Background
In 2013, the U.S. Department of Justice created the National Commission on Forensic Science. It is comprised of scientists, judges, prosecutors, criminal defense attorneys, and other stakeholders who have an interest maintaining strict, professional, and quality scientific standards for forensic sciences. The Commission's objective was to provide the DOJ advice and recommendations for the following:
On April 10, 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the NCFS would not be renewed for another two-year term once its current term expires on April 23, 2017.
The NCFS has been key in addressing issues ranging from shortages of forensic pathologists in communities to enhancing expert witness pretrial discovery to creating a national code of professional responsibility for forensic scientists. Ensuring that forensic science is an evidence-based, ethical, and valid tool in obtaining convictions and ensuring innocent people are not convicted is an incredibly important role in our criminal justice system, particularly in this age of rapid development in scientific advances that both governments and the defense community increasingly rely upon in court.
Victims, prosecutors, and people accused of crimes all have an equal interest in ensuring that forensic science continues to be researched, analyzed, and reviewed by a variety of stakeholders, including scientists. The NCFS has successfully worked on this in its four years and should be allowed to continue its important work. AG Sessions should reconsider his decision to allow the NCFS to expire and should renew it for another two-year term.
What You Can Do
There are several ways you can let AG Sessions know that the NCFS should be renewed.
1) The DOJ has requested public commentary on how it can improve the underlying science and validity of forensic science, improve the operational management systems of forensic science service providers, and improve the understanding of forensic science by legal practitioners. These are all issues the NCFS worked on and created recommendations for. Please post a comment online at the Federal Register here urging AG Sessions to renew the NCFS for another two years as a way to ensure these goals continue to be met. You can leave the comment anonymously or provide your name and contact information. Public commentary will be accepted until June 9, 2017.
2) Contact the DOJ's comment line at (202) 353-1555 and leave a message voicing your opinion about how the elimination of the NCFS will be detrimental to keeping a fair and balanced role of forensic science in the criminal justice system.
Forensic science is a pivotal part of our criminal justice system; it is constantly and rapidly evolving, requiring constant attention, research, and discussion.
Without standards, guidelines, and evidence-based advice, all of which the Commission has provided since its inception, our criminal justice system is at risk for failing victims, law enforcement, and people accused of committing crimes. Constitutional protections will fall by the wayside and local law enforcement will lose help in obtaining important evidence required in many violent crimes.
AG Sessions has expressed a commitment to improving and strengthening the use of forensic science in the courtroom. The NCSF has been a key avenue for the DOJ to obtain those goals since 2013 and there is no reason for it to end now. I strongly urge AG Sessions to reconsider his decision not to renew the Commission's term.