At the federal level, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) has released a preliminary draft of a bill called the Criminal Justice and Forensic Science Reform Act which would implement many of the recommendation from the National Academy of Sciences report on the forensic sciences.. I was particularly pleased to see the inclusion of "$90,000,000 per year 2012 to 2016 ... for grants for forensic science research."
I haven't had a chance yet to look through this bill thoroughly but thought I'd pass the relevant links along. Go here and here for blog posts summarizing the bill and here for the actual bill language.
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4 comments:
I have a feeling that the $90 million per annum price tag will have tough sledding in the next Congress. That's not to say it isn't needed, just that it seems unlikely in this economy.
I think that good/improved forensics can be promoted without a prohibited price tag.
Make that "prohibitive" price tag.
Prison Doc, grammatically it is prohibitive. Legislatively, it's very likely to be prohibited.
English teacher as well as Rev. Charles
The most far-reaching and effective action that could be taken based on the NAS report would cost the federal government zero dollars. That would be to eliminate the administration of forensic science laboratories by police departments. The NAS report recognized the fundamental deficiencies associated with cops managing scientists, and the need for independence for laboratories. Unfortunately, the idea of independent laboratories conflicts with the law-and-order philosophy that will probably permeate the next congress.
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