Fifty Years of Forensic Science: A Commentary

Introduction

SECTION I: THE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF FORENSIC SCIENCE

1 (1) - 1960 Criminal aspects of forensic science in Great Britain

4 (2) - 1964 Forensic science or sciences?

4 (4) - 1964 Shriving a science

5 (1) - 1965 A public image

5 (2) - 1965 Don’t forget them in Swahililand

6 (2) - 1966 The vacant headquarters

9 (2a) - 1969 Six just men

9 (2b) - 1969 “A forensic scientist?”

13 (3) - 1973 I hold every man a debtor to his profession

14 (2) - 1974 Police perimeters – politics or planning

17 (4) - 1977 Theory and practice

20 (3) - 1980 Forensic Science – a broader basis

21 (1) - 1981 General practice in forensic science

24 (6) - 1984 Does forensic science have a future?

24 (6) - 1985 Does forensic science have a future?

25 (1) - 1985 But is it anything?

25 (1) - 1985 But is it anything?

25 (5) - 1985 Towards expert experts

26 (2) - 1986 Doctrine, Science, Belief, Evidence

26 (4) - 1986 The Forensic Science Society – a way forward?

26 (5) - 1986 All systems go?

27 (2) - 1987 Police productivity

29 (1) - 1989 Professional qualifications – a milestone

30 (5) - 1990 Brave New World

31 (2) - 1991 “Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher”

31 (4) - 1991 Forensic science on the quality track

32 (2) - 1992 But is this being professional?

32 (4) - 1992 Can we help you, sir?

33 (3) - 1993 Is this where the buck stops?

34 (1) - 1994 An expert what?

34 (2) - 1994 Quo vadis?

35 (1) - 1995 Does forensic science give value for money?

35 (3) - 1995 Rensacor

35 (4) - 1995 Lest we forget

36 (3) - 1996 Forensic futurology

36 (4) - 1996 Ambivalence – a problem for forensic science

37 (1) - 1997 Private or public

37 (3) - 1997 Jobs for the boys

38 (1) - 1998 Proactive forensic science

38 (4) - 1998 SOP or CPD, place your bets

39 (1) - 1999 Forensic apartheid?

39 (2) - 1999 Let me through, I’m a ummmm . . .

39 (3) - 1999 Something nasty hiding . . .

39 (4) - 1999 From Bach to Schoenberg

42 (2) - 2002 A professional body for forensic scientists

45 (1) - 2005 Professionalism – duties and privileges

45 (3) - 2005 Who guards the guards?

45 (4) - 2005 Everything changes and nothing is constant

47 (2) - 2007 Eight years on

47 (2) - 2007 Eight years on – Regulation of Forensic Physicians and the CRFP

47 (3) - 2007 CPD, an effective means of professional development. . .or is it?

48 (1) - 2008 President of the Forensic Science Society

48 (3) - 2008 The forensic science regulator

SECTION II: SCIENTIFIC DEVELOPMENTS AND RESEARCH

2 (2) - 1961 The individuality of human bloodstaining

3 (1) - 1962 A breakthrough in forensic science

4 (1) - 1963 Driving over the level

4 (1) - 1963 Science before the fact

5 (4b) - 1964 The price of road safety

6 (1) - 1965 Progress in research

7 (4) - 1966 Demanding scientific evidence

9 (4) - 1968 Computer control

11 (2) - 1971 The defeat of the tail-gater

11 (3) - 1971 The New Zealand approach

14 (1) - 1974 Back to basics

16 (3b) - 1976 An independent witness required

19 (4) - 1979 Publish or perish

22 (2) - 1982 But is it science . . .

22 (3) - 1982 Hair today . . .

25 (2) - 1985 On body fluid frequencies

26 (1) - 1986 Publish or perish revisited

27 (1) - 1987 Through the looking glass

29 (6) - 1989 The highest order common sense

30 (1) - 1990 Profile of the Nineties

30 (6) - 1990 Official publications

33 (4) - 1993 DNA or Abracadabra

36 (1) - 1996 To research or capitulate?

36 (2) - 1996 Fireproof DNA?

37 (4) - 1997 Where will all the forensic scientists go?

40 (1) - 2000 Wizards and gatekeepers at the roadside?

40 (3) - 2000 The consent of the governed

41 (1) - 2001 The use of material from the dead in forensic science research: is it lawful and is it ethical?

43 (1) - 2003 Hunting truffles

44 (1) - 2004 Reiterative justice?

45 (2) - 2005 Science & Justice – DNA and the courts

47 (4) - 2007 DNA – what’s next?

48 (4) - 2008 Do we value research?

