A House With No Foundation

The requirement of rigorous research to establish the reliability of forensic sciences has been elaborated. Many of the forensic techniques used in courtroom proceedings, such as hair analysis, fingerprinting, the polygraph, and ballistics, rest on the foundations of a very weak science and virtually no research is being done to strengthen this foundation. Efforts that bring more independent researchers into the forensic knowledge-testing process should be encouraged. Until fundamental changes occur in the research environment that creates litigation-directed forensic science research, courts should regard the findings of such research very carefully.