The Department of Justice's Plan for a Forensic Science Discipline Review

On March 21, the Department of Justice announced to the National Commission on Forensic Science that it will be expanding its review of fore...

"Stress Tests" by the Department of Justice and the FBI's "Approved Scientific Standards for Testimony and Reports"

Yesterday, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates addressed the assembled members of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences at their annual...

More on Task Relevance in Forensic Tests

Yesterday, I suggested that the National Commission on Forensic Science's views on task relevance are a significant step forward, and I ...

Hair Evidence in the “Clearly Not Exonerated” Exoneration of Mark Reid

On November 3, the fictional forensic scientist in the world’s most watched television drama was aghast that she had once performed microsco...

Can Forensic Pattern Matching Be Validated?

An article in the latest issue of the International Statistical Review raises (once again) fundamental questions for forensic scientists: ...

Disentangling Two Issues in the Hair Evidence Debacle

Forensic-science practitioners commonly present findings regarding traces left at crime-scenes, on victims or suspects, or on or in their po...

What the FBI Hair Examiner Said About Race in State v. Manning

Two previous postings discussed the meaning and import of FBI testimony about hair in a trial of Willie Manning. I questioned Justice Breyer...

Validity, Overclaiming, and Error: More on Willie Manning's Exoneration

Yesterday I questioned reliance on the exoneration of Willie Manning as a case in which hair evidence was severely undermined, prompting hi...

Justice Breyer in Glossip v. Gross on "flawed testimony from an FBI hair examiner"

Justice Stephen Breyer recently proposed that the Supreme Court reconsider the constitutionality of the death penalty. One of his concerns i...