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Media Coverage 
Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward (July 2009)
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June 29, 2017
Science organizations renew call for independent U.S. committee on forensics
Washington Post
The commission was created after critical reports from the National Academy of Sciences about a dearth of standards and funding for crime labs, examiners and researchers, problems it traced partly to law enforcement control over the system.
June 7, 2017
Jeff Sessions’ Rejection of Science Leaves Local Prosecutors in the Dark
Slate
An independent commission established by Barack Obama in 2013, the NCFS was meant to bring together scientists, judges, crime lab experts, prosecutors, and defense attorneys to analyze and improve the field of forensic science, which encompasses the many ways science is deployed in criminal justice. The group was established partially in response to a scathing report from the National Academy of Sciences that highlighted the lack of standards for crime labs nationwide and was attempting to review and improve this and other forensic science shortcomings.
May 8, 2017
We Must Strengthen the "Science" in Forensic Science
Scientific American (Blog)
In 2009, the National Academy of Sciences evaluated the state of forensic science and, shockingly, concluded that many of the techniques used in court actually have no scientific validity.
April 26, 2017
Judge denies motion to toss out gun evidence in murder trial
Columbia Daily Tribune
In the motion, Wallis cited a 2009 National Academy of Sciences report that criticizes many forensic methods that law enforcement uses to examine evidence. Wallis wrote that the report concluded that “forensic individualization has not been proven” and the only reliable form of forensic analysis is DNA comparisons.
April 26, 2017
Richland’s Watts Makes the Case for Elected Coroners
Columbia Free Times
Some don’t agree with Watts’ assessment. The National Academy of Sciences gave the complete inverse of Watts’ view in a 2009 report, coming out against coroner elections and supporting appointed medical examiners.
April 25, 2017
Science takes a back seat in Trump’s first 100 days
McClatchy News
This month, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced he was eliminating the National Commission on Forensic Science, an advisory panel of scientists, judges, crime lab leaders, prosecutors and defense lawyers. The panel was formed after a 2009 National Academy of Sciences report found serious flaws in how forensic evidence was being used in criminal cases.
April 24, 2017
Jeff Sessions Wants Courts to Rely Less on Science and More on "Science"
Mother Jones
In 2009, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) issued a landmark study that shook the field of forensics. Only nuclear DNA analysis, the report found, could "consistently, and with a high degree of certainty," link an individual to a crime.
April 21, 2017
21,000 Reasons Scalia Was Right
Bloomberg View
Despite the perfection with which TV technicians match bullets to particular guns, a landmark 2009 study of criminal forensics by the National Academy of Sciences found that ballistics tests had little demonstrated scientific accuracy -- or, in the polite language of the report, “the validity of the fundamental assumptions of uniqueness and reproducibility of firearms-related toolmarks has not yet been fully demonstrated.”
April 20, 2017
Sessions's Assault on Forensic Science Will Lead to More Unsafe Convictions
Newsweek (Opinion)
The NCFS was itself a response to a separate report—released in 2009—by the National Academy of Sciences which concluded that “no forensic method has been rigorously shown to have the capacity to consistently, and with a high degree of certainty, demonstrate a connection between evidence and a specific individual or source.”
April 18, 2017
Is Crime Forensics Flawed?
Big Think
Even so, it hasn’t even been established that everyone’s fingerprints are unique, according to the National Academies of Sciences. Because of this, no reliable experts will testify that fingerprint evidence has an error rate of zero.
April 15, 2017
AG Sessions: Forensic Science Panel That Helps Keep Innocent People Out of Prison Is Unnecessary
Atlanta Black Star
In addition, in 2009, the National Academy of Sciences reported that the forensic science system is unreliable and has ”serious problems” requiring a national commitment to overhauling it.
April 14, 2017
Q&A: The U.S. Department of Justice scrapped independent forensics panel, but the scientific questions ‘are not going away’
Science Magazine
For most of his career, the microbiologist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, paid the discipline little attention, but he did notice the field-shaking 2009 report from the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), which found that many forensic techniques, from fingerprint comparisons to bloodstain pattern analysis, lacked a firm scientific footing.
April 14, 2017
One year after release, Keith Harward travels country to point out failures of forensic science, help the wrongly convicted
Richmond Times-Dispatch
He also will continue to campaign against bite-mark evidence, which is what brought him to Washington this week for the National Commission on Forensic Science, created in 2013 after a 2009 National Academy of Sciences report that raised questions about the validity of bike-mark comparison and other pattern evidence, such as tool marks.
April 14, 2017
Critics worry 'junk science' to reign as forensic panel ends
Associated Press
The creation of the commission stemmed from a series of crime lab failures and a 2009 report by the National Academy of Sciences revealing forensic evidence like bite marks and hair samples that often helped convict defendants was based on shoddy science. It called for far-ranging improvements. A wave of exonerations followed and ultimately the formation of the commission.
April 13, 2017
Crime-Solving Isn't a Science (But It Could Be)
Bloomberg
A more insidious problem came to light following an investigation led by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) back in 2009, and later a White-House-commissioned report headed by some of the country’s most respected scientists.
April 13, 2017
Jeff Sessions Is Keeping Junk Science in America's Courts
Rolling Stone
Sessions also rejected the findings of a 2009 report of the National Academy of Sciences that Congress had commissioned in light of DNA exonerations showing hundreds of people had been wrongly convicted in cases involving inaccurate forensic testimony; Sessions said he worried that examining validity of evidence used in courts would "leave prosecutors having to fend off challenges on the most basic issues in a trial."
April 13, 2017
Most criminal forensic science isn’t real science. Jeff Sessions just shut down efforts to change that
Washington Post (Blog)
Your book, however argues that the “bottom line” is that “most of forensic science lacks a basis in science,” a finding that has a National Academy of Sciences report to back it up.
