OSAC Standards Bulletin 1 October 2018

BULLETIN SUMMARY

This Bulletin provides an update on forensic science standards that are moving through the development 

process at standards developing organizations (SDOs), and those that are moving through the Registry 

Approval Process at the Organization of Scientific Area Committees for Forensic Science (OSAC). 

Please consider providing comments on documents that are open for comment.

OSAC Registry Standards open for comment: 2 Items

SDO Documents open for comment: 7 Items

OSAC REGISTRY NEWS

Intent to Add to the OSAC Registry – Items Open for Comment

ADA 1058-2010D Forensic Dental Data Set

Read the standard or submit a comment by November 10, 2018, 11:59pm ET. 

ADA 1088-2017D Human Identification by Comparative Dental Analysis

Read the standard or submit a comment by November 10, 2018, 11:59pm ET. 

Standards Moving Through the OSAC Registry Approval Process 

This section only lists standards that moved from one step in the OSAC Registry Approval Process to another 

during the last month. A list of all standards currently under consideration is available on the OSAC website.

No standards have progressed through the Registry Approval Process this month.

OSAC Draft Standards Submitted to Standards Developing Organizations (SDOs) 

OSAC developed the following draft standards and has submitted them to SDOs for formal development: 

Biological Methods

The following draft standards were submitted to American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) 

Academy Standards Board (ASB): 

• General Standards for Training in Forensic Serological Methods

• Standards for the Analytical Procedures and Report Writing of Forensic Serological Methods

OSAC Standards Bulletin

October 2018
OSAC Standards Bulletin 2 October 2018

STANDARDS DEVELOPING ORGANIZATION (SDO) NEWS

Comment Period Open on Draft Documents

American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) Academy Standards Board (ASB):

• Re-Circulation – ASB Standard 018, Validation Standards for Probabilistic Genotyping Systems, First 

Edition (Comment Deadline, November 11, 2018). Please note that comments on a re-circulation will 

only be accepted on revised sections of a document; comments made to text not revised from the 

original public comment period will not be accepted.

• Re-circulation – ASB Standard 022, Standard for Forensic DNA Analysis Training Programs, First 

Edition (Comment Deadline, November 19, 2018). Please note that comments on a re-circulation will 

only be accepted on revised sections of a document; comments made to text not revised from the 

original public comment period will not be accepted.

• ASB Standard 031, Guidelines for Report Writing in Bloodstain Pattern Analysis, First Edition 

(Comment Deadline, November 11, 2018).

• Re-Circulation – ASB Standard 036, Standard Practices for Method Validation in Forensic Toxicology, 

First Edition (Comment Deadline, November 5, 2018). Please note that comments on a re-circulation 

will only be accepted on revised sections of a document; comments made to text not revised from the 

original public comment period will not be accepted.

• Re-circulation – ASB Standard 040, Standard for Forensic DNA Interpretation and Comparison 

Protocols, First Edition (Comment Deadline, November 19, 2018). Please note that comments on a 

re-circulation will only be accepted on revised sections of a document; comments made to text not 

revised from the original public comment period will not be accepted.

• ASB Standard 053, Standard for Report Content in Forensic Toxicology, First Edition (Comment 

Deadline, November 5, 2018).

• ASB Standard 077, Standard for the Developmental and Internal Validation of Forensic Serological 

Methods, First Edition (Comment Deadline, November 19, 2018).

Please visit the Notification of Standard Development and Coordination area of the AAFS Standards 

Board website to view the comment resolutions from the initial public comment periods, the updated 

documents, and redline versions of the documents. The comment template can also be downloaded from the 

website. Please send any questions to asb@aafs.org.

New Work Proposals for New or Revised Standards

American Dental Association (ADA):

• Project Initiation Notification System (PINS) were published on page 18, in ANSI Standards Action on 

September 14, 2018. This will begin a 30-day period for public comment on the initiation of the ADA’s 

work on the document listed below: 

BSR/ADA 1077-201x, Dental Biometric Descriptors (new standard) Project Need: This standard 

will provide ADA expertise on dental forensics for submission to the ANSI/NIST ITL forensics 
OSAC Standards Bulletin 3 October 2018

standard. This will be a multi-part standard addressing biometric data concerning oral and 

perioral-related characteristics. Part 1 will cover images of pattern injuries on an individual of 

possible intraoral origin. Part 2 will cover latent images of possible perioral origin. Part 3 will 

cover palatine descriptors. Part 4 will cover radiographic dental age determination.

American Academy of Forensic Science (AAFS) Academy Standards Board (ASB):

• Project Initiation Notification System (PINS) were published on page 29, in ANSI Standards Action on 

October 5, 2018. This will begin a 30-day period for public comment on the initiation of the ASB’s work 

on the document listed below: 

BSR/ASB BPR 060-201x, Guidelines for Barrel and Overall Length Measurements for Firearms 

(new standard) estimating uncertainty of measurement. This document provides the guidelines 

for measuring barrel length and overall length (BL-OL) of firearms, including guidelines for 

measurement traceability and estimating uncertainty of BL-OL measurements in reports. 

ASTM International E30.01 Criminalistics:

• WK65067 - Practice for Assessment of Gas Chromatography and Electron Ionization Mass 

Spectrometry Data During the Qualitative Analysis of Seized Drugs

New Standards

This new standard is eligible for consideration by the OSAC:

American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) Academy Standards Board (ASB):

• ANSI/ASB Standard 020-2018, Standard for Validation Studies of DNA Mixtures, and Development and 

Verification of a Laboratory’s Mixture Interpretation Protocol

Revised Standards

These revised standards are eligible for consideration by the OSAC:

ASTM International E30.01 Criminalistics:

• ASTM E2224-18 Standard Guide for Forensic Analysis of Fibers by Infrared Spectroscopy

• ASTM E2225-18 Standard Guide for Forensic Examination of Fabrics and Cordage

• ASTM E2228-18 Standard Guide for Microscopical Examination of Textile Fibers

OTHER NEWS

ASTM E30 Forensic Standards Access 

The Organization of Scientific Area Committees (OSAC) for Forensic Science through the National Institute of 

Standards and Technology (NIST) has an existing contract with ASTM International that gives 30,000 public 

criminal justice agencies free access to standards published under ASTM Technical Committee E30 on 

Forensic Science. This agreement applies to the following stakeholder groups:

• OSAC Members & Affiliates – approximately 750 individuals

• NIST and Federal/State/Local Crime Laboratories – approximately 412 laboratories

• Public Defenders Offices – approximately 6,000 offices

• Law Enforcement Agencies – approximately 18,000 offices

• Prosecutor Offices – approximately 3,000 offices
OSAC Standards Bulletin 4 October 2018

• Medical Examiner/Coroners Offices – approximately 3,000 offices

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Opens Document for Comment

DRAFT NISTIR 8225: NIST Scientific Foundation Reviews available for comment.

This publication describes NIST’s approach to conducting scientific foundation reviews, which seek to 

document and evaluate the body of scientific data underpinning forensic science methods. NIST requests that 

readers submit comments, which will be considered when producing a final version of the document.

United Kingdom Forensic Science Regulator Releases Updated Publication

FSR-G-222, DNA Mixture Interpretation, updated September 20, 2018