this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2025
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This is such an important thing to remember. It's just like how a lot of hand-held breathalyzers are closed source, and when their source code is finally subjected to scrutiny (because you're supposed to be able to face your accuser, and the device is your accuser), it often doesn't meet basic required standards for things like error reporting or failsafes to prevent false positives.
Much of forensic "science" isn't exactly science as we understand it.
Yup, Behind the Bastards did an excellent two parter on forensic science in general:
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236323/episode/part-one-the-bastards-of-forensic-170035753/ https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236323/episode/part-two-the-bastards-of-forensic-170702749/
They make a good point that real science is involved, but by the time it makes it into the police's hands it's mutated into essentially a mechanism to manufacture convictions. Grifters get hold of the science, and cops are like the perfect marks, because they're just primed for anything that will confirm their existing biases, plus they've got massive state budgets to play with, and they'll happily give the grifters legitimacy.