49 (1) - 2009 Lessons from the past

49 (2) - 2009 IRMS

SECTION III: EVALUATION AND INTERPRETATION OF EVIDENCE

19 (3) - 1979 Away with the fuzz

23 (1) - 1983 Patience

23 (1a) - 1983 Statistics and forensic science – a fruitful partnership

23 (1b) - 1983 The probability of exclusion or likelihood of guilt of an accused: Paternity

23 (1c) - 1983 The probability of non-discrimination or likelihood of guilt of an accused: Criminal Identification

23 (1d) - 1983 What is the probability that this blood came from that person? A meaningful question?

23 (1e) - 1983 A frame of reference or Garbage in, Garbage out

23 (4) - 1983 On circumstantial evidence

26 (3) - 1986 Evaluation of associative physical evidence

26 (3a) - 1987 The use of statistics in forensic science.

26 (3b) - 1987 The use of statistics in forensic science.

28 (3) - 1988 Heads we win

37 (2) - 1997 Does justice require less precision than chemistry?

43 (2) - 2003 Sally Clark – a lesson for us all

44 (2) - 2004 Context-free forensic science

46 (1) - 2006 Lies, damn lies and statistics

SECTION IV: EDUCATION IN FORENSIC SCIENCES

2 (1) - 1961 Research and teaching in forensic science

2 (1) - 1961 A preliminary survey of education and research in the forensic sciences in the United Kingdom

9 (1&2) - 1968 Education in forensic science

11 (1) - 1971 What is the future for the study and practice of the forensic sciences in Britain?

16 (2) - 1976 The Greeks had a word for it

44 (4) - 2004 Wither academic forensic science?

48 (2) - 2008 Educating the next generation

48 (4) - 2008 Educating the next generation.

48 (4) - 2008 Educating the next generation.

49 (1) - 2009 Educating the next generation.

SECTION V: FORENSIC SCIENCE AND THE LAW

1 (2) - 1960 An expert witness looks at the courts

3 (2) - 1962 The design of law courts

6 (4) - 1965 Bowlers, brollies and bi-focals

8 (1) - 1967 The expert witness

8 (2) - 1967 Two encouraging cases

10 (1) - 1970 Law and order

12 (2) - 1972 There is a time to speak

12 (3) - 1972 Not Pygmalion likely

12 (4) - 1972 Where have all the lawyers gone?

13 (2) - 1973 An honest opinion

15 (3) - 1975 Modern times

16 (3a) - 1976 A camel is a horse. . .

17 (2&3) - 1977 The four letter swear word

18 (3&4) - 1978 Not for the faint hearted

19 (2) - 1979 Preliminary hearings – just or unjust – justified or unjustified

20 (2) - 1980 The canons of expertise

24 (2) - 1984 Have you heard the one about . . . . . .

24 (5) - 1984 Master or servant?

25 (4) - 1985 Don’t Panic

27 (4) - 1987 Philosophy and obligations of a state-funded forensic science laboratory

27 (5) - 1987 Answers are easy

29 (2) - 1989 Science and law, a marriage of opposites

34 (3) - 1994 The image of the scientist and the lawyer

38 (2) - 1998 The role of the forensic scientist in an inquisitorial system of justice

40 (2) - 2000 And what of the evidence!

41 (3) - 2001 The boundaries of expert evidence

41 (4) - 2001 Reform of the criminal justice system in England and Wales

42 (3) - 2002 Justice in a goldfish bowl

42 (4) - 2002 Gristle in the sausage. . .

43 (3) - 2003 Coroners – what next for death investigation in England and Wales?

44 (3) - 2004 The Human Tissue Bill – an opportunity about to be missed?

46 (2) - 2006 All’s fair in love and war

SECTION VI: FORENSIC MEDICINE

5 (4a) - 1964 The smallest room but one

7 (3) - 1966 Decline and fall

10 (3) - 1970 How much specialisation in pathology can we afford?

12 (1) - 1972 “The six-and-a-half-year itch”

13 (4) - 1973 For action this day

14 (4) - 1974 Chair legs wanted

15 (2) - 1975 That muddy field

16 (1) - 1976 A national medico-legal service for Scotland

19 (1) - 1979 Sudden death of British nationals abroad – problem for pathologists, coroners and relatives

41 (2) - 2001 “Best value” in forensic pathology

42 (1) - 2002 Herding cats

SECTION VII: AN INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY OF FORENSIC SCIENCE

9 (3) - 1968 Another Academy

15 (4) - 1975 International co-operation in forensic science

17 (1) - 1977 Crime in the cornfields

23 (2) - 1983 Reaching out

24 (1) - 1984 1984 and all that

27 (3) - 1987 Forensic science and the justice system in the late Twentieth Century

29 (4) - 1989 Echoes of Empire

30 (2) - 1990 A matter of choice

30 (4) - 1990 They threatened its life with a railway share

38 (3) - 1998 International forensic science

40 (4) - 2000 Courts, politicians and constitutions

46 (3) - 2006 It’s a big World out there

Index