April 13, 2017
Do judges contribute to injustices? A conversation with Judge Jed Rakoff
ABA Journal
For example, a great deal of forensic science has now come under scrutiny from the scientific community. In 2009, the National Academy of Sciences published a report that was highly critical of most forensic science other than DNA. And this included things well-regarded by many people—fingerprinting, hair analysis, bite-mark analysis, arson analysis and so forth.
April 11, 2017
Another Reprieve for Expert Testimony That Is Anything But
New York Times
Those nonscientific qualities had been surveyed by the National Academy of Sciences in a 2009 report, and in another study issued in September by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
April 11, 2017
Sessions Is Wrong to Take Science Out of Forensic Science
New York Times (Op-Ed)
A blue-ribbon panel of the National Academy of Sciences raised the same concern in a 2009 report that found nearly every familiar staple of forensic science scientifically unsound. Prompted in part by that report, the Justice Department initiated a review of thousands of cases involving microscopic matching of hair samples. In 2015, the F.B.I. announced its shocking initial findings: In 96 percent of cases, analysts gave erroneous testimony.
April 11, 2017
Broadcast Transcript
WNYC-FM (Radio) - New York, NY
The Obama administration created the panel about four years ago after the National Academy of Sciences uncovered faulty techniques and resource problems. Scholars point out that many crime labs operate under the direct or indirect control of prosecutors and police, raising questions about their independence.
April 10, 2017
Sessions orders Justice Dept. to end forensic science commission, suspend review policy
Washington Post
The commission was created after critical reports by the National Academy of Sciences about a dearth of standards and funding for crime labs, examiners and researchers, problems it partly traced to law enforcement control over the system.
April 10, 2017
Trump’s Justice Department won’t use outside experts to improve forensics
Quartz
In 2009 the National Academy of Sciences said forensic science needed a complete overhaul, questioning the reliability of widely used types of evidence such as bite marks, hair analysis, and fingerprints.
April 10, 2017
Salk professor criticizes disbanding of federal forensics committee that included scientists
The San Diego Union-Tribune
In 2014, Albright co-led a report from the National Research Council that outlined precautions to avoid biasing the testimony of eyewitnesses. For example, during interviews of eyewitnesses, neither the witness nor the questioner should know the suspect’s identity. This “double blind” method is considered the gold standard in biomedical research.
April 4, 2017
Label the limits of forensic science
Nature
But, generally, problems persist. In 2009, the National Academy of Sciences documented reams of faulty forensic practices.
March 30, 2017
Playing it safe: Proactive steps from DA on forensic evidence
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Editorial)
Science doesn’t lie. That’s why forensic evidence has become a staple of criminal cases. However, in a 2009 report, the National Academy of Sciences warned about the danger of flawed testing procedures and analysts’ improprieties — scenarios that rob science of its vaunted impartiality and lead to wrongful convictions.
March 24, 2017
Forensic errors trigger reviews of D.C. crime lab ballistics unit, prosecutors say
Washington Post
The review of the D.C. lab results comes months after a White House scientific advisory panel renewed scientists’ challenge to whether firearms testing and other forensic techniques should be admitted as scientific evidence, reinforcing criticism by the National Research Council that matched bullets, hair or tire treads to a single source are overstated.
March 16, 2017
Another judge rules in favor of bite mark evidence, for the same misguided reasons
Washington Post (Op-Ed)
So far, the discipline has been found to be scientifically unreliable by the National Academy of Sciences, the Texas Forensic Science Commission, and the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
March 14, 2017
In bid to curb shootings, Louisville police to hire forensic gun analyst
Louisville Courier-Journal
While some mid-sized police departments are hiring firearms examiners and many larger departments have their own crime labs, a 2009 report by the National Academy of Sciences called for crime labs to be independent of law enforcement and offer more training to reduce bias and the risks for misinterpretation of evidence.
February 29, 2017
Another Voice: Background checks must go beyond fingerprints
Buffalo News (Opinion)
The National Academy of Sciences study was “not able to find a body of evidence indicating whether fingerprinting added to safety one way or another,” and the state of Maryland recently came to the same conclusion.
January 30, 2017
Incredibly, prosecutors are still defending bite mark evidence
Washington Post
Bite mark evidence has been strongly criticized by several scientific bodies, including the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and, most recently, by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).
January 10, 2017
Questions for Jeff Sessions
The Washington Post (Opinion)
Over the past several years, several scientific bodies have released reports that have been highly critical of the way forensic science is used in U.S. courts, including the National Academy of Sciences and the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
January 5, 2017
Obama’s rhetoric on forensics is at odds with his record
The Washington Post
The reports from PCAST, NIST and the National Academy of Sciences all gave us a clearer, well-documented view of the crisis in forensics.
January 4, 2017
When Obama wouldn’t fight for science
The Washington Post (Opinion)
The aim of the PCAST report, as well as the 2009 National Academy of Sciences report and the National Institute of Standards and Technology working groups, was to bring science to forensics — or rather to see if there’s any science behind the claims of forensic analysts.
December 28, 2016
Attorney said Springfield man is innocent as four murder charges are dropped
Springfield News-Leader
Hatley said cases all over the country that link bullets to guns are being re-examined after a 2009 report from the National Academy of Sciences "completely lambasted" the practice.
December 3, 2016
Bite mark evidence challenged in Ross case
Altoona Mirror
The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology has become the latest organization to identify bite mark evidence as profoundly unreliable, joining the National Academy of Sciences, the Texas Forensic Science Commission and other academic researchers and scientists, Delger said.
December 2, 2016
The Future of Austin’s Crime Lab
The Austin Chronicle
He referenced the 2009 National Academy of Sciences report, "Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward," which recommends crime labs operate as independent entities.
