Validation of Forensic Science Techniques: Principles and Procedures

Abstract

Abstract “Validation” is a term that has been used to describe various processes inherent in good scientific research and analysis. Validation in the analytical context refers to the process of establishing, through documented experimentation, that a scientific method or technique is fit for its intended purpose—in layman's terms, it does what it is intended to do. Although validation has always been a part of scientific best practices, the term has received recent attention in the legal community through the publication of the 2009 report of the National Research Council of the National Academies: Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward . The report included a discussion of the importance of validation in good scientific practice and concluded that several commonly used forensic science techniques did not qualify as validated methods. Those conclusions have reverberated in the legal community and generated considerable interest in validation. Legal practitioners should possess an understanding of validation and a means for determining whether a forensic science technique has been validated. This article describes validation and provides the important components of any validation process to help practitioners assess whether a forensic science technique qualifies as a “validated method.”