Digital Transformations in Forensic Science and Their Impact on Policing

Abstract

The technologies used in forensic science are now more easily transportable, fast and useable in the field by non-specialists. They help detect, collect and analyze a large volume of new and more diverse traces generated by criminal activities. These changes, in order of magnitude, induce the rapid digital transformations of forensic processes, requiring, in turn, a radical shift in roles and tasks within traditional forensic and police structures, as well as in the criminal justice system as a whole. In this chapter, examples are presented to help characterize these developments that are subject to many tensions. The new situation and its complexity prompt interrogations about the suitability of a law enforcement paradigm of policing that mainly define the scope of forensic science as an ancillary to the Criminal Justice System. The current context offers instead many opportunities to express the value of forensic thinking in proactive policing. Traceology, as the science of traces, is proposed as the overarching approach to pave the way for balanced, regulated and efficient approaches to intelligence and policing.

Towards another paradigm for forensic science?

“…We argue that Ginzburg's evidential paradigm, considered in the human sciences as the model of inference from effects (Thouard, 2007), may assist in defragmenting forensic practice, currently exercised in silos of techniques and disciplines disconnected from each other (Roux et al, 2012). This defragmentation is increasingly seen as necessary in the age of digital transformations currently exerting additional pressure on practice (Casey et al, 2018; Ribaux et al, 2021).…”