What educational background is needed to work in a crime lab?
Forensic Scientists are scientists. For most disciplines, our accrediting body, the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors Laboratory Accreditation Board (ASCLD/LAB) stipulates a minimum educational requirement of a Bachelors degree in chemistry, biology, physics, or forensic science. For some disciplines such as questioned documents or firearms examiners, it is only necessary to have a BA or BS with some science courses. Auditors define some as at least two science courses. The questioned document examiners and firearms examiners, however, must have had extensive additional training under a qualified examiner. Degrees in criminal justice, anthropology, or criminology are usually not sufficient unless the person has had additional scientific training or experience. Our own laboratory over the past 20 years has tended to hire graduates with an MS or BS in forensic science who have also done an internship in a forensic lab. DNA analysts must meet additional criteria. Strict quali
