List the underlying reasons for the rapid growth of crime laboratories in the United States since the late 1960s

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

1) The increasing volume of physical evidence recovered from crime scenes as a result of rising crime rates
2) The need to perform chemical analyses on drugs, coupled with a significant increase in illicit drug seizures
3) Supreme Court decisions have enhanced the rights of the defendant. Decisions, such as those ensuring a defendant's right to counsel and the right to remain silent, have encouraged police agencies to place a greater reliance on scientific investigative techniques.
4) A more recent impetus leading to the growth and maturation of crime laboratories has been the advent of DNA profiling. Since the early 1990s, this technology has progressed to the point at which traces of blood, semen, stains, hair, and saliva residues left behind on stamps, cups, bite marks, and so on, have made possible the individualization or near-individualization of biological evidence. To meet the demands of DNA technology, crime labs have expanded staff in many cases modernized their physical plants.
5) Advances in scientific technology have provided forensic scientists with many new skills and techniques to extract meaningful information from physical evidence.