Informative Essay: What´s Forensic Science?

Forensic science is a widely explored topic, featured in television shows and books, however there are many unseen faults to this “science.” Can it be considered a science despite its faults? That is a question often asked by experts, and maybe that’s a question that should be asked in our everyday lives. People are often wrongfully convicted due to the lack of precision within forensic science, it changes people’s lives by allowing the guilty to go free and the innocent to rot away in jail for a crime they did not commit. In fact, Nova’s documentary regarding forensic science is a brilliant masterpiece that explores the adversity of human error inside of the popular subject. One major myth that is debunked within the documentary, is fingerprints. Everyone is raised with the idea that our fingerprints are like snowflakes, not one is the same. However, looking at the case of the Madrid Bomber and Brandon Mayfield, who was so wrongfully indicted of the bombing because his fingerprints matched the ones at the scene. In the end, the fingerprint analysis had shown several similarities between the ones found at the scene and Mayfield, they were not exactly identical. Also, the fingerprints can be affected as forensic …show more content…
Due to this, it can lead up to human error as interpretation can vary per person. Almost all of forensic science can become infected with human error. For example, in the OJ Simpson case, the crime scene had not been secured properly so it had become littered with other DNA. This had rendered almost all of the evidence against Simpson useless, and contributed to acquitting him. One wrong move, such as a break in the chain of custody, could completely ruin the evidence and throw the case. Due to this, we must carefully consider the ramifications of using questionable evidence within forensic