From DNA examination to hair and fibre analysis, a comprehensive range of forensic methods can be used to help solve cold cases.
However, not all of these methods are accurate. Sometimes, a false result may send the wrong people to jail and even sentence innocent people to death.
Listen to the full episode below:
In this episode, Dr Sophie Calabretto spoke to Cosmos Magazine journalist Jacinta Bowler about whether forensic science is reliable.
For crime lovers, you may have heard of police and detectives collecting fingerprints at crime scenes.
In fact, fingerprinting has been used for identifying criminals or individuals for nearly a hundred years.
However, Bowler said fingerprinting is considered false proof and the reliability of fingerprinting today has been questioned.
“There are quite a few unreliable elements to fingerprints: For one, fingerprints at crime scenes can sometimes be partial prints…so you get less points on the fingerprints to determine which one is correct,” Bowler said.
“The idea that fingerprints are not entirely individual has actually never been scientifically proven…there could be multiple people in the world that have the same fingerprints.”
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