Crime Laboratory

Jay A. Siegel

A crime laboratory is a facility where analysis is performed on evidence that has been generated by crimes or, sometimes, civil infractions. The evidence includes scientific physical evidence and may also be analyzed by other disciplines, such as behavioral forensic science, crime scene investigation, polygraph, and so forth. In this definition, specialized laboratories that engage in only one type of analysis are not considered. These include, for example, medical examiner's or coroner's laboratories and laboratories set up just for workplace drug analysis. Most crime laboratories in the United States are publicly funded and administered by federal, state, or local government, although there are a growing number of private labs that engage in specialized functions such as drug analysis or DNA typing. There are approximately 400 public crime labs in the United States. The federal government administers some, but the vast majority are funded by states, cities, or counties. Examples of ...

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