Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday announced the Department of Justice would be appointing someone to oversee how the agency tackles forensic science.
According to a statement by Sessions, forensic science is critical “to integrity in law enforcement, reducing violent crime and increasing public safety.”
In addition to appointing a senior forensic adviser to “interface with forensic science stakeholders and advise [DOJ] leadership,” the agency will assess all forensic science laboratories nationwide and eventually issue a report to Congress.
In the DOJ’s official notice on the Federal Register, the agency calls forensic science an “important part” of the effort to ensure public safety and preventing and controlling crime.
“The more effective a forensic system we have, the better equipped we are to solve crimes, more swiftly absolving the innocent and bringing the guilty to justice,” the notice reads.
“As we decide how to move forward, we bear in mind that the department is just one piece of the larger criminal justice system and that the vast majority of forensic science is practiced by state and local forensic laboratories and is used by state and local prosecutors,” Sessions said in a statement.
