Sunday, November 14, 2004

Report Blasts FBI Lab for Fingerprint Misidentification

According to today's Chicago Tribune (free registration required), a panel of forensic experts has concluded that peer pressure and groupthink led the FBI fingerprint lab astray earlier this year, when it mistakenly blamed an Oregon lawyer for the March 11 bombings in Spain that killed 191 people. The panel has recommended tightened quality controls for high-profile cases. In a more hortatory vein, it has also called for a dollop of humility by fingerprint examiners.

posted by pn at 5:06 PM  

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Fed. R. Evid. 702: If scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education, may testify thereto in the form of an opinion or otherwise, if (1) the testimony is based upon sufficient facts or data, (2) the testimony is the product of reliable principles and methods, and (3) the witness has applied the principles and methods reliably to the facts of the case.