Advancing forensic science: could a single cell prevent a wrongful conviction?

Investment in forensic science is critical for ensuring justice is served and innocent lives are not ruined through wrongful convictions. However, a recently published report by the The Westminster Commission on Forensic Science, highlighted failures across the system with potentially severe consequences:

"We have witnessed the denuding of a discipline and the depreciation of a service that was once a gem in the crown of the British legal system", the report reads. 

It concludes: "If we continue to ignore our instruments and the alarms sounding, we should expect an overwhelmed and ineffectual criminal justice system producing more miscarriages of justice." - Pulling out of the Graveyard Spiral, The Westminster Commission on Forensic Science. 

Speaking at the event, Baroness Black of Strome, one of the world’s leading forensic scientists and member of the House of Lords, called for the government to listen to the evidence: "If we don’t invest in forensic science, if we don’t move forward, if we don’t consolidate the research we are doing through databases, then we will make mistakes. And the question is how many miscarriages of justice are acceptable? The answer is none."

It’s clear there are major challenges to be faced. However, nothing can be solved without collaboration across all stakeholders; from scientists to policy makers to the police. Three projects, funded by UKRI (ESRC) through the “Forensic Science for the Justice System” sandpit event held in 2023 have been working to do just that; bridging the gaps between forensic researchers and stakeholders. 

One of these projects - the Single-cell Analysis for DNA Intelligence (SCAnDi) project, led from Earlham Institute, is a multidisciplinary network of scientists from across the UK. They have developed a proof-of-concept for separating complex mixtures of multiple DNA samples - a major challenge in forensic DNA analysis.

Underpinned by Earlham Institute's specialist technology platforms and expertise in single-cell analysis, this method could potentially identify individuals from the DNA in a single cell, as well as  the type of cell - such as skin or blood cell - that the DNA came from.  

This has key applications in progressing government missions from ‘Safer Streets’ to halving Violence Against Women and Girls. However, to continue this work and ensure this methodology can be used within forensic science, there needs to be a clear funding stream and opportunities to build on the  cross-sector collaborations established through this project. This will enable new technologies to reach readiness for operational use.

Professor Neil Hall, Earlham Institute Director said: "It is clear how important our research in forensic science is, and the urgent need for government to fund this area of science."

Collaborations such as the UKRI funded ‘Forensic Science for the Justice System’ are vitally important to overcome the barriers facing the sector. 

Dr Iain Macaulay, Group Leader at Earlham Institute and lead of the SCAnDi project, explained further:  "The UK once set the bar for technology development in forensic DNA analysis, and with sustained investment I have no doubt many of the challenges we are now addressing would already have been solved a decade or more ago. This is the consequence of the fragmentation and underinvestment in forensic sciences so starkly highlighted in this years’ Graveyard Spiral report."

However, despite these warnings, there is still hope that the situation can be reversed. As Dr Macaulay concluded "these projects and the willing communities that surround them - so clearly demonstrate that the UK retains both the capability, motivation and creativity to lead once again."