Whiting And The Forensic Science Service (CJS)

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Eight-year-old Sarah Payne was kidnapped and murdered in July 2000 by previously convicted, sex-offender registered, Roy Whiting . On December 12th 2001, Whiting was convicted for the murder of Sarah Payne and sentenced to life imprisonment with no release. From the standpoint of the law, however, a sentence that leaves no opportunity for parole isn’t what the criminal justice system (CJS) would usually pass for this tier of crime. Due to this, a tariff of 28 years was enforced . This tariff was not approved in the value consensus of society, this was portrayed through the media, the public outcry caused the government to intervene. The Home Secretary at the time (David Blunkett), implied that a tariff of 28 years isn’t consistent with previous convictions , so yet again the sentence was changed. From this we see how the media response is …show more content…

Fundamentally, Whiting was proven guilty through the work of the Forensic Science Service (FSS) who used fibre evidence and a lone hair strand to link Whiting to Sarah and thus convicting him. Such diligence created a positive impact onto the CJS, as it sent a clear message to society that the CJS was working. Despite successes such as this along with the good reputation of the service, it was the government’s decision to bring about the closure of the FSS.

The Forensic Science Service (FSS) was a government-owned company in the UK which delivered forensic science services to the police force and other government sectors . The FSS was an important branch of the CJS as it provided sound, objective evidence to the courts that had