10 Criteria Defining a Model Forensic Science Laboratory

摘要

This article attempts to answer the question: If it had to be done over again, knowing what is known now, how would the ideal forensic science laboratory be constructed, organized, and operated? A project was initiated to answer this question by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation in Houston, Texas, which brought together select, influential, and highly recognized forensic science icons to discuss and document the elements of the model forensic science laboratory-to the extent that such a model could actually exist. Barry AJ. Fisher, Doug M. Lucas, and Jay A. Siegel (the project team) each authored, independently, a manuscript outlining what they believed were the critical elements or criteria defining the model forensic science laboratory. Once the aforementioned manuscripts were completed, the project team requested that this article be written to independently review, consolidate, and comment on the work of the project team writers.All three of the project team's manuscripts identified core systemic risks, challenges, and opportunities related to the current delivery of forensic science services in the United States. But in style, tone, and content the manuscripts were remarkably different from one another. Despite these differences, three categories of criteria for conceptualizing the model forensic science laboratory emerged: the Economic and Political Position of the laboratory, Resources and Support, and Service Quality and Control. For each category, this author researched and considered potential criteria that could best satisfy the implicit and explicit requirements of the project team's writers. From this work, 10 distinct criteria were developed, organized, and described in this article. Also captured in the rationale for each criterion were the professional observations and opinions of this article's author when judged to be relevant, but not to the extent that the original themes and priorities emphasized by the project team would be diluted or dismissed in any way.This article, therefore,-describes and establishes 10 fundamental criteria for the ownership, organization, support, governance, autonomy, operation, and priorities of a model forensic science laboratory in the United States. Admittedly, the model, as described herein, contrasts sharply with nearly all forensic science laboratories in operation today. It is a concept, an idea, an opportunity.