Renewed attacks against Fingerprints
If you think fingerprints are an infallible source of unique identification, you should read this. It’s just one of many recent stories raising serious questions about a technology so established in this country, no one’s ever bothered to actually scientifically validate it. Although serious questions are surfacing about the reliability of this technology, a more immediate issue is the realization that too much subjectivity is creeping into the practice and producing horror stories like the one that got Oregon lawyer Brandon Mayfield arrested for the Madrid bombings. Read about the Mayfield screwup here.
January 4th, 2006 at 10:54 am
[…] I continue to see examples of a growing national trend toward institutional skepticism of the forensic sciences, including ones we’ve all come to rely on. For example, troubling new questions are being raised about common practices surrounding fingerprint analysis and gunshot residue (GSR) analysis. And now a Federal District court in Boston has taken this a step further, severely criticizing experts on both sides of a gunshot case coming out of the recently discredited Boston Police Ballistics unit. […]
January 7th, 2006 at 10:14 am
[…] As I’ve reported here in the past, even the reliability of such forensic mainstays as fingerprint analysis has come under attack, mostly because of abuses that can occur whenever zealous crusaders get it in their head to go after someone at the expense of actual science. In the heat of the Madrid bombings in a post-9/11 world, even the Justice Department has conceded that its own FBI screwed up royally when it mis-identified Oregon attorney Brandon Mayfield as a suspect in the case. Spanish police investigating the bombings balked and warned the FBI that they were on the wrong trail, but apparently arrogance, overconfidence, and anti-terrorist fervor overruled this objection and Mayfield was arrested. After spending two weeks in jail and suffering the infamy of being linked to terrorist activity, he was later conclusively cleared, released from jail, and given an “apology” from the FBI. […]