Ten Criteria Defining a Model Forensic Science Laboratory (2014)
ABSTRACT
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 A.J. 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.
Acknowledgments
This author wishes to sincerely thank the Laura and John Arnold Foundation and its project team writers for their sacrifice of time and energy to the profession of forensic science through their participation in this project. All three writers knew their work would be subjected to scrutiny yet they had the courage and resolve to express themselves effectively and generously. This author also wishes to express his hope that readers find this article informative and thought-provoking, and that to produce this effect would be a source of remarkable pride and satisfaction. Yet these feelings would be far surpassed by the author's sincere gratitude for being selected to write this article, for it surely would not have been written otherwise.
