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Forensic Science Project
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“The effectiveness of forensic science in the criminal justice system” |
TILES Research & Research News >
Forensic Studies UTAS
About the Project
Forensic science is increasingly relied upon by law enforcement to solve crime, and by the judicial system in the adjudication of a matter. However, the value of forensic science has yet to be established. Previous research has focused on the science and technology, rather than upon how people within the justice system use forensic evidence effectively in investigations and in the adjudication of criminal matters in courts. The effective use of forensic science can enhance criminal justice for the whole community, whereas the ineffective use of forensic science can ultimately lead to false imprisonment and miscarriages of justice.
This five-year investigation is exploring where and how forensic services can add value to police investigations, court trials and just outcomes while ensuring the efficient use of available resources. This project is funded by the Australian Research Council (LP0882797) and has a number of industry partners, Victoria Police (VicPol), Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the National Institute of Forensic Science (NIFS). This project has four primary aims. These are:
- To identify critical points in police investigations and court trials where forensic science is typically employed, and to identify communication patterns and collaborations between people that enhance the use of forensic science
- To quantify the value that different types of forensic disciplines can add to investigations and criminal trials
- To undertake an economic interpretation of the effectiveness of a range of forensic science disciplines
- To develop and trial a good practice model for using forensic science in criminal investigations and trials.
Project People
Chief Investigators: Associate Professor Roberta Julian (University of Tasmania (UTAS), Professor Rob White (UTAS), Professor Claude Roux (UTS), Dr Hugh Sibly (UTAS) and Professor James Robertson (University of Canberra)
Project Team: Dr Sally Kelty (Post-Doctoral Fellow, UTAS), Kate Cashman (PhD Candidate, UTAS) and Peter Woodman (VicPol and PhD Candidate, TILES, UTAS)
Partner Investigators: Alastair Ross (VicPol), Peter Woodman (VicPol and PhD Candidate, TILES, UTAS), Robert Hayes (VicPol), Julian Slater (AFP), Anna Davey (NIFS) and Professor Pierre Margot (University of Lausanne)
Project Contact
Associate Professor Roberta Julian
Dr Sally Kelty
Other Related Links
Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency (ANZPAA)
Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology (ANZSOC)
The Australian and New Zealand Forensic Science Society Inc. (ANZFSS)
National Institute of Forensic Science (NIFS)
News from the Field
Also available in pdf format: TILES Forensics News - April 2011 90.74 KB, TILES Forensics News - August 2011 93 KB
Project Aims
- Project Aim 1: We are continuing with our exploration into the effective use of forensic science using case studies of homicide and serious arson matters. We are currently working on homicide cases from both Victoria and ACT involving arson. In our case studies we will be over the coming months interviewing key personnel involved in each of the case studies being explored. For example, public prosecutors, forensic scientists, the justices who presided over the matter, police investigators and crime scene examiners. Kate Cashman, our PhD student has been in the field and has carried out interviews and focus groups with judges, defence and prosecution lawyers to explore what type of knowledge lawyers have, and where do they obtain their knowledge about DNA evidence.
- Aims 3 & 4: During 2011 and into 2012, those areas where an economic analysis of the effectiveness of forensic sciences in the justice system will be most valuable will be identified and an appraisal made of the type of economic interpretation that will be most effective.
- Forensic intelligence: As part of the Effectiveness Project, two sub-projects in forensic intelligence at the Centre for Forensic Science at the University of Technology, Sydney have commenced under the supervision of Professor Claude Roux. The first project is a collaboration with the Australian Federal Police aimed at developing a greater understanding of the requirements for a more effective intelligence framework in order to analyse and use illicit drug profiling data (including physical evidence from packaging) from an intelligence-led perspective. The second project aims to improve the intelligence use of traditional forensic science case data from volume crime scene data within Victoria and the ACT.