October 12, 2016
Pennsylvania’s Shame
Slate
In 2009, the National Research Council published a report stating that “much forensic evidence—including, for example bite marks and firearm and tool mark identifications—is introduced in criminal trials without any meaningful scientific validation, determination of error rates, or reliability testing to explain the limits of the discipline.”
October 11, 2016
Judge keeps libel trial alive; N&O journalist testifies
The News & Observer
He explained how a 2009 report by the National Academy of Sciences, titled “Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward,” shaped his 2010 SBI coverage with Locke.
September 28, 2016
Justice Department’s move on scientific evidence reform delays justice
The Hill (Blog)
The failure to implement critical forensic science evidence reforms (recommended by the country’s top experts) dates back at least to 2009, when the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) issued its groundbreaking report called, “Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward.”
September 20, 2016
Calls for limits on ‘flawed science’ in court are well-founded: A guest post
The Washington Post
University of Virginia law professor Brandon L. Garrett, who has written a book on flawed forensics and wrongful convictions, titled, “Convicting the Innocent: Where Criminal Prosecutions Go Wrong,” argues that the council’s report is well-founded and supports a 2009 National Academy of Sciences report that much of forensic evidence used in criminal trials is “without any meaningful scientific validation.”
September 20, 2016
White House science advisers urge Justice Dept., judges to raise forensic standards
The Washington Post
The White House report adds to a critical 2009 report by a congressionally charted National Academy of Sciences panel that traced weak standards for crime labs, examiners, testimony and research in part to crime labs being under the control of law enforcement.
September 16, 2016
5 Kinds of Junk Science Prosecutors Have Used to Send People to Prison
Attn:
Forensic dentists have pushed back against critiques of their research and practices over the years, including a damning 2009 report published by the National Academy of Sciences, The Intercept reported.
September 9, 2016
Presidential council to reveal problems with forensic evidence
Press Mentor (Opinion)
President Barack Obama formed PCAST in 2009 following the National Academy of Sciences report that concluded, aside from DNA, there was little, if any, meaningful scientific underpinning to many of the forensic disciplines.
September 8, 2016
Is your hair as distinctive as your DNA?
The Christian Science Monitor
But not all crime scenes have clear DNA markers, so in 2009 the US National Research Council issued a call for new research and reforms to repair deficiencies in forensic science methods.
September 7, 2016
White House science council: Bite-mark matching is junk science
The Washington Post (Opinion)
Seven years ago, the National Academy of Sciences came out with a similar report, though it was somewhat more diplomatic than PCAST’s.
September 7,2016
White House Report Concludes That Bite-Mark Analysis Is Junk Science
The Intercept
Although the practice of presidents naming scientific advisers dates back to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration, the timing of the creation of Obama’s council was particularly notable, coming just roughly two months after the release of a groundbreaking report from the National Academy of Sciences National Research Council, which cast a long shadow over a host of pattern-matching forensic disciplines that have been used for decades in criminal cases.
September 1, 2016
Presidential Advisory Council Questions Validity of Forensics in Criminal Trials
The Wall Street Journal
One report done by the National Research Council and released in 2009 said “much forensic evidence—including, for example bite marks and firearm and tool mark identifications—is introduced in criminal trials without any meaningful scientific validation, determination of error rates, or reliability testing to explain the limits of the discipline.”
August 18, 2016
Exonerations in America are at a record high, but not because of DNA
McClatchy Washington Bureau
Indeed, according to a 2009 report released by the National Academy of Sciences, researchers have found that DNA is the only type of evidence that can consistently and confidently connect specific individuals to crimes or prove innocence.
August 3, 2016
The Fascinating Physics of Blood Splatters
Gizmodo
Forensic laboratories have conducted many experiments over the years to help law enforcement and lab technicians make better interpretations of that data, but there’s still a degree of subjectivity that comes into play—a key finding of a 2009 report on forensic sciences by the National Academy of Sciences.
July 2016
Building a Firearms Toolmark Database
Imperial Valley News (Opinion)
In 2009, a report by the National Academy of Sciences questioned, among other things, the lack of objective methods for evaluating and identifying tool marks.
July 1, 2016
Watchdog blog: Dead weight, crowdsourcing pedestrian data
Democrat & Chronicle
The committed current Monroe County chief medical examiner Dr. Nadia Granger clearly wants to address the issue but it also needs the support of the medical schools to steer more medical students into the profession that as recently as 2009 was described by the National Academy of Sciences as “fragmented”, “deficient” and “hodgepodge”.
July 2016
National Geographic Magazine
How Science Is Putting a New Face on Crime Solving
It’s been seven years since the National Academy of Sciences report called for a complete overhaul of forensic science. . . .
June 3, 2016
Justice Department Issues First Standards for Forensic Expert Testimony
The Washington Post
A National Academy of Sciences panel in 2009 reported that although examiners had long claimed to be able to match pattern evidence to a source with “absolute” or “scientific certainty,” only DNA analysis had been validated through statistical research.
May 11, 2016
The Learning Network | How to Fix the Criminal Justice System: A Student-Created Debate and Lesson Plan
New York Times (blog)
Bite-mark matching was discredited by the National Academy of Sciences.
May 11, 2016
Don't Believe the Bite
Huffington Post
The well-known 2009 National Academy of Sciences report was scathing in its criticism of bite mark matching, and found no scientific evidence that evidence from a bite mark could identify a particular individual to the exclusion of all others.
May 5, 2016
Death row inmate challenges evidence to overturn conviction
Associated Press
Pretty referenced a 2009 report by the National Academy of Sciences, which found that bite marks could not be used to reliably identify an individual.
April 8, 2016
Virginia Inmate Freed After DNA Tests Refute Bite-Mark Evidence
The New York Times
In 2009, the National Academy of Sciences said bite-mark analysis and other forensic tools, including comparisons of writing samples, tool marks, tire tracks, footprints and hair specimens, had never been validated.
