College to host international forensic science conference

11/12/2008

College to host international forensic science conference
     An international conference about the future of forensic science will be hosted by the Center for the Study of Law, Science, & Technology at the College of Law on April 3-4, 2009.
     "Forensic Science for the 21st Century: The National Academy of Sciences Report and Beyond," will bring together many of the world's leading scholars of forensic science, criminalistics, and scientific evidence to explore the relationship of forensic science to the legal system. The conference will pay special attention to the highly anticipated report of the National Academy of Sciences, entitled, "Identifying the Needs of the Forensic Sciences Community." 
     In addition to the members of legal academia at the College of Law, the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, Harvard Law School, University of California, Irvine, and other law schools, participants will include state and federal judges, the NAS committee co-chairmen, the president of the American Association of Forensic Sciences, directors of the FBI laboratory and the Innocence Project, and prosecutors, defense attorneys, forensic scientists and criminalists.
     As part of the conference, The Honorable Harry T. Edwards, Senior Circuit Judge and Chief Judge Emeritus of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, will deliver the College of Law's annual Willard H. Pedrick Lecture on the afternoon of April 3. Judge Edwards, who is co-chair of the Forensic Science Committee of the National Academy of Sciences, will speak about "Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward."
     Co-sponsors are the National Judicial College and sections of the American Bar Association. A conference Web site with more detailed information is being established. Questions also can be directed to the conference organizers, Professors David Kaye, Jay Koehler, and Michael Saks or to Sandy Askland, director of the Center for the Study of Law, Science, & Technology.
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