A Nation’s Call to Action

Posted: February 9, 2026 at 11:03 AM

A Nation’s Call to Action

Pattern evidence received criticism in the 2009 report by the NRC entitled “Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward” (NRC 2009). That report highlighted significant issues with forensic disciplines previously identified by many. It called for a national commitment aimed at promoting and funding forensic science research to overcome the following barriers:

  • A lack of scientifically valid methods to analyze and interpret evidence.
  • A dearth of representative databases to develop new methods or test existing ones.
  • Few well-designed studies to estimate error rates including reliability and reproducibility of technologies used almost daily in court.
  • Chronically underfunded forensic science research.
  • Understaffed and overwhelmed crime labs.