NIJ Sponsored Forensic Science Delegation to the People's Republic of China

• NCJ Number: 189917
• Author(s): Barry A. J. Fisher
• Date Published: August 2001
• Length: 15 pages
• Grant Number(s): 98-LB-VX-0011
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description

Annotation

This report describes the activities and summarizes the observations of a small delegation of U.S. forensic scientists that visited the People's Republic of China in November 2000 and lectured to approximately 130 Chinese forensic scientists.

Abstract

The delegates lectured on a variety of topics, including crime laboratory management, quality assurance, laboratory accreditation, forensic pathology, forensic DNA testing, advances in forensic sciences, and the role of the National Institute of Justice in supporting State and local forensic science in the United States. They also toured several institutes in Beijing and Shanghai and met with forensic science colleagues from other regions. The delegation observed that all the Chinese forensic scientists with whom it met expressed an interest in future Sino-United States forensic science cooperation and collaboration. Although Chinese forensic scientists had the perception that U.S. forensic science was well ahead of them, the delegation perceived that the two countries were at a comparable forensic level, at least in the areas of DNA, forensic medicine, and general forensic science. The laboratory equipment observed was typical of the instrumentation found in most American crime labs. Along with a high degree of centralization, the forensic system was, by U.S. standards, paternalistic; and Chinese forensic scientists appeared unable or unwilling to question authority. Possible cooperative programs for the future might include forensic science exchange programs and joint meetings between American and Chinese forensic science professional organizations.