Forensic News
- Professor Oliver Ribaux from University of Lausanne, Switzerland visited TILES. More >
- Roberta Julian presented, 'Expressions of Expert Evidence in Reports and Courts: Issues identified through the Effectiveness of Forensic Science Project', Australian Academy of Forensic Sciences Conference, Sydney, 3-4 December 2011.
- A new research project has commenced that joins TILES (UTAS School of Government) with the Department of Justice, Tasmania Community Corrections to develop a community-based risk assessment measuring the likelihood of re-offending while an adult is on a community-based order.The project team includes TILES Elite Research Scholarship holder Ms Heidi Gordon, Dr Sally Kelty and Associate Professor Roberta Julian from TILES, together with Mr. Ernest Jilg, Learning and Development Manager, and with Ms Martha Robson, Senior Practice Consultant (Department of Justice), as the project team advisor. At present the Tasmanian Corrective Services are using a Canadian-based re-offending risk measurement predictor. The measure, considered to be one of the best worldwide, has not been assessed for reliability in its ability to predict recidivism in the Tasmanian population. The aims of this project are firstly; to statistically assess which parts of the Canadian assessment test work well in a Tasmanian sample and which parts of the measure do not. Secondly, to use this information to develop a unique re-offending risk measurement tool for use by Tasmanian probation officers. The new measurement tool will be a practical and effective measure that will enhance the case management of Tasmanian offenders.For Heidi, TILES PhD Elite Research scholar, this project provides the opportunity to further develop her knowledge and skills in the evaluation, development and piloting of psychometric measures that are reliable, effective and useful for clinical practitioners working within correctional services. TILES congratulates Heidi for receiving the Scholarship from UTAS. The Scholarship is awarded to students who have an outstanding academic record and its support and resources will assist Heidi during her PhD studies.TILES is a UTAS Research Institute committed to excellence in law enforcement research. The hallmark of the Institute is linking academics with practitioners from policing, law enforcement and public sector agencies in innovative and collaborative empirical research and program evaluation.
- Dr Sally Kelty and Associate Professor Roberta Julian Roberta have a new PhD scholarship on offer. This is collaboration with Dr Paul Kirkbride at the Australian Federal Police Forensic and data centres in Canberra. The project: Communicating scientific expert opinion: What do forensic scientists say and what do police, lawyers and the jury hear? Is a $30,000 pa tax free stipend offered at the University of Tasmania in Hobart. If you are interested please contact Sally.kelty@utas.edu.au
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During June 2011 Katherine Cashman and Pete Woodman (TILES PhD students) came together with Sally Kelty and Roberta Julian for a two day planning workshop. They also took part in an EndNote and database searching workshop. We would like to thank Mr Karl Kent and Mr John Doherty from Victoria Police Forensic Services for releasing Pete from his work duties to enable him to join us.
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In July 2011, Sally Kelty was an Invited speaker at the NIFS Specialist Advisory Group meetings (Field Identification Sciences) in Melbourne. Sally’s presentation was on high-performing crime scene examiners.
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Roberta Julian and Sally Kelty are busy finalising a few publications. First is a project management paper exploring how police practitioners and academics can collaborate successfully on large projects by matching outcomes to initial expectations. Several other papers (with Professor James Robertson, University of Canberra and Professor Rob White, University of Tasmania) form part of a series looking at the professionalism in Crime Scene Examination (CSE), from identifying who are top-performing CSEs, to managing stress and developing resilience, to recruitment, training and retention.
- Sally Kelty has been accepted to present a paper at the annual Australian and New Zealand Association for Psychiatry, Psychology and Law (ANZAPPL), on indentifying the attributes of high-performing crime scene examiners. TILES Forensic Project research on crime scene investigation was well received in 2010 and continues to be of interest to practitioners and researchers nationally and internationally.
- Interfaces between science, medicine and law. Interviews for this NIFS project have begun in Hobart, Melbourne, across QLD and Canberra. Thank you to everyone who have taken part so far. This is an on-going project with results coming out in 2012. Email sally.kelty@utas.edu.au for more details.
