Forensic Metrology: Its Importance and Evolution in the United States

2016 Joint IMEKO TC1-TC7-TC13 Symposium: Metrology Across the Sciences: Wishful Thinking?

Ted Vosk, J.D.^1

Attorney at Law, Kirkland, Consultant 8105 NE 140th Pl, WA

98034, United States^1

关键词: Calibration techniques;    Criminal justice system;    Forensic scientists;    Measurement practices;    Measurement uncertainty;    Reliable measurement;    Scientific community;    Washington;   

Others  :  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/772/1/012018/pdf
DOI  :  10.1088/1742-6596/772/1/012018

来源: IOP

【 摘 要 】

Forensic measurements play a significant role in the U.S. criminal justice system. Guilt or innocence, or the severity of a sentence, may depend upon the results of such measurements. Until recently, however, forensic disciplines were largely unaware of the field of metrology. Accordingly, proper measurement practices were often, and widely, neglected. These include failure to adopt proper calibration techniques, establish the traceability of results and determine measurement uncertainty. These failures undermine confidence in verdicts based upon forensic measurements. Over the past decade, though, the forensic sciences have been introduced to metrology and its principles leading to more reliable measurement practices. The impetus for this change was driven by many forces. Pressure came initially from criminal defense lawyers challenging metrologically unsound practices and results relied upon by government prosecutions. Litigation in the State of Washington led this movement spurring action by attorneys in other jurisdictions and eventually reform in the measurement practices of forensic labs around the country. Since then, the greater scientific community, other forensic scientists and even prosecutors have joined the fight. This paper describes the fight to improve the quality of justice by the application of metrological principles and the evolution of the field of forensic metrology.