On TV crime shows like CSI, NCIS, and Law & Order, science gets the bad guys.
In real life, “science” often ensnares the innocent.
Former NYPD Detective Harry Houck gets annoyed when TV shows make forensic science look infallible.
“You watch a detective get down and look at a body (and say), ‘He’s been dead for three hours now… (H)e ate dinner four hours ago,'” scoffs Houck. “I can’t do that.”
On TV, experts identify killers by their bite marks. In real life, experts claim they can do that.
The TV show Cold Case Files covered the trial of Alfred Swinton. He was convicted of murder because a bite-mark expert said his teeth matched a bite on the victim.
The TV show Cold Case Files covered the trial of Alfred Swinton. He was convicted of murder because a bite-mark expert said his teeth matched a bite on the victim.
“A perfect match!” said Dr. Gus Karazulas, the “forensic odontologist” whose testimony clinched the conviction.
Read the rest at Reason.com.
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