Excellent Op-ED from SLATE on this serious subject relating to US public safety and the US criminal justice system (CJS). Talks about wrongful executions, various types of cognitive biases and the lack of coordination between CJS, law enforcement and forensic groups/societies. Includes references to the paultry acceptance of the 2009 NAS report on “Strengthening Forensic Sciences in the US.”
{Excerpt} referencing certain NAS Committee findings.
“Bite-mark analysis—frequently employed in rape and murder cases, including capital cases—was subject to special scorn; the committee questioned whether bite marks could ever be used to positively identify a perpetrator. Ballistics and handwriting analysis, the committee noted, are also based on tenuous and largely untested science. The report amounted to a searing condemnation of the current practice of forensics and an ominous warning that death row may be filled with innocents.”
Thanks to past AAFS president Barry Fisher for the tip.
FORENSICS and LAW in FOCUS @ CSIDDS | News and Trends 