The Queensland Law Society welcomes the release of the Commissioner’s final report into DNA testing in Queensland. The Society commends the Commissioner, Walter Sofranoff KC, and the Commission staff on their engagement with criminal justice stakeholders throughout the inquiry.
The Society acknowledges the 123 recommendations contained in the report aimed at reforming the laboratory into a more independent agency and restoring public confidence in the criminal justice system.
In particular, the Society supports the recommendations aimed at requiring the laboratory to develop collaborative relationships with all stakeholders in the criminal justice system, including the QPS, ODPP, Legal Aid Queensland, ATSILS, victim advocacy groups, and defence solicitors and barristers. This will better ensure participants in the criminal justice system understand the meaning of the results reported by the laboratory.
The Society also endorses the recommended ability of accused persons or their lawyers to request further testing, analysis or interpretation of samples processed by the laboratory, to further support the laboratory’s purpose as an independent provider of expert evidence to the criminal justice system, consistent with its obligation to provide evidence that may support or detract from prosecution and defence cases without favour.
The Society agrees that essential laboratory services must be provided free of charge or at cost, to ensure access to justice for both legally aided and privately funded accused persons.
Further, the Society endorses the recommendation that the Director of Forensic Sciences should report to a non-executive advisory board, which should comprise representatives of the scientific and criminal justice system, including representatives of the private legal profession appointed by the President of the Bar Association of Queensland and the President of the Queensland Law Society.
The recommendations made in the final report are significant. There is now an urgent need to dedicate appropriate levels of funding and resources to implement the final report’s recommendations, and ultimately, to restore public confidence in the integrity of DNA testing in Queensland.