Seminar Report: Science and Crime keeping one step ahead

Advances in science and technology - in areas such as IT, genetics, chemical analysis and imaging - are providing new methodologies for preventing crime and catching criminals in ways that weren't possible a decade ago. DNA testing and CCTV surveillance, combined with national databases and intelligent software, are just two examples of techniques increasingly used to identify suspected lawbreakers. Miniaturised analytical methods can detect minuscule amounts of drugs, toxins, explosives and other materials that might be used to commit a crime.

Such developments have undoubtedly contributed to the fall of 25 per cent in crime rates seen between 1997 and 2003 in England and Wales.* With these new and more refined techniques, however, comes a series of social issues relating to the forensic interpretation and understanding of complex scientific results, and to ethical concerns such as personal freedoms and anonymity.

To discuss the latest developments in crime science and the issues they raise, the Institute of Physics, the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Institute of Biology held a joint seminar in June 2004.