Australian forensic scientists: a view from the witness box

Forensic scientists occupy an important position in courts of law as expert witnesses. Despite a wealth of knowledge and experience about how scientific evidence is presented, Australian forensic scientists have not, until now, been asked for their perspective on how their evidence is used in the legal system. This paper highlights some of the results of a survey of Australian forensic scientists across a broad range of disciplines, which investigated their views on pre-trial processes, trial presentation of scientific evidence, their interaction with the judge, jury and other forensic experts, and finally, their comments on forensic science and expert evidence in general.