Faulty Forensics Put Me on Death Row

Most people are introduced to forensic science through TV and film, and because of this we have come to see forensic techniques such as ballistics, footprint analysis, and bite mark identification as foolproof methods for solving crimes. But many forensic science techniques were not developed by scientists. They were developed in crime labs by law enforcement professionals who needed methods for testing available evidence. These techniques were often subjective, and not run through the same kind of rigorous testing of traditional science. As exonerations due to newly available DNA testing increased, it became clear that some forensic sciences had actually contributed to the wrongful convictions of innocent people. In this episode we meet two of those people, hear how forensic evidence contributed to their loss of freedom, and learn about how the recent disbanding of the National Forensic Science Commission could mean there's very little oversight for a field that so desperately needs it.