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Call for forensic expert witnesses to be accredited

Judge Lord Justice Leveson told the Forensic Science Society last week that an increase in accreditation for forensic experts would be ‘hugely desirable’. He highlighted the danger that, anyone with any sort of scientific background and misguided personal confidence, perhaps less politely described as brass neck, could set themselves up as a forensic science expert and produce evidence that, at best, is unhelpful and, at worst, positively misleading; nobody would necessarily be the wiser.’



Leveson added that a Council for the Registration of Forensic Practitioners (CRFP) was established with Home Office support in 1997 as an independent regulatory body to promote public confidence in forensic practice, but has since closed due to lack of government funding.



Whilst Lord Justice Leveson makes valid points, the accreditation of any witness is difficult to determine. Ultimately the solicitor or court who appoint an expert must be satisfied that the expert they are appointing are the proper and correct expert for the case.

At Expert Witness we encourage all our experts to undertake specialist Expert witness training, to properly state their qualifications experience and all relevant accreditation.

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