Social Life of Forensic Evidence

Kruse, Corinna

doi:10.1525/california/9780520288386.001.0001

Cited by 22 publications

(40 citation statements)

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“…Laboratory studies, 1 which were quite popular at the start of the 90s, showed, through ethnographic observation, how scientists generate among themselves interactive processes that make it possible to reach a consensus, in order to agree upon what a good match is or is not. In other words, accurate measurements are contingent, local achievements (Derksen, 2000;Kruse, 2016;Lynch et al, 2008). Some authors have noted the existence of cooperation activities, aiming to reach consensus, so a standard can be expanded and used by heterogeneous communities, as well as used in different activities and places (Bowker & Star, 1999)-an approach that is close to the functionalist perspective.…”

Section: Continuum Between Subjective and Objectivementioning

confidence: 99%

The Sociological Gaze

Machado

Granja

2020

Forensic Genetics in the Governance of Crime

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This chapter provides an explanation and context for situating the particular approach of sociology to the social phenomenon of the uses of forensic genetics in criminal justice systems. The aim is to describe, in an accessible manner, why the governance of crime using science and technology is a fertile domain for sociological enquiry and identify its distinctive features. This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the main lines of enquiry and concepts of sociological paradigms, namely by focusing on the continuum, tensions and translations between distinctive levels of analysis: micro-macro and objective-subjective. The presentation of the lines of social thought and concepts is accompanied by a brief reference to practical cases of empirical research related to the use of forensic genetics in the criminal justice system. The chapter will enable the reader to acquire theoretical and analytical skills which may be applied in academic research into the various topics and themes addressed in the book's different chapters.

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Section: Continuum Between Subjective and Objectivementioning

confidence: 99%

The Sociological Gaze

Machado

Granja

2020

Forensic Genetics in the Governance of Crime

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“…Kruse () discusses how they work across “epistemic cultures.” Drawing on the work of Knorr‐Cetina (), she highlights how CSEs straddle different police, science and courtroom “law” knowledge communities, helping forensic evidence to flow between different sites. In this context, the CSE not only has a core role as “the vanguard of the forensic science laboratory at the crime scene,” (Kruse, , p. 92), but they work to help bridge and mediate between the different communities involved in the criminal justice system. The CSE has a hybrid role and an ethnographic lens allows one to access this, as demonstrated in the examples below.…”

Section: Learning and Doing Crime Scene Examination: Straddling Scienmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this context, administrative mistakes were taken to infer the potential of contamination (i.e., if you are not careful with your administration, how can we trust you were careful in your trace recovery practices?). As highlighted by Kruse (), through mediating relations between the trace and wider arenas where forensics are used, the CSE aids the flow of “evidence to be” between different sites, actors and audiences. Whereas in the police their expertise may be actively sought to help guide the investigation, in the courtroom the CSE's expertise is functional and demonstrated within their paperwork practices.…”

Section: Learning and Doing Crime Scene Examination: Straddling Scienmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ethnographic methods allow us to see and acknowledge the many interconnected practices and processes that take place, often hidden by the claims we make about the world around us and usually missing from the quantitative accounts of policing, formal training manuals and reported outcomes of policing practices. Ethnography then has much to offer in our understanding of the crime scene examiner (CSE), an actor who has been described as occupying an often contested landscape between science, law enforcement and the public (Kruse, ; Wilson‐Kovacs, ; Wyatt, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Understanding crime scene examination through an ethnographic lens

Wyatt

Wilson‐Kovacs

2019

WIREs Forensic Science

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Ethnographic methods offer huge potential in better understanding the professional profile, skills, expertise and working practices of the crime scene examiner (CSE).However, to date, their use to study the CSE has been limited. We draw on our research on the CSE within England and Wales and studies from other settings to demonstrate some of the complex negotiations and everyday practices that take place in the performance of crime scene examination. We focus specifically on their training, activities and role, and what an ethnographic lens adds to existing knowledge on the processes and practices of completing crime scene examination work.

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“…: 107). These scientific standards contrast with other occupational cultures in the police, forensic science, and the judiciary, in which a combination of Bdirect evidence^, such as fingerprints and DNA samples, and Bwitness statements^helps to ascertain the facts relating to a criminal case (Kruse 2016). In establishing identities of potential suspects, technologies such as CCTV (Douillet and Dumoulin 2015), fingerprint matching (Cole 2001), and DNA identification (Renard 2015, Robert andDufresne 2015) rely on networks of specialist institutions such as analysis laboratories, investigative agencies, and databases, enabling specialists to identify matches with samples.…”

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confidence: 96%

Latency Through Uncertainty: the 1994 Matsumoto Sarin Incident as a Delayed Cultural Trauma

Ushiyama

2018

Int J Polit Cult Soc

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Cultural trauma theory has emphasised the role of social groups in narrating, and thereby attributing moral significance to, highly disruptive events. In contrast, this article draws attention to professions such as the police and the media, which act as Bfact-finders^to establish the factual circumstances of events from which trauma narratives are created. The article offers a case study of the June 1994 Matsumoto Sarin Incident in Japan, a terrorist attack in which members of religious movement Aum Shinrikyō gassed residential streets using sarin. Factual uncertainties surrounding the attack, in combination with institutional failings by fact-finders that resulted in a false accusation, meant that carrier groups did not identify the event as one that brought a collectivity's underlying values into question; in other words, cultural trauma as a discourse did not develop. It was only after Aum's second sarin attack on the Tokyo subway in March 1995, when the true perpetrators and motives were finally uncovered, that Matsumoto belatedly became recognised as a traumatic assault on Japan's civic values. This article suggests that a collaborative approach combining science and technology studies (STS) with collective memory studies could provide a fruitful avenue of further research.

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Social Life of Forensic Evidence

Cited by 22 publications

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The Sociological Gaze

The Sociological Gaze

Understanding crime scene examination through an ethnographic lens

Latency Through Uncertainty: the 1994 Matsumoto Sarin Incident as a Delayed Cultural Trauma

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