Foreword

• Pages: 39-40

xxxix

Foreword

This is an important book. It will be of vital importance to all those en-

gaged in the pursuit of criminal justice.

It is the product of two realities. The f‌irst is that science is becom-

ing ever-more important to the justice system, particularly to the criminal

justice system. As science evolves, it is able to address, and attempt to ex-

plain, an ever-growing array of human activity. This makes it increasingly

valuable—indeed, in many instances, essential—in resolving many of our

most intractable legal problems.

Take the death of an infant in suspicious circumstances: always a

deeply troubling event for families, for communities, and for the justice

system itself. Often there are only two sources of evidence to throw light

on what happened—the identity of the person who had care of the infant

at the time of death; and the science of pediatric forensic pathology to

address the possible cause of death. Without this science, the law cannot

do justice or bring closure to the society it serves.

The second reality is that the justice system has much to learn about

how to better engage with, and properly utilize, the science it needs. A

number of the public inquiries and forensic science reports reviewed in

this text demonstrate that graphically. They make clear the tragic costs of

outcomes reached by a justice system acting on scientif‌ic evidence that it

understands too little to perceive its own weaknesses.

It is in the context of these two realities that this book takes on the

ambitious task of improving the understanding of forensic science by the