The forensic science sector is in a “graveyard spiral”, according to a parliamentary inquiry that has warned of biased criminal investigations, a rising risk of wrongful convictions, and murder and sexual offence cases collapsing due to missing evidence.
The three-year inquiry set up by the all-party parliamentary group on miscarriages of justice has outlined how a series of “reckless policy decisions” over the past decade have brought forensic science to a point of crisis. A near-monopoly in the commercial sector means there is now a dangerous single point of failure and the increasing reliance on in-house police laboratories risks compromising scientific impartiality, the inquiry found.
