Shall the twain ever meet?

There is ongoing debate about the function and value of quality management (hereinafter: QM) for the different actors within the forensic science environment. In this commentary we identify adopters and sceptics. Adopters, more likely in management roles, seek comfort in standards and standard opera...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAustralian journal of forensic sciences Vol. 57; no. 4; pp. 426 - 432
Main Authors Neuteboom, Wim, Ross, Alastair
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Taylor & Francis 04.07.2025
Subjects
complex cases
forensic examination plan
ISO17025
Nonconforming work
Quality management
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Summary:There is ongoing debate about the function and value of quality management (hereinafter: QM) for the different actors within the forensic science environment. In this commentary we identify adopters and sceptics. Adopters, more likely in management roles, seek comfort in standards and standard operating procedures (SOPs) and sceptics, often in the role of science professionals, seek flexibility and choice in the way they do business without being slaves to standards and SOPs. Is this a case of the twain never meeting? It could be argued that the perceived gap between adopters and sceptics can be narrowed so long as there is flexibility for the sceptics, for example, to put science into forensic science (e.g. critical thinking) in a way that is sufficiently transparent to satisfy the adopters and the prevailing standard(s).
ISSN:0045-0618
1834-562X
DOI:10.1080/00450618.2024.2363823