Assistant DOJ director Sally Yates takes the high road in the direction of vetting closed criminal cases using other “police forensic sciences” involving “patterns.” Her statements indicates concerns about examiners “overstating” their conclusions in court. That bypasses whether the methods themselves are properly validated. However, this is progress.

“Yates announced plans last month to audit samples of testimony that came from FBI units handling pattern-based evidence, without saying which disciplines, or forensic techniques. Such techniques include tracing the impressions that guns leave on bullets, shoe treads, fibers, soil and other crime-scene evidence. The FBI and other crime labs nationwide conduct more than 100,000 such examinations each year.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/justice-department-frames-expanded-review-of-fbi-forensic-testimony/2016/03/20/ed536702-eed9-11e5-85a6-2132cf446d0a_story.html?postshare=3691458573779279&tid=ss_tw-bottom