The National Research Council Report (NRC) of 2009, titled Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward, was developed by the National Academy of Sciences to explore the challenges and needs of the forensic science community. These challenges include the need for international standards created specifically for forensic science, improved standardization in terminology, reporting, scientific validation, more training and education, and increased trust and reliability of interpretation and courtroom testimony.
Many forensic testing and calibration laboratories are accredited to international standards such as ISO/IEC 17025, which provides general requirements for testing and calibration laboratories. In addition, forensic inspection bodies can be accredited to ISO/IEC 17020 which were developed for various types of bodies performing inspection services. The report also recommended that accreditation should be mandatory; however, it is currently considered voluntary (NRC, 2009).
To address gaps that the international standards developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) did not specifically meet for the forensic science community, the Organization of Scientific Area Committees (OSAC) for Forensic Science was established in 2014. Administered by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), OSAC develops standards that incorporate best practices and technically sound guidelines for adoption and implementation by specific forensic disciplines. OSAC consists of over 800 volunteer members and affiliates with expertise in 22 forensic disciplines including scientific research, statistics, measurement science, policy, and law. There are 238 standards in the OSAC Registry (https://www.nist.gov/osac/registry), a repository of SDO-published and OSAC proposed standards for a multitude of various forensic science disciplines including but not limited to Forensic Anthropology, Forensic Odontology, Firearms and Toolmarks, Forensic Toxicology, Trace Materials, Seized Drugs, Human Forensic Biology, and Wildlife Forensic Biology.
ASTM International, formally known as the American Society for Testing and Materials, formed the ASTM Technical Committee E30 on Forensic Science in 1970 to create voluntary consensus standards relevant to forensics including fire debris analysis, drug testing, criminalistics, digital and multimedia evidence, and the collection and preservation of physical and digital evidence (ASTM International, n.d.). This committee consists of 333 members and encompasses the following technical subcommittees:
- E30.11 Interdisciplinary Forensic Science Standards
- E30.12 Digital and Multimedia Evidence
- E30.13 Ignitable Liquids, Explosives, and Gunshot Residue
- E30.14 Seized Drugs
- E30.15 Trace
- E30.16 AI and Machine Learning for Forensic Science
- E30.17 Scene Evidence Collection
- E30.92 Terminology
The Technical Committee E30 has published 75 standards to be implemented in the forensic science community and ASTM has provided free access to the E30 published standards on the OSAC Registry and the ASTM Compass website (ASTM International, n.d.).
The Global Accreditation Cooperation Incorporated refers to the global association for accreditation bodies, such as American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA), that function in accordance with ISO/IEC 17011 and accredits conformity assessment bodies to recognized international standards including ISO/IEC 17025, ISO/IEC 17020, ISO 15189, ISO 17043, and ISO 17034. The Global Accreditation Cooperation Incorporated developed guidance documents, also known as the G series, for accreditation bodies and accredited organizations to provide direction on the interpretation of accreditation criteria for certain applications such as decision rules, measurement uncertainty, accreditation scopes, and the forensic science process. The intention of the G19:06/2022 Modules in a Forensic Science Process was to provide clarification to organizations involved in the examination and/or testing in forensic science process that operate in compliance with ISO/IEC 17025 and/or ISO/IEC 17020 (ILAC, 2022). This guidance document indicates that the same activity within the forensic science process could be assessed using different standards. For example, due to the professional judgement aspect of friction ridge discipline, it can be assessed to ISO/IEC 17020. In addition, the forensic service provider may have friction ridge discipline assessed by the accreditation body to relevant clauses in ISO/IEC 17025.
There is now a new international standard for the field of forensic science known as ISO 21043 which was developed by the ISO Technical Committee (TC) 272 to promote consistency among forensic service providers, enhance credibility, strengthen accuracy and reliability (Forry & Wolf, 2025), and provide guidance to ensure quality of the forensic process (Morrison et al., 2025). The following individuals are acknowledged as members of the technical committee by Jody Wolf in her presentation at Association of Forensic Quality Assurance Managers Conference (see abbreviations of forensic organizations in the Appendix):
- ASCLD Board of Directors, Executive Director John Byrd and Administrative Assistant Ramona Robertson
- Erin Forry, Kathleen Corrado, and Jeff Nye (ASCLD)
- Brad Putnam and Pam Sale (ANAB)
- Cathy Knutson, Jan Girten, Jay Henry, and Linda Jackson (ASCIA)
- Karen Reczek, Allison Getz, Robert Thompson, JP Jones, and Vinny Desiderio (NIST)
- Laurel Farrell, Mary McKiel, Julie Howe, Michael Kessler (AAFS-ASB)
- Rachel Duke, Paul Kaylor, and Brittney Rollison (A2LA)
- Alicia Carriquiry, Jeff Salyards, and Karen Kafadar (CSAFE)
- Lori Nix and Karin Athanas (AFQAM)
- Adam Dale, Ryan Triplett, Elizabeth Marrero, and Eric Sawchak (DFBA)
- Ted Hunt, Robin Ruth, Melanie McMillin, and Cami Dubach (DOJ)
- John Grassel, Heidi Eldridge, and Henry Swofford (IAI)
- Kristina Pearson, Lotte Downey, and Charlie Stolberg (Promega)
- Kermit Channell and Soraya Downey (ASCLD)- Original Chair and Secretariat
These standards were developed in a collaborative effort with the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) Technical Committee CEN/TC 419 for laboratory and field-based forensic science techniques and methodology including the collection of physical evidence, analysis and interpretation of the data generated, and the reporting of results and findings obtained (ISO, 2025a). ISO 21043 standards were developed not to replace ISO/IEC 17025 and ISO/IEC 17020, but to be used in conjunction with them (Forry & Wolf, 2025; Morrison et al., 2025). Since ISO 21043 Parts 1-5 are not accreditation standards, forensic service providers cannot be accredited to them as stand-alone standards but can incorporate them into their quality management system.
