Improving outcomes for homicide investigations
Research conducted by the University of South Wales (USW) is helping to improve outcomes in police homicide investigations.
Preventing and investigating murder is more challenging than ever.
The volume and complexity of digital data, poor collaboration between agencies, and rapid growth in certain types of murder (e.g. knife and gang-related) all place extra demands on the police and other services. In addition, although forensic science is used widely in homicide investigations, little is known about how it impacts criminal justice outcomes.
A team from the University of South Wales, led by Professor Fiona Brookman, sought to provide evidence-based solutions to these challenges. Professor Brookman led the first British ethnographic study of the role of forensic sciences and technologies (FSTs) in homicide investigations (the Homicide Investigation and Forensic Science, HIFS, project).
Finding evidence-based solutions
The HIFS project provided new insights into how detectives, prosecutors and forensic scientists use FSTs to investigate cases and prosecute suspects. Notably, HIS has demonstrated the complexities of recovering and using CCTV evidence and how risky practices can undermine its reliability in court.
HIFS findings also revealed that dialogue is key to understanding and reconstructing homicide events during investigations. However, some practices are constraining effective dialogue between detectives, prosecutors, forensic scientists and other experts, which may mean cases are not properly investigated and resolved.
Improving murder investigations
The team’s research has informed policy and practice nationally and internationally, helping police, forensic scientists, digital forensic practitioners, and policymakers prevent and investigate murders more effectively, and improving collaborative working between agencies.
Professor Brookman has helped the Home Office and key stakeholders design strategies to reduce and prevent murder and the team have also worked with the Home Office Data and Identity Directorate to develop metrics to measure the impact of forensic science on criminal justice outcomes.
USW’s research has directly contributed to the development of the NPCC’s definition of digital forensic science and the Digital Forensic Science Strategy.
Research team
Professor Fiona Brookman and Dr Helen Jones – Criminology, Policing and Security Research and Innovation Group, University of South Wales
Research partners
Professor Robin Williams and Professor Jim Fraser