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Some Common Forensics Techniques Aren’t as Reliable as Courts Presume: Professor
Sara Gordon says courts have accepted unvalidated forensic methods for decades, even as studies found dog alerts and bloodstain analysis can be highly error-prone.
- University of British Columbia law professor Sara Gordon published research challenging the reliability of forensic techniques used in Canadian courts, arguing judicial systems often overstate scientific validity.
- While many forensic methods possess a "veneer of science," Gordon notes most were developed within police departments rather than labs, with validity tested empirically only within the last 20 years.
- Data from New South Wales, Australia, shows sniffer dog false alerts occurred 74 per cent of the time, while bloodstain pattern analysis shows error rates up to 32 per cent.
- Courts have admitted ballistics evidence for nearly a century without subjecting claims to meaningful scientific scrutiny, as Gordon observes a tendency for attorneys to "assume that all of these different techniques are reliable."
- To comply with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Gordon argues forensic techniques with error rates exceeding 30 per cent should not be relied upon to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
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23 Articles
meadowlakeNOW+3 Reposted by 3 other sources
Some common forensics techniques aren’t as reliable as courts presume: professor
A police dog sniffs out narcotics concealed in the depths of a nondescript car. An officer links a bullet found at a crime scene to a specific gun — and a specific suspect. An expert details the sequence of an attack based on the pattern of bloodstains...
Winnipeg Free Press+18 Reposted by 18 other sources
Some common forensics techniques aren't as reliable as courts presume: professor
A police dog sniffs out narcotics concealed in the depths of a nondescript car. An officer links a bullet found at a crime scene to a specific gun — and a specific suspect. An expert details the sequence of an attack based on the pattern of bloodstains in the area.
·Winnipeg, Canada
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Total News Sources23
Leaning Left19Leaning Right0Center3Last UpdatedBias Distribution86% Left
Bias Distribution
- 86% of the sources lean Left
86% Left
L 86%
14%
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