Based on a contemporaneous article in the August 2009 issue of Popular Mechanics, forensic science may not be as reliable as we’d like to believe. “The Truth About Forensics” spans the very shaky ground that the science of ballistics, fingerprinting, fiber analysis, and more now stands on.

Millions of people watch television shows like CSI and NCIS, knowing full well that we are watching television shows. Unfortunately, too many people take this information literally and bring what they believe to be fact into the jury room with them. The perception of “reasonable doubt” can quickly disappear because we are conditioned to believe that forensics is the god of rectitude: evidence beyond the shadow of a doubt that “this fingerprint proves the individual did this.”

Basically, there is no scientific data to recommend or refute that fingerprints do not change over time. No study has ever been done. We know that each fingerprint is unique, but there is no methodical data to support the claim. The same applies to ballistics; the bullet may have been fired from a particular gun model, but is it really that gun?

To complicate matters, “forensic science was not developed by scientists.” Guided in part by a feeling of common sense, forensic analysis is the creation of the police themselves. Here is just a small part of this incredibly enlightening article:

“…In England six veteran fingerprint examiners were asked to study prints taken from actual criminal cases. Experts who had previously examined the same prints were not told… Only two of the six experts made it to the same conclusions in the second examination that they had in the first”.

Terrifying to the extreme. The article has numerous cases of truly innocent individuals sitting in jail for years while the real criminal continues to do “business as usual.” However, there is a forensic criterion that is not in doubt. The method that is most reliable includes “techniques that arose from organic chemistry and microbiology” and have a strong scientific basis. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), yes that double helix structure that makes up all individuals, goes beyond human interpretation to true science.

Forsenics, though it has long been a mainstay of entertainment for many, is still in its infancy. For more information, it is strongly recommended that you obtain a copy of the August 2009 issue of this magazine and read it. You never know… The information it reveals can be very useful.