2015/03/02

Live Science February 24, 2015: Using Faulty Forensic Science, Courts Fail the Innocent

Historically, forensic science has had a huge impact on identifying and confirming suspects in the courtroom, and on the judicial system more generally. And yet, a 2009 report from the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) identified numerous shortcomings in the field, including an absence of a scientific basis for most forms of forensic evidence, a lack of uniform standards and the need for independence from law enforcement. In short, the report called for nothing less than major reform. 

Forensic scientists have been an integral part of the judicial process for more than a century. The most well-known and widely used forensic evidence involves fingerprints left at a crime scene, which Edmond Locard and Francis Galton in the 19th century asserted as "unique" and reliably capable of identifying a single individual ("The History of Statistics: The Measurement of Uncertainty Before 1900 by Stephen M. Stigler," Harvard University Press, 1986). Other types of material then followed, such as other forms of pattern evidence (e.g., shoe prints, tool marks, tire tracks, bite marks and handwriting analysis) and chemical signatures, such as compositional analysis of bullet lead (CABL) and the presence or absence of 13 specific alleles found in human DNA. more