Forensic Science and the Administration of Justice: Critical Issues and Directions

Kevin J. Strom, Ph.D., directs the Policing, Security, and Investigative Science Program at RTI International. His research activity is focused on the impact of forensic science on the criminal justice system, law enforcement responses to community violence and terrorism, and crime- and forensic data–reporting systems. His work has been published in peer-reviewed journals that include Criminology & Public Policy, Journal of Forensic Sciences, Journal of Quantitative Criminology, and Crime & Delinquency. Dr. Strom has led numerous law enforcement– and forensic-related studies, including projects that have developed recommendations for increasing efficiency in forensic evidence processing. This research has included assessing how forensic evidence is collected, processed, used, and retained across law enforcement, crime laboratories, and prosecutors’ offices. Dr. Strom has been an active member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police Research Advisory Committee since 2009. Before joining RTI, he was employed by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics. He received his Ph.D. in criminology from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Matthew J. Hickman, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at Seattle University. His research interests include issues in policing, quantitative research methodology, and the impact of forensic sciences on the administration of justice. He was previously a statistician at the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, where he specialized in the development and analysis of national data collections on law enforcement and the forensic sciences. His work has been published in Criminology, Criminology & Public Policy, Journal of Quantitative Criminology, Journal of Forensic Sciences, Crime & Delinquency, Police Quarterly, and Policing. He co-edited a volume titled Police Integrity and Ethics and has contributed book chapters to Race, Ethnicity and Policing: New and Essential Readings, Encyclopedia of Police Science, and The Oxford Handbook on Police and Policing. Dr. Hickman is a member of the American Society of Criminology, the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, and the International Association of Crime Analysts.