How Reliable Is Forensic Science?
The National Center for Policy Analysis recently published some fascinating but scary figures on the reliability, or lack thereof, of commonly used forensic techniques — especially evidence based on hair analysis.
Of the first 74 people in prison who were exonerated by DNA testing, for example, 26 percent were implicated based in part on hair analysis. Although such analysis is commonly admitted as evidence at trials, the NCPA reports that, “Hair experts have never been able to agree on consistent criteria for associating a suspect with an unknown hair.”
Source:
Forensic science being called into question. The National Center for Policy Analysis, May 15, 2001.
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