April 5, 2016
Defense lawyer in 1986 murder trial says bite-mark evidence was persuasive to jury
Richmond Times-Dispatch
In 2009, a National Academy of Sciences committee found that there has not been adequate research on the accuracy of bite-mark comparisons and that, while such comparisons might be useful in excluding suspects, “the committee received no evidence of an existing scientific basis for identifying an individual to the exclusion of all others.”
March 25, 2016
Viva 4N6
The Intercept
The National Commission on Forensic Science itself was the product of a landmark report released by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in 2009, which urged the U.S. government to establish an “independent federal entity” to address deep and widespread problems with the state of forensics.
March 21, 2016
Justice Department frames expanded review of FBI forensic testimony
Washington Post
Yates’s proposal is among the broadest responses to a National Academy of Sciences panel report in February 2009 that questioned subjective comparisons of evidence by experts.
March 17, 2016
The Genetic Panopticon
Boston Review
The exciting news is that, to some extent, this is now happening, and not just in Houston. Many observers, including the National Academy of Sciences in a prominent 2009 report, have called for a “research culture” in forensics.
March 13, 2016
The Next Page: Four experts explain why forensic analysis of crime scenes is not as reliable as you might think
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Opinion)
According to a 2009 report of the National Academy of Sciences, many forensic science methods are inadequately validated, which means they have not been sufficiently tested to establish how well they work and how often and under what conditions they fail. March 7, 2016
Reversing the legacy of junk science in the courtroom
Science Magazine
But such claims are ill-founded, a committee at the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) concluded in 2009. “
March 7, 2016
Forensics gone wrong: When DNA snares the innocent
Science
A landmark report published by the National Research Council in 2009 dismissed most forensics as unproven folk-wisdom but singled out DNA as the one forensic science worthy of the name. February 25, 2016
Justice Dept. to expand review of FBI forensic techniques beyond hair unit
Washington Post
Yates's proposal is among the broadest responses yet to a National Academy of Sciences panel report in February 2009 that questioned subjective comparisons of evidence by experts. February 25, 2016
What the exoneration of George Perrot means for the criminal justice system
The Boston Globe
In 2009, the National Academy of Sciences published a damning report concluding that, with the exception of DNA analysis, traditionally accepted forensic techniques are substandard in terms of scientific rigor.
February 21, 2016
Alberto Gonzales: Justice system wrongs too many
Florida Today (Opinion)
A National Academy of Sciences report warns that there is insufficient training and education of researchers and crime scene technicians and no meaningful reliability testing to explain the limits of these disciplines. February 20, 2016
Justice Scalia's unexamined death points to a problem
CNN (Opinion)
Back in 2009, the National Academy of Sciences reported that the practice of allowing lay coroners and justices of the peace to sign death certificates, and the lack of certification and training of death investigative personnel, puts our legal system at risk.
February 18, 2016
Should We Trust Forensic Science?
Boston Review
In 2009, the National Academy of Sciences produced a report criticizing the state of forensic science. February 16, 2016
Ban on bite-mark evidence would be a welcome step against junk science
The Dallas Morning News (Editorial)
Critics of bite mark analysis, including the National Academy of Sciences, say the procedure is based on unproven assumptions that lead to unreliable conclusions that shouldn’t be relied on to imprison people.
February 16, 2016
Bite mark analysis has lost its teeth
Star-Telegram
The conclusion mirrored a National Research Council 2009 report, which says “no thorough study has been conducted of large populations,” and there’s no “existing scientific basis” on bite mark analysis.
February 12, 2016
Texas Forensic Science Commission to recommend a moratorium on bite mark evidence
The Washington Post (Opinion)
And as we’ve seen over the past 10 to 15 years, there have been other warnings from whistleblowers, scientists and even the National Academy of Sciences about the dubiousness of bite mark evidence. February 11, 2016
Texas could become first state to recommend moratorium on use of bite marks in court
The Dallas Morning News
Since then, a number of scientific studies, including a 2009 report from the National Academy of Sciences, have found that such conclusions are not supported by science. February 10, 2016
Justice system wrongs too many
USA Today (Opinion)
A National Academy of Sciences report warns that there is insufficient training and education of researchers, technicians and crime scene technicians and no meaningful reliability testing to explain the limits of these disciplines.
February 9, 2016
'Making a Murderer' exposes limitations of forensic science
WISN
Findley said bad forensic science is the second leading cause of wrongful convictions. The National Academy of Science said the only consistently reliable forensic science is DNA.
February 3, 2016
In a first, judge grants retrial solely on FBI hair ‘match’
The Washington Post
In 2009, a panel of the National Academy of Sciences commissioned by Congress reported that although forensic examiners have long claimed to be able to match pattern evidence — such as hair samples, shoe and tire treads, bitemarks or marks on fired bullets — to a source with “absolute” or “scientific certainty,” only DNA analysis had been validated through statistical research.
January 25, 2016
D.C. Judge Rejects Junk Science But The Law Is Slow To Follow
Huffington Post (Opinion)
Almost seven years ago, on February 18, 2009, in what was thought to be a watershed development for the use of forensic science in the courtroom, the National Academy of Sciences issued a groundbreaking report called Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward (2009); the legal community calls it the "NAS report."
January 22, 2016
D.C. Court of Appeals judge faults overstated forensic gun-match claims
Washington Post
In her concurring opinion, Easterly noted that the policy shift that prosecutors tracked to about 2009 came after two National Research Council panels reported in 2008 and 2009 that there is no statistical basis to determine how often bullets fired by different weapons might look alike, or even whether a firearm makes a unique, reproducible mark.
January 13, 2016
In angry, defensive memo, Manhattan DA's office withdraws bite mark evidence
Washington Post
Here's one example, from my series, discussing how Mourges handles a 2009 National Academy of Sciences report that criticized bite mark analysis in pretty harsh terms...
