What is Forensic Science?

OVERVIEW OF FORENSIC SCIENCE IN AUSTRALIA

BACKGROUND

To the general community, forensic science often represents a group of incredibly efficient and dedicated, white-coated super scientific sleuths who can solve the most intricate of crimes from the minutest amounts of material. In a recent television series, a multi skilled forensic pathologist and scientist was also expert in fields such as fingerprints, firearms, document examination and crime scene investigation. With amazing feats of analysis and deduction, he always seemed to provide the crucial piece of evidence at the last moment.

Unfortunately, these programs give the unrealistic impression that forensic science is a scientific branch of its own performed by extraordinary individuals to whom the miraculous result is commonplace. The purpose of this paper is to describe what forensic science is and how it operates in Australia.

What is Forensic Science?
Webster’s dictionary defines the word ‘forensic’, from the Latin forensis, meaning public as:

belonging to courts of law, used in courts or legal proceedings;
pertaining to or fitted for legal or public argumentation.

It follows from this that forensic science means the use or application of science in courts or legal proceedings. Thus any form of science such as medicine, pathology, odontology, biology, chemistry and engineering can, if presented in evidence by a qualified person merit the title ‘forensic’. It is obvious that forensic science is not a discipline or branch of science, but is a catch-all for many distinct disciplines that may be used to help in the determination of a court case, either civil or criminal.

While forensic science is often seen as focusing exclusively on law enforcement, forensic science can be applied in many areas of the community and industry where the skills of a scientist needs to be applied to a problem and the outcome may be presented in a court of law. For instance a forensic chemist may need to investigate the source of an oil spill or trace a food contamination either of which may result in presenting their results in a court of law.

Unlike the fictional television character, the forensic scientist is confined to a particular discipline and often to a specialty within that discipline. Although at times a scientist may contribute the major piece of evidence in a particular case, generally their evidence is contributory, a piece in the jigsaw that comprises the total evidence presented to the court from other witnesses, including police investigators. To assist in conviction of offenders is not the function of the scientist. In many instances the scientific examinations help to eliminate suspects and establish innocence. The scientist must be impartial and not an advocate for the defence or prosecution.

Organisation of Forensic Science in Australia
In the public sector, almost all forensic science is involved with criminal or coronial proceedings. Although there are federal crime laws, administered by the Australian Federal Police, the laws governing crime generally are the responsibility of the States and Territories. Therefore, the various State and Territory governments conduct the administration of forensic science. This results in variation of structure and management from State to State.

One can arbitrarily divide forensic science into three broad groups. These are medical, laboratory and field science, though these are not exclusive divisions and there is overlap. Furthermore, a number of different forensic disciplines may be involved in the investigation of a case depending on the type of material recovered from the scene.

Field sciences will include, for example, crime scene investigation, which incorporates areas such as fire and explosion scenes and clandestine drug laboratories. Examples of medical services are pathology, psychiatry, psychology, forensic medicine and odontology (dentistry) and laboratory sciences include chemistry, biology, toxicology and examination of firearms, fingerprints, questioned documents and marks and impressions.

Due to their complexity, it is impossible to detail all the interstate variations of how these services are provided, however details of the major government forensic science providers can be found at http://www.nifs.com.au/F_S_A/Providers.asp

The National Institute of Forensic Science
Interstate isolation was one of the major weaknesses of forensic science in Australia and as far back as 1974, a national institute was proposed to overcome this and draw forensic science into a coherent group.

The National Institute of Forensic Science (NIFS) was established as a National Common Police Service under an agreement signed by the Australasian Police Ministers’ Council in 1991 and commenced operations in Melbourne in February 1992. In its inception, the NIFS mission was

‘to be an integral part of and a support base for the forensic science community, by working in partnership with all the elements of that community for the advancement of forensic science.’

To realise the mission, NIFS has had a commitment to the establishment of relevant education and training, quality assurance, the funding of research and development projects, funding of overseas travel fellowships and the provision of a variety of information and reference databases and has established itself as an integral part of Australian forensic science.

View our copyright and privacy policy here.

We recommend version four of Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer at a resolution of 1024x768 for viewing these pages.
©2001 NIFS Australia