Forensic science evidence in non-adversary criminal justice systems

Debates surrounding forensic science evidence in criminal proceedings have been dominated by practitioners, scholars and advocates working in common law jurisdictions and presupposing adversarial procedural models. It would be easy to conclude that non-adversary procedural systems succeed where their adversary counterparts have failed, by providing forensic science evidence of good quality to decision makers aware of the limitations inherent to such evidence. This chapter aims to show that non-adversary criminal justice systems face their own challenges when forensic science evidence is adduced. Drawing on empirical research data and anecdotal examples, it explains why these systems do not fare as well in practice as might be anticipated on the basis of theoretical extrapolations from procedural models.