FORENSIC SCIENCE 

STANDARDS BOARD 

(FSSB) UPDATE

Steven Johnson, Chair

1:20 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
OSAC MEMBERSHIP

540+ 

Members Practitioners

Researchers and Academics

Private sector

Professional Societies

Expertise 22 specific forensic disciplines

General expertise in scientific 

research, measurement 

science, statistics, law, and 

policy

STRUCTURE

Forensic Science Standards Board (FSSB)

7 Scientific Area Committees

• Biology

• Chemistry: Seized Drugs/Toxicology

• Chemistry: Trace Evidence

• Scene Examination

• Medicine

• Digital Evidence/Multimedia

• Physics/Pattern Interpretation

22 SAC Subcommittees

4 Resource Task Groups

• Human Factors

• Legal

• Quality

• Statistics
COMPOSITION

Employer Classification

Federal: 22%

State: 20%

Local: 18%

Academic: 21%

Private: 18%

FFRDC: 1%

Job Classification

Practitioner: 57%

Researcher: 17%

Educator: 10%

Other: 9%

Attorney: 2%

QA Manager: 2%

R&D Tech: 2%

Judge: 1%

6/1/2020 Status

546 members 

266 affiliates

2700+ Applications
WHAT 

DOES

THE 

FSSB 

DO?

Forensic Science Standards Board (FSSB) oversees 

the Scientific Area Committees and Subcommittees

Establishes governance rules and policies to ensure 

the development of quality standards

Encourages standards use in the provision of 

forensic science services

Administers overall operation of the organization

Approves standards for inclusion on the OSAC 

Registry

Engages in all efforts related to forensic science 

standards

Informs the forensic science community of research 

needs and gaps
• OSAC Registry serves as a trusted repository of high-quality, science-based 

standards and guidelines for forensic practice.

• Criteria: standards and guidelines must have been developed using a consensusbased process and must pass the OSAC review of technical merit by forensic 

practitioners, academic researchers, statisticians and measurement scientists. 

• Elevating a standard to the official OSAC Registry is an endorsement of the high quality of 

the document and encourages its adoption by all relevant agencies and practitioners.

• At this time, OSAC does not have authority to enforce standards.

• The ultimate goal of OSAC and its members is to facilitate the development of sciencebased standards for each of 22 distinct forensic science disciplines and to promote their 

widespread adoption.

REGISTRY
STANDARDS ON THE REGISTRY AND IN PROGRESS

• OSAC Registry (37)

• Approved by OSAC – highest level of vetting

• OSAC drafted standards published by an SDO (94)

• Drafted by OSAC, completed SDO consensus process – may have changed since being 

released by OSAC, but is a published standard

• OSAC drafted standards sent to an SDO (136)

• Drafted by OSAC with input from resource committees, approved by SAC and send to SDO

• Under Development: OSAC drafted standards working through the development process (150+)

• Working draft document inside the OSAC development process (not publicly available)
OSAC STANDARDS 

IMPLEMENTATION 

PATHWAYS
Self Adoption

Professional Associations 

Criminal Justice (Courts) 

Accrediting Bodies 

Funding Bodies (Carrot) 

Funding Bodies (Stick) 

Others

OSAC STANDARDS 

IMPLEMENTATION 

PATHWAYS