Do Fingerprints Lie Analysis

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Recommended: Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals case review

The article Do Fingerprints Lie? was written by Michael Specter. It challenges the subject of whether fingerprint evidence is flawless as it is generally accepted in court. For a very long time, the US court system would accept any sort of "expert testimony", regardless of whether they were legitimately experts. Opinions that were "generally accepted" in the field were allowed, even if they weren't factually proven. The case of Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals brought this into a more critical light and created stricter guidelines for what could be admissible. The article begins with the story about Shirley McKie, a police officer who was mistakenly accused of a crime because her fingerprint was found on a murder crime scene yet she

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