A 2009 report by the National Academy of Sciences said many forensic science disciplines are practiced by poorly qualified people whose techniques are based on inadequate or nonexistent science and whose work environments foster bias.
January 5, 2016
Nebraska lawmaker wants to standardize practices on police photo lineups
Omaha World-Herald
In 2014, the National Academy of Sciences issued a report that cited research documenting the “malleable nature” of human perception and memory.
December 16, 2015
Forensic science reform is finally here. But will we get it right?
Washington Post (Opinion)
I don't mean to be overly cynical, but there was similar excitement about the National Academy of Sciences Report on forensics that came out in 2009.
Dec. 12, 2015
Lives in Balance, Texas Leads Scrutiny of Bite-Mark Forensics
New York Times
A report issued in 2009 by the National Academy of Sciences, “Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States,” was a turning point.
November 17, 2015
Arguments over bite marks get testy at Texas Forensic Science Commission meeting
Dallas Morning News
Since then, a number of scientific studies, including a 2009 report from the National Academy of Sciences, have found that such conclusions are not supported by science.
November 3, 2015
NCIS
WCBS-NY (CBS)
Take a look at this report from the National Academy of Sciences, it calls the hair test highly unreliable.
November 2, 2015
NewsChannel 21
KTVZ (NBC)
In 2009, the National Academy of Sciences wrote a scathing view of crime lab policies across the country and recommended changes.
October 25, 2015
Cases based on discredited bite-mark evidence will be tough to find
Dallas Morning News
In 2009, the National Academy of Sciences published a report that concluded there was insufficient scientific basis to conclusively match bite marks.
October 21, 2015
DNA sheds light on past mistakes
Arizona Sonora News
One report has become a source of contention between the two sides of the judicial process. Defense attorneys and their advocates look to the 2009 National Academy of Sciences report as a document that questions the ability of using some non-DNA evidence in convictions and some in prosecution look on the document as a politically motivated report with questionable findings.
October 13, 2015
Texas inmate's 1989 conviction overturned after bite mark evidence discredited
Washington Post
According to a 2009 report on forensics from the National Academy of Sciences, courtrooms accepted the technique with few questions.
October 12, 2015
Man Released After 28-year-old Murder Conviction Overturned
Associated Press
In 2009, the National Academy of Sciences published a report that concluded there was insufficient scientific basis to conclusively match bite marks.
October 12, 2015
Junk science cited in bid to clear man in '89 Dallas killing
Dallas Morning News
In 2009, the National Academy of Sciences published a report that concluded that there was insufficient scientific basis to conclusively match bite marks.
October 1, 2015
Woman's conviction tossed in 'junk science' bite mark case
Philly
The National Academy of Science in 2009 issued a report discrediting bite mark evidence as an inexact way to match defendants to bite wounds.
September 28, 2015
Too Much Doubt
Huffington Post
The National Academy of Sciences recently issued a report that concludes that aside from DNA, "no forensic method has been rigorously shown to have the capacity to consistently, and with a high degree of certainty, demonstrate a connection between evidence and a specific individual or source."
September 28, 2015
Could your fingerprints hold clues to your ancestry?
CBS News
"It's particularly important given that, in 2009, the National Academy of Sciences called for more scientific rigor in forensic science - singling out fingerprints in particular as an area that merited additional study," she said.
September 24, 2015
Better Information Is the Key to Policing Reform
The Atlantic (Opinion)
In a 2009 report, the National Academy of Sciences strongly criticized these and other techniques, pointing out that “many forensic tests … have never been exposed to stringent scientific scrutiny” because “researching their limitations and foundations was never a top priority.”
September 16, 2015
The Latest Controversy Over "Shaken Baby" Forensics Should Surprise No One
Huffington Post (Opinion)
At this point, it's not as if we don't know about these problems; virtually every systematic analysis of the system, such as the review culminating in the National Research Council's 2009 report, gives cause for grave concern.
August 17, 2015
Taking another bite out of junk science in the Texas criminal justice system
Dallas Morning News (Editorial)
A 2009 study of the nation’s forensic work by the National Academy of Sciences said that bite analysis is one discipline that grew out of lab tests but has “never been exposed to stringent scientific scrutiny.”
August 13, 2015
Bite mark evidence should be out of courtrooms, advocates say
Dallas Morning News
In 2009, the National Academy of Sciences published a report that concluded there was insufficient scientific basis to conclusively match bite marks.
July 31, 2015
Forensic labs explore blind testing to prevent errors
Science
A 2009 report from the National Research Council concluded that many forensic disciplines lacked a firm foundation in science and produced inconsistent, unreliable results.
July 17, 2015
A crime novelist praises the forensic scientists who inform her novels
The Washington Post (Opinion)
In a widely cited 2009 report, the National Academy of Sciences portrayed forensic work as fundamentally flawed, saying that with the exception of DNA evidence, most forensic tools, such as hair comparison and blood-spatter analysis, are more like traditional beliefs that have never been statistically tested.
June 24, 2015
The Surprisingly Imperfect Science of DNA Testing
The Marshall Project
The method was endorsed by a special advisory group to the FBI and a National Research Council panel, but is sometimes withheld from court in an attempt not to confuse jurors with statistical arguments.
June 23, 2015
The man who was jailed for 22 years – on the fantasy evidence of a single hair
The Guardian
In that year the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences released a landmark report into the practice of forensic analysis in the US.
June 12, 2015
Why it’s so hard to keep bad forensics out of Canada’s courtrooms
MetroNews Canada
A watershed report by the National Research Council in the U.S. in 2009 found that with the exception of DNA analysis, “no forensic method has been rigorously shown able to consistently, and with a high degree of certainty, demonstrate a connection between evidence and a specific individual or source.”
