Policing Markets: The Contested Shaping of Neo-Liberal Forensic Science

Abstract

This paper addresses the effects of recent political and economic trends on the construction of forensic science in England and Wales. Using documentary sources and fieldwork, I show how neo-liberal initiatives have differentially reconstructed relationships between forensic scientists and the police. I argue that this stems from contested interpretations of scientific integration that have selectively appropriated elements of neo-liberalism. Neo-liberal reform of forensic science has, however, exposed actors to new risks, culminating in the UK Government's announcement to close the Forensic Science Service. Yet, rather than representing the end of ‘marketization’, debates concerning the organization of forensic science have entered a new phase. These hold significant implications for understanding the relationship between crime, science and advanced liberal governance.