Dealing with Error

[L.J.Steele]

Am interesting article about what to do when there's a known error, be it a bad apple in the lab or a bad technique.

"It's such an obvious thing," said Thomas L. Bohan, past president of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. "You don't tell a lie. You don't fake your data." There's little disagreement that forensic scientists should correct outright mistakes. In fact, truth-telling is a fundamental principle in a profession that pays homage to rigor and cold objectivity. But gray areas abound, from a typographical error on a report to embellished testimony. When should a scientist correct? And what is the obligation when science evolves to the point that it makes a material difference in the original analysis?

Debate over this principle of "duty to correct" has taken center stage in Texas, as the Forensic Science Commission has examined the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, executed for setting a fire that killed his three children.

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"Most experienced forensic scientists during the course of their careers turn into a situation where they conduct really sound scientific testing but have their work really spun in the courtroom to meet a certain legal objective," said John Collins, executive director of the American Society of Crime Lab Directors. "When that gets out into the press, it looks like the scientist was a bad scientist."

He and others say the profession is reliable and trustworthy at its core.

If there are any doubts about forensic evidence, some scientists say, the adversarial court system will self-correct. Inconsistencies in test results, for example, can be challenged by defense attorneys, they say.

"You see people who are very comfortable saying, 'Hell, no, that's the defense attorney's problem to figure it out.'" said Amy Driver, a forensic scientist in Washington, D.C.

But she and other scientists find that position appalling and point to hundreds of exonerations based on reversals of faulty science. To them, correcting errors is a moral and scientific duty. Failing to do so leads to failures in the criminal justice system.

"It's one of the most despicable types of things when human lives are at stake," Bohan said.

The problem, to some, is that some scientists become entrenched, unable to admit mistakes.

"Some people develop a siege mentality: 'We're under attack,'" said Max Courtney, a Fort Worth forensic chemist.

http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/04/30 ... light.html