May 26, 2015
ISU to house center studying forensic sciences
Ames Tribune
The idea for the center came from a 2009 report by the National Academy of Sciences that found that the forensic sciences “really were in a bad spot,” Carriquiry said.
May 26, 2015
When expert testimony isn't: Tainted evidence wreaks havoc in courts, lives
The Christian Science Monitor
A report from the National Academy of Sciences in 2009 found that microscopic hair analysis – along with other juror-trusted forensic techniques like bite-mark, ballistics, and even fingerprint analysis – were unscientific in their methodology.
May 13, 2015
FBI hair errors call convictions into question
Philadelphia Inquirer
By 2009, microscopic hair analysis - along with such forensic staples as analyses of bite marks and fibers - was labeled "highly unreliable" by the National Academy of Science in a study titled "Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward."
May 12, 2015
Opinion: Flawed forensic science jails the innocent
The Sheboygan Press (Opinion)
Much of the so-called "forensic science" used to convict people for decades, has been deemed unreliable by a congressionally commissioned 2009 report of the National Academy of Sciences.
May 8, 2015
A setback for forensic science
Washington Post (Opinion) In 2009, the National Academy of Sciences recommended that crime labs be separated from law enforcement control.
May 5, 2015
The FBI’s Forensics Disaster
Reason
Another whole field of forensic science, compositional bullet lead analysis, was shown to be bogus in a 2004 National Academy of Sciences study.
May 4, 2015
Wrong Place, Wrong Time, Wrong Man
WCVB-TV Boston
In 2009, the National Academy of Sciences issued a report questioning whether forensic science was really scientific at all.
April 28, 2015
Senators Urge Action on FBI’s Use of Faulty Forensic Evidence
Roll Call
The letter calls for a three-pronged response to the study: that the Justice Department review the use of microscopic hair analysis in prosecutions by the FBI; that the Justice Department give those who have been convicted using erroneous microscopic hair analysis evidence a “full and fair opportunity to challenge their convictions” instead of simply just being informed of the error; and that the Justice Department and FBI work with the National Academy of Sciences and the National Institute of Standards and Technology to review the processes and standards of other disciplines of forensic science to identify opportunities for “stronger standards, better training, and further scientific research.”
April 27, 2015
Junk Science at the F.B.I.
The New York Times (Editorial)
A 2009 report by the National Research Council found “no scientific support” and “no uniform standards” for the method’s use in positively identifying a suspect. At best, hair-sample analysis can rule out a suspect, or identify a wide class of people with similar characteristics.
April 24, 2015
On Death Row for the Wrong Hair
The Daily Beast
Rather, follicles are put under a microscope and inspected against hair samples of parties involved in a crime. In 2009, the National Academy of Sciences called it “highly unreliable.”
April 21, 2015
A brief history of forensics
The Washington Post
After critics began to raise questions about the science behind the methodology, the FBI asked the National Academy of Sciences to create a working group to investigate. The NAS group concluded that the methodology wasn’t grounded in sound science.
April 21, 2015
Fix the Flaws in Forensic Science
The New York Times (Opinion)
A 2009 report by the National Research Council, an arm of the National Academies, found that apart from DNA testing, no forensic method had been rigorously shown to consistently and reliably demonstrate a connection between evidence and a specific person.
April 10, 2015
A Lab Apart
Forensic Magazine
Following the National Academy of Sciences report in 2009 recommending that labs be pulled out of the police departments, and the well publicized problems with the Houston Police Department Crime Lab in 2002-4, the City of Houston created the Houston Forensic Science Center (HFSC) . . . .
April 9, 2015
Are you running for president? Please answer these questions about the criminal justice system. The Washington Post It also comes after a 2009 National Academy of Sciences report, which found that in many forensic disciplines, analysts routinely give testimony in court that is unsupported by any scientific research.
April 8, 2015
A bite mark matching advocacy group just conducted a study that discredits bite mark evidence
The Washington Post
That hearing was the first to assess the science behind bite mark matching since the field came under fire in a landmark 2009 report by the National Academy of Sciences.
March 30, 2015
Judges Need to Set a Higher Standard for Forensic Evidence
New York Times
The concerns were not just about the “expert” witnesses, but about the judges who, according to the National Academy of Sciences report that led to the commission’s creation, have been “utterly ineffective” in assessing the quality of research behind the evidence.
February 27, 2015
Should Texts, E-mail, Tweets and Facebook Posts be the New Fingerprints in Court?
Washington Post
His view is buttressed not only by DNA’s overturning of convictions that relied on ballistics, hair analysis and bite marks, but also by a series of steps over the past couple of decades: a 1993 Supreme Court case, Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, requiring more stringent scientific standards for expert testimony in federal courts, including known error rates; a 2009 report from the National Research Council urging comprehensive reform of forensic sciences; and two bills before Congress aimed at improving standards.
February 24, 2015
Using Faulty Forensic Science, Courts Fail the Innocent
Live Science (Op-Ed)
And yet, a 2009 report from the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) identified numerous shortcomings in the field, including an absence of a scientific basis for most forms of forensic evidence, a lack of uniform standards and the need for independence from law enforcement.
February 20, 2015
The Path Forward on Bite Mark Matching — and the Rearview Mirror
The Washington Post
The 2009 National Academy of Sciences report that was highly critical of the way forensics is used in the courtroom was entitled “A Path Forward.” The words expressed the hope of the report’s authors that it would serve as a catalyst to spur scientific testing of forensic specialties, more vigorous policing of what expert witnesses say on the stand and the development of uniform standards and procedures, all pointing toward an ultimate goal of preventing more wrongful convictions caused by unsupported expert testimony.
February 18, 2015
Attack of the Bite Mark Matchers
Washington Post
Some of those groups uncovered the flaws in forensic analyses that inspired a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report in 2009.
