1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910554254303321

Autore

Garrett Brandon

Titolo

Autopsy of a crime lab : exposing the flaws in forensics / / Brandon L. Garrett

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Oakland, California : , : University of California Press, , [2021]

©2021

ISBN

0-520-97663-0

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (252 pages) : illustrations

Disciplina

345.064

Soggetti

DNA fingerprinting - Law and legislation

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Part I The Crisis in Forensics -- Introduction -- 1 The Bite Mark Case -- 2 The Crisis in Forensics -- Part II Flawed Forensics -- 3 False ID -- 4 Error Rates -- 5 Overstatement -- 6 Qualifications -- 7 Hidden Bias -- 8 The Gatekeepers -- Part III Failed Labs -- 9 Failed Quality Control -- 10 Crime Scene Contamination -- Part IV The Movement to Fix Forensics -- 11 The Rebirth of the Lab -- 12 Big Data Forensics -- 13 Fixing Forensics -- Acknowledgments -- Appendix Suggested Resources -- Notes -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

This book exposes the dangerously imperfect forensic evidence that we rely on for criminal convictions.";That's not my fingerprint, your honor,"; said the defendant, after FBI experts reported a ";100-percent identification."; They were wrong. It is shocking how often they are. Autopsy of a Crime Lab is the first book to catalog the sources of error and the faulty science behind a range of well-known forensic evidence, from fingerprints and firearms to forensic algorithms. In this devastating forensic takedown, noted legal expert Brandon L. Garrett poses the questions that should be asked in courtrooms every day: Where are the studies that validate the basic premises of widely accepted techniques such as fingerprinting? How can experts testify with 100 percent certainty about a fingerprint, when there is no such



thing as a 100 percent match? Where is the quality control in the laboratories and at the crime scenes? Should we so readily adopt powerful new technologies like facial recognition software and rapid DNA machines? And why have judges been so reluctant to consider the weaknesses of so many long-accepted methods?Taking us into the lives of the wrongfully convicted or nearly convicted, into crime labs rocked by scandal, and onto the front lines of promising reform efforts driven by professionals and researchers alike, Autopsy of a Crime Lab illustrates the persistence and perniciousness of shaky science and its well-meaning practitioners.