Committee Corner—Judicial Outreach Ad Hoc Committee (JOAHC)

AAFS President Laura Fulginiti initiated the Judicial Outreach ad hoc Committee (JOAHC) as part of her theme, Science Works. The purpose of the JOAHC is to liaise with judicial officers and attorneys in order to educate them about different areas of forensic science. Initially, as a means of doing this, the committee will produce short educational modules. The JOAHC will access the numerous subject matter experts in the Academy to provide up-to-date training on everything from DNA to credentialing to methods of scientific analysis. The idea is to post the modules to Academy Connect so they may be easily accessed and used for continuing education. Through these efforts, the Academy hopes to continue its educational mission and provide lawyers and judicial officers with a foundation on which they may assess the relevance and admissibility of scientific evidence