Recent Publications >
Research News (TILES) >
Previous News
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TILES and ANZPAA signed an agreement to collaborate on ANZPAA NIFS Interfaces Project
The project will study the interactions between medicine, pathology, law enforcement and science. The aim of the project is to develop a framework to maximise the efficiency and effectiveness of information between groups and within the groups during and after investigation trials. The project will run across five different jurisdictions. Dr Sally Kelty and Associate Professor Roberta Julian are very optimistic about the project and are pleased having an opportunity to broaden their consultancy and investigation expertise. For the project's media release, visit ANZPAA News.
- During 2010 Sally was exploring the skills and attributes of high performing crime scene examiners. The scene of the crime is where good forensic science begins. High-quality evidence leading to accurate justice outcomes can only occur if the scene is processed effectively and professionally (Robertson, 2009). If photographing, documenting, and collecting the right samples from a crime scene is so vital, what are the attributes you need to be effective? Sally found there were 7 distinct types of skills that people associated with good crime scene work. This work has generated interest worldwide from police forces and crime scene examiners and managers. Sally and Roberta presented this work at a keynote at a large international forensic science symposium.
- Roberta and Sally started to collect data for the case studies that will be used to complete aim1. With the assistance of police professionals they have started to map out the critical points in homicide investigations where evidence changes hands. They also indentified four homicide cases that will be used as case studies to explore the types of interactions, work patterns, protocols and communications (oral and written) that police, forensic scientists and lawyers typically have in these matters. The aim is to see what typically happens and to assess what works well and what types of practices hinder effective outcomes. These homicide case studies will involve all the key justice personnel involved. We will repeat this process for serious arson matters in both the ACT and in Melbourne, Victoria.
- Kate Cashman, our TILES/Law APA (Industry) PhD candidate will be specifically looking at criminal matters in the ACT and Victoria and at what practice directions exists for lawyers presenting DNA evidence, what are the attributes of a good lawyer with respect to DNA evidence and questioning expert witnesses (i.e. DNA biologist).
- Peter Woodman (PhD candidate), a senior forensic chemist at VicPol will be exploring the value of different types of forensic disciplines (i.e. chemistry, biology, ballistics, fingerprints). His research will ask what value does a number different forensic disciplines add to justice outcomes. Specifically, this will be a quantitative study exploring the relationships between the results of forensic examinations with the outcomes associated with police investigations and court processes. For example, is there a relationship between negative forensic reports and the exoneration of suspects? What is the relationship between positive forensic reports and charges being laid, changes of pleas throughout the process and whether the accused were acquitted or found to be guilty by the court?
Conferences and Keynotes
- Sally and Roberta delivered a keynote paper ‘Who makes a good crime scene examiner?’ at the 20th International Symposium on the Forensic Sciences, Sydney, 5-9 September 2010
- Roberta convened the 4th Postgraduate and ECR Research day at the 23rd Annual Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology (ANZSOC) Conference, Alice Springs Conference, Alice Springs, 27 September 2010
- Roberta also presented a paper at the conference. Kelty, SF. & Julian, RD. (2010). “Who makes a good crime scene Officer?”
- At Interpol (Lyon, October 2010) Paul Ready (AFP) gave a presentation of Sally Kelty and Roberta Julian on “the effectiveness of forensic science in the criminal justice system”.
TILES Events >
Publications and Books
- Invited paper submitted and accepted for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Gazette: Kelty, S. & Julian, R. ‘What makes a Good Crime Scene Examiner?’
- Invited paper submitted and accepted for the Australasian Policing Journal: Kelty, S. & Julian, R. ‘Identifying the Skills and Attributes of Good Crime Scene Personnel’
TILES Publications and Reports >
If you would like to know more about the projects – please contact either Sally Kelty – sally.kelty@utas.edu.au Or Roberta Julian – roberta.julian@utas.edu.au
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