions. While it was anticipated that all EU Member States would have fulfilled the requirements by August 2011, this has not yet occurred. Once each Member State has implemented the Prüm Decisions, which is expected to occur by spring or summer 2019, the EU Commission is planning on submitting a legislative proposal to amend the Prüm Decisions, possibly broadening its scope both in terms of types of data exchanged and the number of countries involved. Therefore, it is a timely place to review the available literature on the existing data on the cross-border exchange and comparison of DNA. However, due to the limited amount of available data regarding the Prüm regime's contribution to combating crime and terrorism, this article reviews national DNA databases' contribution to national criminal justice systems before it turns to the Prüm regime. Outlining how Prüm represents an "aspirational regime" focused on a secure and safe future, we draft recommendations directed towards rendering cross-border exchange of DNA data more transparent and accountable.

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“…The potential of crime scene forensics for solving crimes is undermined if the police agency's evidence processing capabilities cannot effectively handle the demand. Anderson, Matthies, Greathouse, and Chari () recently found that the full potential of forensic science in criminal investigations remains unrealized. Evidence is analyzed in only a small percentage of cases, and it occurs more commonly for case building after an arrest rather than as a means of identifying the offender.…”

Section: What Police Investigators Domentioning

confidence: 99%

The new detective

Eck

Rossmo²

2019

Criminology & Public Policy

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Research Summary The clearance rates for murder and other serious crimes have declined significantly for almost 60 years despite significant technological improvements in police investigations. The reasons for this are not well understood. We argue here for rethinking why, what, and how police investigators operate so as to repurpose their work for reducing crime. These changes include improved thinking by detectives to reduce investigative errors, increased focus on patterns of crimes, and better use of detective expertise in crime prevention. Policy Implications First, police should work to reduce investigative failures by improving investigative thinking. Second, tinkering with the administrative practices of investigative units seems unlikely to produce significant results. Third, police agencies should engage detectives in crime prevention. Finally, police agencies should connect investigations to problem solving.

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The Unrealized Promise of Forensic Science -- An Empirical Study of its Production and Use

Cited by 4 publications

References 2 publications

“Just Bring Us the Real Ones”: The Role of Forensic Crime Laboratories in Guarding the Gateway to Justice for Sexual Assault Victims

“Just Bring Us the Real Ones”: The Role of Forensic Crime Laboratories in Guarding the Gateway to Justice for Sexual Assault Victims

The Prüm Decisions as an Aspirational regime: Reviewing a Decade of Cross-Border Exchange and Comparison of Forensic DNA Data

The new detective

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