POST: "Some random thoughts on forensic science," by Justin J. McShane, published on "The truth about forensic science."

GIST: "While at the ACS (American Chemical Society) press con­fer­ence last week, I was asked by an inter­na­tional reporter my thoughts on the cur­rent state of affairs in Foren­sic Sci­ence by a Brazil­ian sci­ence reporter. I wanted to share my answers with you all and see if there are dif­fer­ent points of view that may be out there. So what do you think? Q: How can we best assess the role of foren­sic sci­ence in the court­room nowadays? A: Right now, the best anal­ogy that can be used to explain the sci­en­tific state of affairs in foren­sic sci­ence is that of the Wild Wild West. There is no over­sight. It’s not unlike the old quick draw con­tests. Each lab­o­ra­tory is free to set up what­ever pro­to­cols it wants with no need to prove the valid­ity in its test­ing before it is being used. It is an excit­ing time to be involved in foren­sic sci­ence and in the Inno­cence Project as we all believe that we are start­ing to see the tam­ing of the Wild Wild West. We hope that law and order will be brought to the crime lab­o­ra­to­ries where only val­i­dated foren­sic sci­ence makes its way into the courtroom."

The entire post can be found at: