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Sidebar: Bias in Forensics?



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Feb 8, 2008,

Some prosecutors complain the CSI Effect creates unrealistic expectations among jurors who demand cut-and-dry forensic evidence that proves innocence or guilt. But that pressure may help counteract a pro-prosecution bias in the nation's crime labs, according to one forensic evidence expert.

"It's unintentional, but it's something subliminal and there's a tendency to be somewhat biased" said Dan Krane, CEO and DNA specialist at Forensic Bioinformatics in Fairborn, Ohio. "The bias, in turn, causes them to overlook things that an outside expert who's working for the defense might be able to pick up on and bring to their attention during the course of a trial."

Crime samples are often degraded or mixed with other materials, and that makes them difficult to interpret, making analysis by lab personnel sometimes subjective. "The analysts will have to fill in gaps more or less," he said, "and they have an unintended tendency to fill them in a way that's most favorable to the prosecution.

"I think it balances out," Krane continued. "There are these unrealistic expectations about what they can do, but there's also this putting them on a pedestal that may not be entirely justified."

Krane advocates blind testing or even double-blind forensic testing. "That's what you expect when you talk about checking for the efficacy of a new drug or some new treatment in the medical field, and yet in forensics, it's surprising what a novel idea that is."


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