ISO 21043 standards were published as a series of five sections, consisting of various components of the forensic science process from collecting evidence at the crime scene to testifying in the courtroom (Berger, 2025). Part 1 includes vocabulary which is pertinent to understand the content in the remaining parts of the standard, while part 2 pertains to the recovery, transport, and storage of items. The intent of these requirements is to protect items from loss, degradation, contamination, and decrease the negative influence of handling or packaging downstream in the forensic process. It is important to note that ISO 21043 Part 2 does not apply to the recovery of data from digital storage media and readers which are directed to relevant requirements located in ISO/IEC 27037 (ISO, 2018).
Part 3 of the international standards contains recommendations and requirements for the analysis of items of potential forensic value, including the selection and application of suitable analysis methods to satisfy the customer’s needs and complete the forensic service request. To accomplish this, these standards help ensure that forensic service providers utilize adequate methods, quality controls, and suitable analytical procedures performed by competent personnel throughout the forensic analysis of items with potential forensic value (ISO, 2025b). In addition, ISO 21043 Part 3 includes criteria for validations, equipment, measurement uncertainty, performance monitoring and other quality requirements.
Part 4 consists of requirements and recommendations which are applicable to all forensic disciplines for the interpretation of observations used to reach conclusions which are pertinent to answer questions that may be relevant to investigations. These standards are applicable to conclusions based on professional human judgment and those based upon interpretations utilizing statistical models, such as likelihood ratio approach (ISO, 2025c).
Lastly, Part 5 relates to the reporting of forensic work to ensure accuracy, transparency, completeness, and impartiality. These requirements also include case file reviews, issue and control of reports, and testimony training and evaluations (ISO, 2025d; Berger, 2025).
As mentioned previously, ISO 21043 standards have only recently been introduced to the forensic science community, which means their full implementation will take time. As an accrediting body, A2LA continues to be committed to offering accreditation services and meet the needs of forensic conformity assessment bodies. This dedication to accreditation yields invaluable benefits in the form of enhanced credibility and trust from the criminal justice system and the general public.
References
American Association for Laboratory Accreditation. (n.d.). Forensic Program Handbook. American Association for Laboratory Accreditation. https://mktg.a2la.org/l/273522/2025-08-25/42ps8fq
ASTM International. (n.d.). ASTM International Technical Committee E30 on Forensic Science. [Fact Sheet]. ASTM International. https://mcsdocs.astm.org/committee-documents/E30-Fact-Sheet-2025.pdf
Berger, C.E.H. (2025). Finally a Really Forensic Worldwide Standard: ISO 21043 Forensic Sciences, Part 4, Interpretation. Forensic Science International: Synergy. 10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fsisyn.2025.100589
Forry, E., & Wolf, J. (2025, April 4-8). Global Collaboration in Forensic Science. [Conference presentation]. 2025 ASCLD Symposium, Denver, CO, United States.
International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation. https://ilac.org/about-ilac/
International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation. https://ilac.org/publications-and-resources/ilac-guidance-series/
International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation. (2022). Modules in a Forensic Science Process. (ILAC G19:06/2022).
International Organization for Standardization. (2025a). Forensic sciences – Part 1: Terms and Definitions. (ISO Standard No. 21043-1:2025).
International Organization for Standardization. (2018). Forensic sciences – Part 2: Recognition, recording, collecting, transport and storage of items. (ISO Standard No. 21043-2:2018).
International Organization for Standardization. (2025b). Forensic sciences – Part 3: Analysis. (ISO Standard No. 21043-3:2025).
International Organization for Standardization. (2025c). Forensic sciences – Part 4: Interpretation. (ISO Standard No. 21043-4:2025).
International Organization for Standardization. (2025d). Forensic sciences – Part 5: Reporting. (ISO Standard No. 21043-5:2025).
Jones, N.S., & Forry, E.P. (2023). Demystifying Accreditation: A Framework for Accreditation of Forensic Units. (National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD), NIST Grant/Contractor Report (GCR) NIST GCR 23-043. https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.GCR.23-043
Morrison, G.S., Elliott, S., Guiness, J., Sonden, L., & Court, D.S. (2025). A guide to ISO 21043 Forensic Sciences from the perspective of the forensic-data-science paradigm. Science & Justice, 65 (5). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scijus.2025.101304
National Research Council. (2009). Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward. https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12589/strengthening-forensic-science-in-the-united-states-a-path-forward
National Institute of Standards and Technology https://www.nist.gov/adlp/spo/organization-scientific-area-committees-forensic-science
National Institute of Standards and Technology. https://www.nist.gov/osac/registry retrieved 9/13/2025
Wolf. J. (2025, October 8). ISO Technical Committee on 21043. [Conference presentation]. 2025 Association of Forensic Quality Assurance Managers Conference, Portland, OR, United States.