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Essay / Forensic Science in Real CSI - 841
At least 99 percent of the time, forensic science is reliable and found to be accurate. Although four experts compared Brandon Mayfield's fingerprint to that of a bag at the crime scene, they actually misidentified the evidence and Spanish police discovered that the latent print actually belonged to an Algerian . This shows that forensic experts and lawyers can certainly be wrong; Furthermore, it means that not all evidence presented in the case is necessarily infallible and there is a possibility of error being made. Leah Bartos, a UC Berkley journalism graduate student, conducted an experiment to understand the process of becoming a certified forensic consultant. She had no prior knowledge in the forensic discipline, but earned her certification after passing the open book exam and sending ACFET her bachelor's degree, resume, and references. The ACFET exam has a 99% pass rate; therefore, it is criticized for the credibility of its certified graduates and labeled as a for-profit diploma milling organization. The attorney can argue the weakness of the forensic evidence presented, which is why forensic science calls for bad science and can certainly be misused in our adversarial trial.