Despite the challenges associated with collecting case-processing data on a large sample of cases, this research should be replicated and refined in other jurisdictions around the nation.
Larger samples are needed to assess the explanatory power of particular forms of evidence at key decision levels.
Jurisdictions should be selected that possess the ability to track cases from their origin to their final disposition (including sentencing) and which routinely log scientific and other forms of evidence present in a case.
Future case-processing studies might explore data from other and perhaps a larger number of jurisdictions.
Systems that track and integrate data across the justice process are increasingly being implemented and should make data collection easier in the future.
Some jurisdictions have noted the utility of these automated systems to enable efficient evidence processing and case follow-up (48).
In addition, studies should expand and strengthen their qualitative components to assess the practices of justice officials as they weigh various types of evidence at critical decision levels.
Furthermore, more studies are needed on the filtering of forensic evidence, from its recognition and collection at the crime scene to the use of forensic evidence by investigators, prosecutors and fact-finders.
This includes a closer examination of the role of the prosecutor in shaping forensic testing policies and practices.
In particular, the impact of forensic evidence in prosecutors’ decisions to take cases to trial versus guilty plea arrangements needs review, as well as the role played by forensic evidence in negotiating pleas and offering charge/sentence bargains.
Research should also look to update the four decade old study by Parker and Peterson(3) that estimated the physical evidence present at various crime scenes. New studies are needed to track evidence utilization in various offense categories that identify those factors that shape decisions to collect this evidence, submit it to laboratories, and to request examinations.
There is little reason to believe that demand for forensic services will wane in the future. Although physical evidence was only rarely collected in early studies from the 1960s and 1970s (2,3), its increasing collection and use (and associated consequences,
such as evidence backlogs) have been well documented (4–8) in later studies from the 1980s forward.
The role of forensic evidence in determining case-processing outcomes, however,
has received comparatively little research attention.
This type of research is essential to improving rationality in criminal justice decision making (37), particularly for police, prosecutors, and increasingly, for crime laboratory personnel (49).
A more informed understanding for how forensic evidence and other forms of evidence shape justice outcomes could result in not only a more efficient use of resources but also, ultimately, a system that ensures the fair and equal administration of justice.