February 17, 2015
It Literally Started with a Witch Hunt: A History of Bite Mark Evidence
Washington Post
Instead, as this series will explore tomorrow, the group’s leadership has focused on ruining the people who have helped expose those wrongful arrests and convictions. Bite mark matching in America began with a literal witch hunt. Its proponents are engaged in a figurative one today.
February 13, 2015
How the Flawed ‘Science’ of Bite Mark Analysis has Sent Innocent People to Prison
Washington Post
The field of forensics has reached an important moment. In 2009, the National Academy of Sciences published a congressionally commissioned report on the state of forensic science in the courtroom.
February 13, 2015
Forensics Specialist Discusses a Discipline in Crisis
Nature
That was exposed very starkly in 2009 by the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) when they produced a report called Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States.
February 6, 2015
New Study has Found that Fingerprint Examiners Make Extremely Few Errors
Biometric Update
“The results from the Miami-Dade team address the accuracy, reliability, and validity in the forensic science disciplines, a need that was identified in the 2009 National Academies report, Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward,” said Gerald LaPorte, director of NIJ’s Office of Investigative and Forensic Sciences.
September 26, 2014
Lured Back to Forensic Science, New Lab Director Ready for Challenge in Houston
Houston Chronicle (Subscription)
A 2009 report by the National Academy of Sciences recommended that forensic laboratories should no longer be part of, or operated by, law enforcement agencies such as police departments or district attorney's offices.
September 15, 2014
Mississippi Death Row Case Faults Bite-Mark Forensics
New York Times
The lack of a scientific basis for bite-mark identification was stressed by the National Academy of Sciences in a 2009 report on forensics.
August 26, 2014
Bucks Crime Lab Struggles with Backlog
The Inquirer
A 2009 National Academies of Sciences report also called for more accreditation in the nation's crime labs after finding serious deficiencies in some of them.
August 6, 2014
Evidence in Criminal Trials Must be Based on Sound Science
Washington Post (Letter to the Editor)
In 2009, the National Research Council reported that a number of forensic disciplines “have yet to establish either the validity of their approach or the accuracy of their conclusions.”
July 13, 2014
Understaffing Delays West Virginia Autopsy Reports
Associated Press
A 2009 study by the National Academy of Sciences found that there were fewer than 500 licensed forensic pathologists in the country.
June 19, 2014
Senate Approves Medical Examiner Office Overhaul
Associated Press
Peterson referred to a 2009 report by the National Academy of Sciences, which noted that public forensic science laboratories ideally should be independent of or autonomous within law-enforcement agencies. June 19, 2014
Trial by Fire: Junk Science Sent Dad to Prison for Killing Kids
NBCNews.com
Outrage about the execution mounted as arson science continued to evolve. In 2009, the National Research Council, which helps to shape policy on science, engineering and medicine, published a report that found that all matter of established forensics -- from fingerprinting to hair samples -- were not, in fact, well supported by science. June 11, 2014
Forensic Science Isn’t Science
Slate Magazine
In 2009, a National Academy of Sciences committee embarked on a long-overdue quest to study typical forensics analyses with an appropriate level of scientific scrutiny—and the results were deeply chilling.
May 18, 2014
DNA Analysis Exposes Flaws in an Inexact Forensic Science
The New York Times
A 2009 report by a committee of the National Academy of Sciences found “serious problems” with an assortment of methods routinely relied on by prosecutors and the police. May 12, 2014
Forcing Change In Forensic Science
Chemical and Engineering News
Five years ago, the National Academy of Sciences put out a report condemning the state of forensic science.
April 11, 2014
California’s Senate has Approved an Important New Forensics Bill
Washington Post (Op-Ed)
In 2009, the National Academy of Sciences issued a groundbreaking and disturbing report on how forensic analysis is used in America’s courtrooms.
March 18, 2014
Fast-track Executions?
Los Angeles Times (Op-Ed)
It's sobering to note, as the National Research Council did in a report in 2009, that only 60% of publicly financed crime labs even employed a certified examiner... March 16, 2014
Controversies Prompt Calls for Change in Coroner Rules
USA Today
The investigation cited a 2009 blue ribbon panel of the National Academy of Sciences that pointed out the absence of oversight of coroners and medical... March 10, 2014
ACS Amends Policy Positions
Chemical and Engineering News
The recommendations are largely based on the 2009 National Academies report “Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward,” which highlights the problems of the forensic science community... February 4, 2014
Faulty Forensic Science Under Fire
Nature
In 2009, the National Research Council (NRC) released a damning report criticizing US forensics practices.
January 14, 2014
Junk Science Review: Texas to Examine Microscopic Hair Analysis in Criminal Convictions
Dallas Observer
A study by the National Academy of Sciences found that it could exclude suspects, but could not single them out with any reliability. With the advent of ... January 2, 2014
Is DNA Analysis Stuck in the Past?
The Verge
Even the quintessential document about forensic science written in the last decade — the National Academy of Sciences' (NAS) Strengthening Forensic Science ...
humane birth control, which the National Academy of Sciences recommends. Horse advocates and even some... November 23, 2013 November 15, 2013 Gathering of Forensic Evidence Goes on Trial in Texas
Wall Street Journal (Subscription)
Forensic evidence has come under greater scrutiny nationwide following a 2009 report from the National Academy of Sciences, which concluded that no forensic method, with the exception of DNA analysis, has been proved to reliably allow crime-scene evidence to be linked to a particular suspect. October 25, 2013 MyCentralJersey.com The National Academy of Sciences and other scholarly studies have cast doubt on body bite-mark comparisons. During Richardson's trial, the defense's own ... September 25, 2013 The Verge Fabricant is just one of many people and organizations questioning the use of bite mark evidence in court. Perhaps the most prominent of these organizations is the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). August 19, 2013
July 18, 2013
Flawed Evidence Under a Microscope
Wall Street Journal[requires subscription]
Pressure from activists and media exposés of flawed forensic practices led Congress in 2005 to commission a report by the National Academy of Sciences. Published in 2009, it concluded that besides DNA analysis, "no forensic method has been rigorously shown to have the capacity to consistently, and with a high degree of certainty, demonstrate a connection between evidence and a specific individual or source."July 18, 2013
Officials to review flawed FBI hair analysis in criminal cases
Richmond Times Dispatch
Deemed unreliable in 2009 by the National Academy of Science, microscopic hair comparison analysis was routinely used by prosecutors in the years before DNA testing, to link a defendant to a crime. Gail Jaspen, chief deputy director of the Virginia...
