The Development of a Core Forensic Standards Framework for Australia

TLDR

Forensic laboratories rely on ISO 17025 accreditation, yet few forensic‑specific standards exist, and the 2009 NRC/NAS report highlighted this gap, with existing ASTM standards being highly technique‑specific. The authors present a novel Australian approach that develops a non‑discipline‑specific standard and explores its potential as a platform for discipline‑specific and international standards. AS 5388 is organized into four parts covering material handling, analysis, interpretation, and reporting, and the authors describe the development process and lessons learned for future standard creation. The resulting standard addresses the entire forensic workflow from crime scene to court, intentionally avoiding discipline specificity.

Abstract

Forensic laboratories, and less so field forensic organizations, are familiar with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and other standards principally through third-party accreditation against ISO 17025. However, there are a limited number of forensic-specific standards. The often quoted 2009 National Research Council (NRC) and National Academies (NAS) report on strengthening forensic science identified the lack of formal standards as a major issue. Where such standards do exist, such as the American Society for Testing and Materials’ (ASTM International) forensic standards, they are usually very specific to a particular technique. This paper describes the development of a different approach in Australia. Recognizing the end-to-end nature of the forensic enterprise from crime scene to the court, a standard has been developed that is intentionally not discipline-specific. In four parts, this standard (AS 5388) covers the recognition, recording, recovery, transport and storage of material (Part 1,) the analysis of material (Part 2), interpretation (Part 3), and reporting (Part 4). The management of the process that was used to develop this standard is described, and lessons for the future development of standards identified and discussed. Finally, how this standard can be used as a platform for the development of discipline standards and as an international standard is discussed.