Ruling Urges Skepticism on Forensic Evidence

[brian]

Mar 29,2010: Apparently programs like 'CSI', which create the impression of the infallibility of forensic evidence, have made some judges decide that forensic evidence isn't everything it is cracked up to be! In a decision which is in line with the recent Supreme Court decision allowing the defense to cross examine experts who present lab reports, a federal judge has ordered defense lawyers and prosecutors not to assume that evidence routinely accepted in the courts for decades is reliable. Defense lawyers, she wrote, should vigorously challenge fingerprints, bullet identification, handwriting, and other trace evidence, and prosecutors should be prepared to show it is valid.
The National Academy of Sciences last year released the report Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward which concluded that forensic evidence used to convict thousands of defendants for nearly a century is hardly the infallible proof of police procedurals on television. Too often, the study found, it is the product of sloppy practices that should be improved and standardized.
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