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Roger Koppl is the director of the Institute for Forensic Science Administration (IFSA) at Fairleigh Dickinson University, where he is a professor of economics and finance. He is also a senior researcher at the Pennsylvania Laboratory for Experimental Evolutionary Psychology (PLEEP) and at FDU’s Florham Laboratory for Experimental Social Science (FLESS).
He grew interested in forensic science watching television. “I saw a news story about a wrongful conviction based in part on bad forensic science,” Koppl explains. “As the story unfolded, I suddenly realized why the lab went wrong in the original case: They had a monopoly! Once they had the evidence, the odds were against any other lab ever looking at that evidence.”
Koppl has been working to break the forensic-science monopoly ever since. “I teach my students that if you give someone a monopoly on producing a commodity, they will under-produce that commodity. Well, if you give a crime lab a monopoly on telling the truth, they will under-produce that commodity too!”
Koppl launched IFSA in 2006 to help coordinate the efforts of people he had recruited to work on the problem and to provide a vehicle for the dissemination of research. IFSA is aimed at improving the criminal-justice system by reducing forensic-science errors. “Justice is the foundation of liberty,” Koppl says, “and every forensic-science error is a crack in the foundation.” He adds that IFSA promotes 1) improved forensic science and 2) improved understanding of forensic science as a legal, social and political phenomenon.
IFSA’s experimental research program is central to its mission and is undertaken in cooperation with the Florham Laboratory for Experimental Social Science (FLESS). “The IFSA experiments are just the sort of thing we were hoping for with FLESS,” says John Schiemann, FLESS director and associate professor of political science. “It’s rigorous experimental research on a topic of immense policy importance and involves students to boot. It’s very exciting.”
Like a psychology lab, FLESS is used to conduct experiments with human subjects, but the researchers are not necessarily psychologists. Economists and political scientists at FDU are using experiments conducted at FLESS to examine traditional issues and new problems in the social sciences.
FDU Lecturer of Finance Jim Cowan links IFSA and FLESS as the associate director for both. His experimental work with Koppl is laying the foundation for improved understanding of errors in forensic science. “Jim is simply amazing,” Koppl enthuses. “He joined IFSA early on and really made it take off. His work with FLESS has made our experimental-research program possible.”
In 2007, Koppl was called to testify before the Committee on Identifying the Needs of the Forensic Science Community, a special committee of the National Academy of Sciences mandated and funded by Congress. In early 2009, the committee published a report calling for dramatic improvement in forensic science. “I was glad when the NAS report cited me and others on sequential unmasking.” Koppl says. “There is much the committee chose not to say that I think should have been said. But it’s a good beginning for real improvement.”
And the future? “It’s hard to know how to improve the system, but it’s not all that hard,” Koppl reflects. “We think we’ve got the fundamentals worked out, and the details are falling into place. The really hard thing is to persuade people that we have found essential features necessary to improve the system. It’s a process of persuasion, and persuasion takes time, so we’re in this for the long haul.”
FDU Magazine is published twice yearly by the Office of Communications and Marketing, Fairleigh Dickinson University, 1000 River Road, H-DH3-14, Teaneck, N.J. 07666.
FDU Magazine welcomes your comments. E-mail Rebecca Maxon, editor, at maxon@fdu.edu or make a blog entry at MyFDU.net.
J. Michael Adams, President; Richard Reiss, Senior Vice President for University Advancement; Angelo Carfagna, Assistant Vice President for University Advancement and Communication; Okang McBride, Director of Alumni Relations; Carol Kuzen Black, Director of Publications/Senior Editor; Rebecca Maxon, Editor and Web Designer; Nina Ovryn, Art Director
Contributors: Mary Ann Bautista, Roger Koppl, Andrew McKay, Ramatu Musa, Tom Nugent, Melissa Payton
Photo/Illustration Credits: John S. Dykes, Don Hamerman, istockphotos.com, Shelley Kusnetz, Weaver Lilley, Katharine Marks, Arthur Petrosemolo, Nick Romanenko, Danny Schwartz, Adena Stevens
For a print copy of FDU Magazine, featuring these and other stories, contact Rebecca Maxon, editor, at maxon@fdu.edu.
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