Year: 2016
Type: article
Abstract: Several forensic sciences, especially of the pattern-matching kind, are increasingly seen to lack the scientific foundation needed to justify continuing admission as trial evidence. Indeed, several have been abolished in the recent past. A likely next candidate for elimination is bitemark identification. A number of DNA exonerations have occurred in recent years for individuals convicted based on erroneous bitemark identifications. Intense scientific and legal scrutiny has resulted. An important National Academies review found little scientific support for the field. The Texas Forensic Science Commission recently recommended a moratorium on the admission of bitemark expert testimony. The California Supreme Court has a case before it that could start a national dismantling of forensic odontology. This article describes the (legal) basis for the rise of bitemark identification and the (scientific) basis for its impending fall. The article explains the general logic of forensic identification, the claims of bitemark identification, and reviews relevant empirical research on bitemark identification-highlighting both the lack of research and the lack of support provided by what research does exist. The rise and possible fall of bitemark identification evidence has broader implications-highlighting the weak scientific culture of forensic science and the law's difficulty in evaluating and responding to unreliable and unscientific evidence.
DOI: 10.1093/jlb/lsw045
Authors: Michael J. Saks, Thomas Albright, Thomas L. Bohan, Barbara E. Bierer, C. Michael Bowers, Mary A. Bush, Peter J. Bush, Arturo Casadevall, Simon A. Cole, M. Bonner Denton, Shari Seidman Diamond, Rachel Dioso-Villa, Jules Epstein, David Faigman, Lisa Faigman, Stephen E. Fienberg, Brandon L. Garrett, Paul C. Giannelli, Henry T. Greely, Edward Imwinkelried, Allan Jamieson, Karen Kafadar, Jerome P. Kassirer, Jonathan ‘Jay’ Koehler, David Korn, Jennifer Mnookin, Alan B. Morrison, Erin Murphy, Nizam Peerwani, Joseph L. Peterson, D. Michael Risinger, George F. Sensabaugh, Clifford Spiegelman, Hal Stern, William C. Thompson, James L. Wayman, Sandy Zabell, Ross E. Zumwalt
Institutions: Arizona State University, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard University, University of Southern California, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo State University, Johns Hopkins University, University of California, Irvine, University of Arizona, Northwestern University, Griffith University, Temple University, University of California, San Francisco, University of California Hastings College of the Law, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Virginia, Case Western Reserve University, Stanford University, University of California, Davis, University of Staffordshire, Tufts University, Massachusetts General Hospital, University of California, Los Angeles, George Washington University, New York University, California State University Los Angeles, Seton Hall University, University of California, Berkeley, Texas A&M University, San Jose State University, University of New Mexico
Language: English
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
Funders: National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Bar Foundation, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Princeton University, Ohio State University, Tufts Medical Center, Northwestern University, George Washington University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Arizona, Carnegie Mellon University, Case Western Reserve University, University of Virginia, Fordham University, Staffordshire University, Temple University, American Academy of Forensic Sciences, York University, Royal Society of Canada, Royal Society, Royal Society of Chemistry, Griffith University, Queensland Government, National Institute of Standards and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of California, Davis, Tufts University School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, National Cancer Institute, Center for Statistics and Applications in Forensic Evidence
OpenAlex ID: W2555859446