AUTOPSY OF A CRIME LAB.

• Author: Sullum, Jacob
• Position: BOOK - Autopsy of a Crime Lab: Exposing the Flaws in Forensics

"Real CSI is not like what you see on TV," writes Duke law professor Brandon Garrett in Autopsy of a Crime Lab. That's an understatement.

Some forensic specialties--including bite mark, blood spatter, hair, fiber, and footprint analysis--are deeply dubious. Even such venerable techniques as latent fingerprint and ballistic comparisons are not as well-grounded as commonly thought. When you add incompetence, corruption, cognitive biases, and pseudo-scientific certainty to the mix, innocent people can end up spending years or decades in prison while the actual perpetrators remain free to continue their criminal careers.

Garrett began studying the science behind commonly used forensic tools after he discovered that they often figured prominently in the wrongful convictions of people who were ultimately exonerated by DNA evidence. Based on testimony from analysts who exuded unjustified confidence in techniques that had never been properly validated, jurors erroneously convicted defendants of robbery, rape, and murder.

Judges likewise credulously accepted the witnesses' assurances that they knew what they were talking about. Even...