Fire Investigation Judicial "Primer" published

The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales and Lord President or Scotland have been working with the Royal Society and Royal Society of Edinburgh since 2015 to create a series of Judicial Primers. These are documents which provide, in simple language, the accepted underpinning science behind forensic evidence combined with the applications and accepted limitations of how these scientific areas are implemented in practice in casework.   

The Judicial Primers are judicially led, featuring evidence types chosen by, and developed for the Judiciary.  They are not practice guides for forensic science practitioners, but rather reflect the current and expected scientific practice as per nationally agreed codes of practice, professional body guidance, and forensic science regulation codes and directives. 

The Judicial Primer steering committee suggested that a Judicial Primer on fire investigation would be a useful addition to the portfolio.  A number of experts within the fire investigation field were asked to form a writing committee and an editorial board and were tasked to deliver the fire investigation Judicial Primer which was peer reviewed by over 20 reviewers.  The membership of these groups (writers, editors, reviewers) included fire investigation practitioners from the public and private sector, the Judiciary, members of the UK-AFI, IFE, CSFS, fellows of the Royal Society and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 

The document can be found here: Royal Society Fire Investigation Primer