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Junk Science

A Black man with glasses and a black fedora, black vest and red button-down shirt.
Inside Story October 3
Discredited Hair Analysis Is Fueling Efforts to Overturn Convictions
Rapper Common talks about his work bringing music into prisons, and incarcerated people fight their convictions from debunked forensic science.
By and
Feature December 15, 2023
Old-School Hair Analysis Is Junk Science. But It Still Keeps People Behind Bars
The technique, developed before DNA testing, can’t definitively tie suspects to crime scenes. Try explaining that to juries — or some judges.
By Rene Ebersole
In a courtroom, a White man sits at a table peering over thick-rimmed black glasses. He is dressed in a gray-striped shirt. To his left is a woman standing in a white suit jacket and to his right is another woman, seated at the table next to him.
Death Sentences September 15, 2023
He’s Facing Execution For His Daughter’s Death. Now, Science Suggests It Was An Accident.
Robert Roberson is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to examine “shaken baby syndrome” and the state of forensic science.
By
A body wrapped in plastic lies among fallen autumn leaves in front of a wooden fence. Barbed wire lines the top of the fence.
Feature March 17, 2022
He Teaches Police “Witching” To Find Corpses. Experts Are Alarmed.
At the National Forensic Academy, crime scene investigators learn to dowse for the dead, though it’s not backed by science.
By Rene Ebersole
Feature April 19, 2018
Framed for Murder By His Own DNA
We leave traces of our genetic material everywhere, even on things we’ve never touched. That got Lukis Anderson charged with a brutal crime he didn’t commit.
By Katie Worth
News June 8, 2015
Could a Bite Mark Catch a Killer?
Or is it junk science?
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