U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

Crime laboratories

Census of Publicly Funded Forensic Crime Laboratories, 2009

ADVANCE FOR RELEASE AT 10:00 A.M. EDT Bureau of Justice Statistics
THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, 2012                          Contact: Kara McCarthy (202) 307-1241
HTTP://WWW.BJS.GOV/ After hours: (202) 598-9320

NEARLY 1.2 MILLION FORENSIC REQUESTS TO PUBLICLY FUNDED CRIME LABS WERE BACKLOGGED AT YEAREND 2009, UNCHANGED FROM 2008

WASHINGTON – At the end of 2009, the nation’s publicly funded crime labs had an estimated backlog of 1.2 million requests...

Survey of DNA Crime Laboratories, 1998

ADVANCE FOR RELEASE AT 4:30 P.M. EST                    BJS
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2000                      202/307-0784 
                
SIXTY-NINE PERCENT OF PUBLIC FORENSIC LABORATORIES
HAD DNA TEST BACKLOGS IN 1997
     
     WASHINGTON, D.C. The first federal survey of publicly
operated forensic crime labs throughout the country has
revealed as of December 31, 1997, the labs had at least
6,800 unprocessed DNA cases and an additional 287,000
unprocessed convicted offender DNA samples...

National Survey of DNA Crime Laboratories

Provides national data on publicly operated forensic crime laboratories that perform DNA analyses. Data are collected on personnel, budgets, workloads, equipment, procedures, policies, and data processing. BJS first surveyed forensic crime laboratories in 1998, focusing solely on agencies that performed DNA analysis. The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) funded the 1998 study as part of a DNA Laboratory Improvement Program.

Census of Publicly Funded Forensic Crime Laboratories, 2002

ADVANCE FOR RELEASE AT 4:30 P.M. EST Bureau of Justice Statistics
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2005         Contact: Stu Smith (202) 307-0784
www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs After Hours: (301) 983-9354

WASHINGTON - The nation's public forensic crime labs ended 2002 with more than 500,000 backlogged requests for forensic services, compared to 290,000 requests that were backlogged at the beginning of the year, a 70 percent increase...

Census of Publicly Funded Forensic Crime Laboratories (CPFFCL)

Provides a comprehensive look at the forensic services provided by federal, state, and local crime labs across the nation and the resources devoted to completing the work. The Census of Publicly Funded Forensic Crime Laboratories collects data on staff, budgets, and workloads within publicly operated labs. The census also provides information on lab accreditations, proficiency tests, and other quality assurances.

Census of Publicly Funded Forensic Crime Laboratories, 2005

ADVANCE FOR RELEASE AT 4:00 P.M. EDT Bureau of Justice Statistics
TUESDAY, JULY 29, 2008 Contact: Kara McCarthy: 202-307-1241
www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs After hours: 781-308-3696

CRIME LABS RECEIVED AN ESTIMATED 2.7 MILLION CASES IN 2005

WASHINGTON - Federal, state, and local forensic crime labs received evidence from an estimated 2.7 million criminal investigations during 2005, according to a report by the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics...