CSAFE demonstrated the critical need for independent organizations researching forensic science in a October 16, 2019 congressional briefing in Washington, DC. Attendees ranged from governmental staff, representatives from AAAS, Bureau of Labor Statistics, House Science Commission, Innocence Project and more. Speakers engaged in critical discussion with participants, demonstrating how CSAFE collaborative, multidisciplinary approach addresses critical needs in the field.
Alicia Carriquiry
CSAFE Director
“There’s different ways one can promote research in forensic science. The center model is really important because we have the structure and funding horizon to build relationships between academia and practitioners and implement training and education and programs. No individual researcher can do that.”
Lynn Garcia
Texas Forensic Science Commission
“We need the help of resources like CSAFE. We need well-designed experiments and objective measurements. We’ve got to get the information out there so people understand the limits of what’s being done and we need to understand how to express that to the trier of fact in a way that’s not misleading.”
Julia Leighton
DC Public Defender (Retired)
“It’s organizations like CSAFE that reach out to a diverse community from a variety of institutions to try to bring together the best science can offer. You don’t want just one scientist assessing a method, or one statistician. It is the collective wisdom of independent scientists that generates new ideas, identifies the problems and will help solve the problems.”