July 18, 2013
Justice Will Review Two Dozen Capital Cases Due to Flawed FBI Testimony
The Atlantic Wire
The practice was deemed “highly unreliable” in the 2009 National Academy of Science report on forensic science, Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward. As part of the agreement announced today, the agencies acknowledge... May 22, 2013
A Presumption of Guilt
Afro American
New research from the National Academy of Science proved there was no evidence of arson in the fire. Wrongly convicted, Taylor was finally released-42 years later. For nearly 50 years, starting in the 1920s, the population of U.S. prisons was around... May 8, 2013
High Court Issues Stay of Execution for Manning
Jackson Clarion Ledger
After conversing with expert witnesses at our Crime Lab, it is clear that FBI experts and experts in all states used more conclusive language in their testimony up until around the time the 2009 National Academy of Science report was issued on forensics… April 18, 2013
Engineer Working to Put More Science behind Bloodstain Pattern Analysis
Science Daily (press release)
As evidence, Attinger cites a 2009 report published by the National Research Council, "Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward." "Scientific studies support some aspects of bloodstain pattern analysis," the report says. "One ... April 2, 2013
Advances in Science of Fire Free a Convict after 42 Years
New York Times
A few years ago, the National Academy of Sciences turned its attention to the misuse of science in courtrooms, saying that pseudoscientific theories had been used to convict people of crimes they may not have committed… March 28, 2013
Latent Fingerprint Interoperability Survey
NIJ.gov
NIJ has funded the Latent Fingerprint Interoperability Survey (LFIOS), the only comprehensive effort to provide a way to establish the level of interoperability of automated fingerprint identification systems (AFIS) maintained by state and local law enforcement agencies… March 5, 2013
DC Forensic Sciences Department Facing Transition Challenges
The BLT: Blog of Legal Times (blog)
The department and lab were designed to make forensic testing independent of law enforcement, a key recommendation of a 2009 report on forensic science by the National Research Council of the National Academies. During the oversight hearing on... February 21, 2013
New Commission to Set Standards for Troubled Forensic Sciences
Popular Science
The National Research Council report suggested the U.S. form a national institute just for forensic science. The new commission will perform many of the functions the research council suggested. The commission will have about 30 people, including... February 15, 2013
U.S. to Commit Scientists and New Commission to Fix Forensic Science
Washington Post
...The announcement marked the broadest federal commitment to establishing national forensic science standards since the rise of the FBI Laboratory during the last century. It comes four years after the National Academy of Sciences urged... February 14, 2013
IU's Kafadar Takes Ongoing Effort to Improve 'Science' of Forensic Science to AAAS Annual Meeting
Indiana University
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Such was the synopsis on the state of forensic science -- fingerprint and bullet analysis, hair and fiber evidence, blood stain and tire track analysis -- from a 2009 report from the National Academies of Science that Indiana... February 12, 2013
Too Much Information
Slate Magazine: Reprinted North Jefferson News, Morehead News, Valley News
A 2009 National Academy of Science report criticized the current lack of quality control in the forensic testing system. But improvement seems less likely if crime labs are inundated with DNA from arrestees. The FBI has also opposed confidential... February 6, 2013
Drug Lab Scandal: The Massive Failures Of Many Collided In A Perfect Storm
WBUR
In 2009, the National Academy of Science (NAS) issued a sweeping critique of the nation's crime labs. Forensic scientists working for law enforcement agencies "sometimes face pressure to sacrifice appropriate methodology for the sake of expediency... January 13, 2013
Flawed Forensic Work
New York Times
That is the major reason the National Research Council in a February 2009 report strongly recommended that forensic scientific facilities and personnel not be... November 27, 2012
D.C. Crime Lab: An Experiment in Forensic Science (Second of Two Parts)
Digital Communities
A report issued by the National Academy of Sciences in 2009 questioned the entire underpinning of many established forensic science techniques. While morale in the field is generally low, D.C. is aiming high. Its Department of Forensic Science, the ... November 17, 2012
Blood and Circus
Colorado Springs Independent
In 2009, the National Academy of Sciences called for serious reform to the field, stating that "Forensic science facilities exhibit wide variability in capacity... August 23, 2012
More Science Needed for Forensic Investigations
Scientific American
Complaints about the unreliability of some scientific evidence used in courts worldwide are long-standing, and a 2009 report by the US National Research Council called for major reforms to the US forensic-science system, including better... July 16, 2012
The Dark Side of Forensic Science
The Washington Post
As the National Academy of Sciences recommended in a 2009 report to Congress: "Research is needed to address issues of accuracy, reliability, and validity in the forensic science disciplines."... July 10, 2012
Justice Dept., FBI to Review Use of Forensic Evidence in Thousands of Cases
The Washington Post
The review comes as the National Academy of Sciences is urging the White House and Congress to remove crime labs from police and prosecutors' control, or at least to strengthen the science and standards underpinning the nation's forensic science system... May 18, 2012
Justice Department Should 'Step Up' on Flawed Forensic Evidence
Huffington Post
In addition, Congress must act to address the concerns raised by the National Academy of Sciences about the integrity and reliability of forensic evidence. The American people have a right to expect that the forensic scientists on whom federal...
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