Description
Book SynopsisIncluding examples from a host of criminal cases and familiar figures, this book presents evidence that forensic science has a long way to go before it lives up to its potential and the public's expectations.
Trade Review"Well-written and captivating—a fine book." -- Captain Robert L. Snow * author of Technology and Law Enforcement, Murder 101, Sex Crimes Investigation *
"This scholarly and well-researched work shines a light on the dark side of forensic science to expose the enormous damage inflicted on the criminal justice system by rogue and dishonest forensic practitioners." -- Richard Saferstein, * author of Criminalists: An Introduction to Forensic Science *
"Well-written and captivating—a fine book." -- Captain Robert L. Snow * author of Technology and Law Enforcement, Murder 101, Sex Crimes Investigation *
"This scholarly and well-researched work shines a light on the dark side of forensic science to expose the enormous damage inflicted on the criminal justice system by rogue and dishonest forensic practitioners." -- Richard Saferstein, * author of Criminalists: An Introduction to Forensic Science *
Table of ContentsForensic pathologists from hell : bungled autopsies, bad calls, and blown cases
A question of credibility : bad reputations and the politics of death
The sudden infant death debate Dr. Roy Meadow, Munchausen syndrome by proxy and Meadow's law
Infants who can't breathe : illness or suffocation?
Swollen brains and broken bones : disease or infanticide?
Fingerprint identification : trouble in paradise
Fingerprints never lie : except in Scotland
Shoe print identification and foot morphology : the lay witness and the Cinderella analysis
Bite mark identification : do teeth leave prints?
Ear-mark identification : emerging science or bad evidence?
Expert versus expert : the handwriting wars in the Ramsey case
John Mark Karr : DNA Trumps the graphologists in the Ramsey case
Hair and fiber identification : the inexact science
DNA analysis : backlogs, sloppy work, and unqualified people
Bullet identification : FBI style overselling the science
The celebrity expert : Dr. Henry Lee
