To prohibit the use of trade secrets privileges to prevent defense access to evidence in criminal proceedings, provide for the establishment of Computational Forensic Algorithm Testing Standards and a Computational Forensic Algorithm Testing Program, and for other purposes.
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Committee
Latest Action · February 15, 2024
Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
The Justice in Forensic Algorithms Act of 2024 establishes new standards and testing requirements for forensic software used in criminal investigations. Within one year of enactment, the National Institute of Standards and Technology must create testing standards and a testing program for computational forensic tools, including assessments for bias based on race, ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status, along with testing for accuracy, false positive and negative rates, reproducibility, and other performance measures. The bill prohibits prosecutors from using trade secret protections to withhold forensic software code and documentation from criminal defendants, and requires that forensic software evidence be admissible in court only if the software has been tested through the new federal program and developers and labs waive legal claims against the defense for analyzing the tool. Federal law enforcement agencies must use only tested software and conduct internal validation of any forensic algorithms they employ, with results made publicly available. Defendants must receive the executable and source code of the software used against them, along with documentation of how it was validated, its version history, and any known bugs or changes.
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