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Use adversarial system, redundancies to prevent wrongful convictions from faulty forensic science

The main solutions to faulty forensic science causing convictions of innocent people may lie, I've long believed, in using the adversarial system to create redundancies in forensic testing. It's needed because, for the most part, forensic science just isn't as accurate as most watchers of TV crime dramas may believe. A columnist at Forbes earlier this month ("What's wrong with CSI?,"May 2), Roger Koppl, wrote that:to judge by the most comprehensive study on the reliability of forensic evidence to date, the error rate is more than 10% in five categories of analysis, including fiber, paint and body fluids. (Meaning: When the expert says specimen X matches source Y, there's a 10% probability he's wrong.) DNA and fingerprints are more reliable but still not foolproof...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on May 19, 2008 (boomark / email).