Forensic Evidence And Expertise In Local, National And Global Contexts - III

Abstract

Forensic evidence is collected, analysed and rendered meaningful by different actors using various technologies and expertise. A powerful resource in the investigation of crime, STS scholars have paid substantial attention to the development, standardisation, enactment and use of specific forensic technologies (namely fingerprinting and forensic DNA profiling). These accounts demonstrate the complex expertise and labour involved in producing and using forensic evidence, and the many local and national contexts that impact on how the legitimacy and value of specific types of forensic evidence are negotiated over time.

Beyond fingerprinting and DNA, there are many other types of forensic evidence. Some have long histories, like fibre analysis. Others, such as digital forensics, are newer and continually evolving, keeping pace and responding to the latest technological developments. In this panel, we invite papers that examine empirically the varied actors, labour and expertise involved in the production and use of other types of forensic evidence in the investigation and prosecution of crime. We are particularly interested in accounts that engage with how forensic evidence and expertise are negotiated in specific local, national and/or global law enforcement contexts and the related areas of overlap and convergence.

This panel contributes to STS scholarship on the intersections between science, law and law enforcement, standardisation in scientific practice, and the negotiation of expertise across the different epistemic cultures of criminal justice systems.

Chair

• Dana Wilson-Kovacs, University of Exeter

Individual Presentations

• Wildlife Forensics - Alyse Bertenthal; Simon A Cole, Univ Of Ca-Irvine

• “Boliden killed my son”: assembling transnational environmental victims in the Arica Victims v. Boliden Mineral case. - Patricio Flores, University of Warwick, UK

• Explosiveness, Corporeal Sensibilities, and Forensic Expertise in the Colombian War Landscapes - Julia Morales Fontanilla, Rutgers University - New Jersey, USA; Diana P Pardo Pedraza, The George Washington University

• Medical Knowledge Against Medicalized Killing: Contemporary Forensic Counter-Expertise on US Executions by Lethal Injection - Nicolas Fischer, CESDIP, University of Versailles St Quentin

Session Organizers

• David Wyatt, King's College London

• Dana Wilson-Kovacs, University of Exeter