Preface

• Pages: 41-45

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Preface

This book all started with an idea: criminal lawyers should be scientif‌ically

literate and armed with suf‌f‌icient knowledge of the forensic sciences in

order to critically evaluate them. The idea was a good one and, for that

reason, was not new. In fact, as a forensic science graduate-turned-lawyer,

I quickly came to appreciate the extensive history surrounding this rec-

ommendation for improved scientif‌ic literacy in the criminal bar. Public

inquiries, the judiciary, and lawyers themselves recognized a need for the

legal community to learn more about science. Working on wrongful con-

viction cases, it was clear to me that being scientif‌ically literate and having

an understanding of the evolution of the forensic sciences was not only ad-

vantageous, but necessary. Justice could only be achieved through educa-

tion. Speakers at conferences I attended made me feel conf‌ident that that

belief was true. They joked about the uncomfortable reality that lawyers,

who specif‌ically went into the law to avoid science and numbers, would not

be able to escape learning about science for long. For that reason, I initially

assumed that there would be a number of resources available to help guide

lawyers through the forensic sciences. I was surprised by what I found.

In wanting to develop my own specialization in the intersection be-

tween forensic sciences and the law, I discovered that there was a paucity

of recent Canadian resources directed at lawyers that addressed the foren-

sic sciences. The recommendations made by so many others before me re-

mained in place, repeated and recognized, but not fully realized. The most

recent books I could f‌ind were from 1999, notably Gary Chayko and Edward