Avoiding Steep Costs
Further reading:
Exonerated death row inmate: “Took ’em long enough”
Maintaining Public Trust
The public expects and demands that forensic services will produce accurate results.
Inadequate procedures or procedures that are not followed open the door to potentially serious mistakes. A systematic breakdown in forensic services will result in laboratory analyses and findings that cannot be trusted. When this occurs, the rest of the criminal justice system and the public will quickly lose trust.
The consequences for public safety, the law enforcement administrators responsible for the agencies, and laboratories could be severe. Criminals may be set free or innocent citizens may be wrongly convicted. The system will lose credibility with the public, and law enforcement administrators and other elected officials will ultimately bear the blame.