Hair analysis ‘should be abolished,’ says wrongly incarcerated man

1978 Double murder.

37 years in prison.

“He said that the pubic hair was microscopically similar to mine—microscopically similar.”

Joseph Sledge was no saint, and the police knew it. Then the FBI got involved.  Once DNA got to be very popular, he then ran into the not unusual resistance from law enforcement to get crime scene and biological evidence tested and brought forward  into appellate level exoneration litigation.

In “Under the Microscope: The FBI Hair Cases,” Fault Lines looks at how, for decades, the FBI used the flawed forensic method of microscopic hair analysis to convict thousands of criminal defendants. The film airs on Monday, August 17, at 10 pm Eastern time/7 pm Pacific on Al Jazeera America. | Click here to find Al Jazeera in your area.