#248 - M. Chris Fabricant on JUNK SCIENCE AND THE AMERICAN CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

M. Chris Fabricant, Director of Strategic Litigation for the Innocence Project & expert on forensic science and the US criminal justice system, chats with Trey Elling about JUNK SCIENCE AND THE AMERICAN CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM. Topics include: The birth of junk science as a jury-swaying courtroom tool (2:22) 'Peer reviewed' as a misunderstood term regarding science (10:33) An early 1990s US Supreme Court case favoring Dow Pharmaceuticals helping with the awakening on junk science (19:55) The challenge of swaying those whose careers have been built on a belief in junk science (26:14) The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) uncovering major flaws with the most popular forensic sciences in 2006 (29:38) Debunking the uniqueness and certainty of fingerprints (35:56) How it went when the NAS revealed its findings at the annual American Academy of Forensic Science meeting in 2009 (42:59) Michael West as an especially belligerent example of dental junk science (47:32) Unindicted co-ejaculator theories (52:28) The importance of Steven Mark Chaney's story (55:00)