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The Organization of Scientific Area Committees for Forensic Science

OSAC Registry

The OSAC Registry is a repository of high-quality, technically sound published and proposed standards for forensic science. These written documents define minimum requirements, best practices, standard protocols and other guidance to help ensure that the results of forensic analysis are valid, reliable and reproducible.

All the standards on this registry have passed a rigorous technical and quality review by OSAC members, including forensic science practitioners, research scientists, statisticians and legal experts. OSAC encourages the forensic science community to implement these published and proposed standards.

The OSAC Registry includes two types of standards:

Published standards. These are fully developed standards that have been published by a standards developing organization (SDO).
OSAC Proposed Standards. These are new or revised standards that have been drafted by OSAC and sent to an SDO to be further developed and published. These proposed standards have undergone the same rigorous technical review as the published standards on this Registry. To help fill the standards gap during the time it takes for an SDO to complete the standards development process, OSAC encourages the forensic science community to implement these high-quality proposed standards. An OSAC Proposed Standard may be revised during the SDO development process, and once available, the SDO published standard will replace the OSAC Proposed Standard on the Registry.

As of June 7, 2022, the OSAC Registry contains 95 forensic science standards (79 SDO published and 16 OSAC Proposed Standards) representing the following disciplines:

Anthropology

Published Standards

ANSI/ASB Best Practice Recommendation 089, Best Practice Recommendation for Facial Approximation in Forensic Anthropology, First Edition, 2020 (added September 7, 2021).

Biology/DNA

Published Standards

ANSI/ASB Standard 018, Standard for Validation of Probabilistic Genotyping Systems, First Edition, 2020 (added May 4, 2021).
ANSI/ASB Standard 020, Standard for Validation Studies of DNA Mixtures, and Development and Verification of a Laboratory’s Mixture Interpretation Protocol, First Edition, 2018 (added May 12, 2020).
ANSI/ASB Standard 022, Standard for Forensic DNA Analysis Training Programs, First Edition, 2019 (added September 1, 2020).
ANSI/ASB Standard 023, Standard for Training in Forensic DNA Isolation and Purification Methods, First Edition, 2020 (added August 3, 2021).
ANSI/ASB Standard 040, Standard for Forensic DNA Interpretation and Comparison Protocols, First Edition, 2019 (added May 12, 2020).
ANSI/ASB Standard 110, Standards for Training in Forensic Serological Methods, First Edition, 2020 (added August 3, 2021).
ANSI/ASB Standard 115, Standard for Training in Forensic Short Tandem Repeat Typing Methods using Amplification, DNA Separation, and Allele Detection, First Edition, 2020 (added August 3, 2021).
ANSI/ASB Standard 116, Standard for Training in Forensic DNA Quantification Methods, First Edition, 2020 (added August 3, 2021).
ANSI/ASB Standard 130, Standard for Training in Forensic DNA Amplification Methods for Subsequent Capillary Electrophoresis Sequencing, First Edition, 2021 (added April 5, 2022).
ANSI/ASB Standard 131, Standard for Training in Forensic DNA Sequencing Using Capillary Electrophoresis, First Edition, 2021 (added April 5, 2022).
ANSI/ASB Standard 140, Standard for Training in Forensic Human Mitochondrial DNA Analysis, Interpretation, Comparison, Statistical Evaluation, and Reporting, First Edition, 2021 (added April 5, 2022).

OSAC Proposed Standards

OSAC 2020-N-0007, Best Practice Recommendations for the Management and Use of Quality Assurance DNA Elimination Databases in Forensic DNA Analysis (added April 6, 2021 and sent to ASB for further development and publication).
OSAC 2020-S-0004, Standard for Interpreting, Comparing and Reporting DNA Test Results Associated with Failed Controls and Contamination Events (added June 1, 2021 and sent to ASB for further development and publication).

Bloodstain Pattern Analysis

Published Standards

ASB Technical Report 033, Terms and Definitions in Bloodstain Pattern Analysis, First Edition, 2017 (added June 3, 2020).

OSAC Proposed Standards

OSAC 2021-N-0039, Standard for a Mentorship Program in Bloodstain Pattern Analysis (added April 5, 2022).

Crime Scene Investigation & Reconstruction

OSAC Proposed Standards

OSAC 2021-N-0015, Guiding Principles for Scene Investigation and Reconstruction (added September 7, 2021 and sent to ASB for further development and publication).
OSAC 2021-N-0016, Standard for Initial Response at Scenes by Law Enforcement (added September 7, 2021 and sent to ASB for further development and publication).

Digital Evidence

Published Standards

ASTM E2916-19e1 Standard Terminology for Digital and Multimedia Evidence Examination (drafted in collaboration with OSAC's Digital Evidence, Facial Identification, and VITAL Subcommittees and added to the Registry July 7, 2020).
ASTM E3017-19 Standard Practice for Examining Magnetic Card Readers (added July 7, 2020).
ASTM E3150-18 Standard Guide for Forensic Audio Lab Setup and Maintenance (added July 7, 2020).

Dogs & Sensors

Published Standards

ASB Technical Report 025, Crime Scene/Death Investigation - Dogs and Sensors - Terms and Definitions, First Edition, 2017 (added October 1, 2019).
ANSI/ASB Standard 085, Standard for Detection Canine Selection, Kenneling, and Healthcare, First Edition, 2021 (added April 5, 2022).
ANSI/ASB Standard 088, General Guidelines for Training, Certification, and Documentation of Canine Detection Disciplines, First Edition 2020 (added April 5, 2022).

Facial Identification

Published Standards

ASTM E2916-19e1 Standard Terminology for Digital and Multimedia Evidence Examination (drafted in collaboration with OSAC's Digital Evidence, Facial Identification, and VITAL Subcommittees and added to the Registry July 7, 2020).
ASTM E3115-17 Standard Guide for Capturing Facial Images for Use with Facial Recognition Systems (added October 1, 2019).
ASTM E3148-18 Standard Guide for Postmortem Facial Image Capture (added October 1, 2019).
ASTM E3149-18 Standard Guide for Facial Image Comparison Feature List for Morphological Analysis (added February 14, 2019).

OSAC Proposed Standards

OSAC 2020-S-0002, Physical Stability of Facial Features of Adults (added June 1, 2021 and sent to ASTM for further development and publication).
- NOTE: This is an annex to the published standard, ASTM E3149-18 Standard Guide for Facial Image Comparison Feature List for Morphological Analysis, listed above.