Background materials on shoddy forensics

Via the Innocence Blog:

The National Academy of Sciences Committee on Identifying the Needs of the Forensic Science Community posted a wealth of forensic research and presentations on its website this week – including the complete submissions from dozens of presenters at its five public meetings.

I was particularly interested to see this presentation (pdf) by Michael Risinger, a law professor at Seton Hall University, calling for blind administration and testing for error rates in all forensic disciplines. See especially the chart on page 2 of the presentation listing error rates for common forensic techniques.

RELATED: Plain Error points to a new report from the Innocence Project of New York titled "Investigating Forensic Problems in the United States: How the Government Can Strengthen Oversight through the Coverdell Grant Program."

Related Grits posts:

• NAS Report: Many forensic disciplines prone to error
• Justice system commonly relies on shoddy forensic science
• USDOJ should embrace, not fight science-based forensics