EWJ FEB 59 2025 web - Flipbook - Page 11
Northumbria Research to Help Shape
Forensic Science use in Criminal Law
Academics from Northumbria University, Newcastle, and the University of Derby have
conducted research to help inform UK policymakers on the use of digital forensics and digital
evidence across the criminal justice system.
The research has been carried out with the assistance
of the Home Office as part of expert contributions to
an important Government project looking at the
impact of forensic science in UK law.
Using a synthesis of interviews, focus groups, and
surveys, our team at Northumbria undertook an ambitious study involving participants from across the
criminal justice system – incorporating policing, digital
forensics and law.”
Northumbria’s Dr Cerian Griffiths, Emma Piasecki,
Philp Anderson and Professor Tim Wilson and University of Derby’s Dr Sophie Carr, drew on their previous legal practice and forensic research experience
to better understand how digital forensics and digital
evidence are currently being used across the criminal
justice system. As an interdisciplinary research team,
they produced a revealing and extremely well
-received report entitled: Digital Forensics within the
Criminal Justice System: Use, Effectiveness, and
Impact
Participants in the study included officers from
regional police forces, the National Crime Agency and
those involved in counter-terrorism, police Digital
Forensics Unit investigators, HM Prison and Probation Service, independent digital forensics practitioners, the Crown Prosecution Service, and solicitors and
barristers in independent practice with experience of
both prosecuting and defending.
This research project breaks new ground in
facilitating collaborative and constructive crossprofessional dialogue about problems and problemsolving - and involving organisations embedded in the
criminal justice system from investigation to trial and
appeal.
The report’s findings provide recommendations to
inform future policymaking. It states: “Digital forensics
is one of the fastest developing areas of criminal evidence and litigation, with 90% of criminal investigations and prosecutions now involving a digital element.
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