Posted on by RB Ostrum · 1 Comment

Certification — ABFDE

What is certification? In my opinion, professional certification is a designation that indicates the holder of the certification has appropriate and adequate qualifications to do some particular, generally well-defined, job or task. As an example I am a forensic document examiner and I have received professional certification from the American Board of Forensic Document Examiners, Inc.

An internet search for ‘certification’ produces a huge list of possibilities, with more such programs being developed all the time as people become attuned to issues of quality and competency. Indeed, almost every profession has some type of certification and a few have several (consider all of the ‘certifications’ in the computing industry). Most, if not all, certification programs are aimed at improving the quality in a given profession by setting minimum standards for the job. The basic idea is that someone meeting or exceeding those standards will produce quality output on the job. Certification programs are generally created or are administered by a professional society, a college or university, or some private body set up expressly for that purpose.

Forensic Document Examination is no exception so it may be worthwhile discussing certification options as well as the pros and cons that I see for those options.

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Posted on by RB Ostrum · 1 Comment

R. v. Mohan — Canada’s Daubert?

It is safe to say that pretty much everyone working in the forensic sciences has heard of the Daubert ruling or, more specifically, Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, 509 U.S. 579 (1993).1 It was a pivotal ruling that, together with two subsequent rulings General Electric Co. v Joiner, 522 U.S. 136 (1997)2 and Kumho Tire Co., Ltd. v Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137 (1999),3 has greatly affected many legal jurisdictions in the United States. And, as is often the case, whatever happens in the USA tends to have influence elsewhere.

R. v. Mohan — Canada's Daubert

Shortly after that, in Canada, there was a key Supreme Court ruling that addressed admissibility of forensic expertise — R. v. Mohan, [1994] 2 S.C.R. 9.4

That ruling laid out the test for the admissibility of ‘novel’ expert evidence (see Mohan, page 4) in Canada.

Subsequently, the factors explained in that ruling have been applied, just as those in Daubert were, to many types of traditional forensic science evidence. It is, perhaps, rather ironic that rulings intended to liberalize the admission of new (and potentially) helpful evidence would lead to challenges of all forms and types of evidence.

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