Committee Corner—Academy Standards Board (ASB) Update Edit

Justice and equality are hallmarks of the AAFS. One of the overarching objectives stated in the AAFS Bylaws is to elevate the standards of forensic science. The ASB remains a crucial component of this effort by creating consensus-based standards that establish criteria of minimally accepted requirements to improve practice, thus impacting the equal application of justice for all individuals.

Since its inception, there have been over 400 volunteers who work in 13 Consensus Bodies (CB) to create standards, best practice recommendations, and technical reports. Currently, the ASB documents are freely downloadable from their website, https://www.aafs.org/academy-standards-board. To date, the ASB has published 76 documents with more than 250 in the pipeline.

The work of ASB serves as a role model for upholding scientific measures that advance transformative social justice and improve practice. ASB continues to work collaboratively with other organizations to increase awareness of forensic science standards, provide standards training, and promote their implementation to the broader criminal justice and legal communities.