American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS)
The American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) is a nonprofit professional organization established in 1948, aimed at enhancing justice through the application of scientific principles within the legal system. With around 6,000 members, the AAFS represents a diverse array of forensic professionals, including pathologists, toxicologists, engineers, and attorneys from the U.S., Canada, and over fifty other countries. The academy encompasses various specialties through its sections, such as Criminalistics, Digital Forensics, Odontology, and Toxicology, thus providing a comprehensive representation of the forensic science field.
AAFS plays a vital role in promoting professional standards, offering board certification for expert court testimony, and facilitating ongoing education through conferences, publications, and a peer-reviewed journal. Furthermore, it administers accreditation for forensic science education programs, ensuring the quality of academic training in the field. Membership in the AAFS requires demonstrable contributions to forensic science and relevant educational qualifications, and includes categories for students and professionals alike. Through its initiatives, the AAFS supports research, ethical practices, and career development within the forensic sciences, making it a cornerstone organization for those involved in this critical discipline.
On this Page
Subject Terms
American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS)
DATE: Formed in 1948
IDENTIFICATION: Nonprofit professional organization created to improve, administer, and achieve justice through the application of science to the legal system.
SIGNIFICANCE: With a membership made up of forensic scientists from all the field’s major specialties, the American Academy of Forensic Sciences represents forensic science and its professionals to the public, offers credibility for their expert court testimony through board certification, and promotes educational and research opportunities for members.
In 1948, a small group of pathologists, psychiatrists, criminalists, and lawyers formed the American Academy of forensic Sciences (AAFS) to apply science to the law. The AAFS has become the primary organization for professional forensic scientists, representing some six thousand members from across the United States, Canada, and more than fifty other countries. The society represents all the major forensic science disciplines, with sections including Criminalistics, Digital Forensics, Engineering Sciences, General, Odontology, Pathology/Biology, Physical Anthropology, Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Questioned Documents, and Toxicology. AAFS members include physicians, pathologists, dentists, toxicologists, physicists, engineers, physical anthropologists, attorneys, and other forensic science specialists.
Functions of the society (in association with the Forensic Sciences Foundation) include the promotion of forensic science education through the publication of newsletters, symposia, and the flagship peer-reviewed journal the Journal of Forensic Sciences, which was launched in 1956, and through sponsorship of an annual meeting each February. The AAFS also administers board certification exams, continuing education credit (for physicians, dentists, chemists, nurses, and attorneys), and training seminars for members to advance their scientific accuracy and credibility. The AAFS offers job placement, scholarship, and grant opportunities for its members as well as career information for all persons interested in forensic science; the academy also supports research in the forensic science fields and provides ethical oversight in the practice of forensic science.
The AAFS oversees the Forensic Science Education Programs Accreditation Commission, known as FEPAC, which is dedicated to enhancing the quality of college-level academic forensic science education through a formal evaluation and recognition process. FEPAC sets quality standards for undergraduate and graduate forensic science programs and administers their accreditation.
Categories of membership in the AAFS are student affiliate, trainee affiliate, associate member, member, and fellow. The academy’s stringent membership requirements include (for associate member and higher) proof of active engagement in and significant contributions to the field of forensic science as well as a minimum education of a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university. Each section within the AAFS also has its own additional requirements for membership. Applications for membership are approved only at the annual meeting each February.
Bibliography
"About the AAFS." American Academy of Forensic Sciences, www.aafs.org/about-us. Accessed 13 Aug. 2024.
Gaensslen, R. E., Howard A. Harris, and Henry C. Lee. Introduction to Forensic Science and Criminalistics. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008.
Houck, Max M., and Jay A. Siegel. Fundamentals of Forensic Science. Burlington, Mass.: Elsevier Academic Press, 2006.