Forensic myopia

Another item from Prof. Colin Miller

Professor Katie Kronick (American University Washington College of Law) has posted “Forensic Science and the Judicial Conformity Problem” (Seton Hall Law Review, forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

Almost a quarter of known wrongful convictions have involved faulty forensic science evidence. Since 2008, a series of government-sponsored reports reveals that many areas of forensic science are not only vulnerable to human error, but also lack scientific or evidentiary support for the conclusions they purport to reach. This includes fingerprint analysis, firearm and toolmark examination, bitemark comparison, and hair microscopy. Yet judges continue to admit this expert testimony in criminal cases ranging from homicide to firearm possession to sexual assault without the critical analysis one might expect given the now well-identified problems and the stakes at hand.