[bborud]

DNA evidence is scary because we have decades of experiences and milestones saying that it isn't as simple and clear cut as we think it is, and still we treat it is hard, inarguable truth. Even though history teaches us we should know better.

It is one of those things that reminds me that most people with a science degree do not actually practice science.

[mrguyorama]

No, the scientists behind DNA testing absolutely understand the limitations.

The people who don't understand the limitations of science and possible errors in certain methods are clueless jurors and the cops who pay a random person $800 to sit on the stand, say they are "and expert" and claim there's a trillion to one odds that two people could have "the same" DNA, even though that isn't even remotely what was tested!

Courts allow basically anything as long as you can pay a guy to say they are an expert and parrot whatever you want. But somehow that's treated as if it's the fault of biologists and others who do DNA analysis?

Maybe our courts shouldn't be based on "Trust anything a cop says, period"

[bborud]

That has not always been the case. They were dead wrong about the population size needed to produce false positives for the number of sites usually compared in the 1990s. These were _scientists_.

Thinking that scientists have always known the limitations kind of proves my point about even most highly educated people not understanding science.

[rokkitmensch]

The American "justice" system is a poorly-disguised vengeance system in practice. One that doesn't particularly care about the correctness of its processes, so long as it can claim to have prosecuted and made miserable its victims.

The rot has metastasized into plain view with hokum like "911 call psychology", maliciously incompetent evidence handling, arson analysis, bullet analysis, civil forfeiture, and has even compromised previously honorable and integrity-backed professions with embarrassments like shaken baby syndrome.

Bring any of this up and you'll get excluded from jury duty at /voir dire/.

[Simplicitas]

The alternative being?...

[elevatedastalt]

The alternative is to have only as much confidence in anything as it deserves.

[tredre3]

Just because we don't currently have an alternative doesn't mean we should keep using a flawed methodology.