ANRV359-LS04-08 ARI 15 October 2008 14:37 Failed Forensics: ANNUAL REVIEWS Further Click here for quick links to Annual Reviews content online, How Forensic Science including: • Other articles in this volume Lost Its Way and How • Top cited articles • Top downloaded articles • Our comprehensive search It Might Yet Find It Michael J. Saks1 and David L. Faigman2 1College of Law and Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287; email:
[email protected] 2Hastings College of the Law, University of California, San Francisco, California 94102; email:
[email protected] Annu. Rev. Law Soc. Sci. 2008. 4:149–71 Key Words First published online as a Review in Advance on courts, Daubert, science, scientific evidence July 8, 2008 The Annual Review of Law and Social Science is Abstract online at lawsocsci.annualreviews.org A group of nonscience forensic sciences has developed over the past cen- This article’s doi: tury. These are fields within the broader forensic sciences that have little 10.1146/annurev.lawsocsci.4.110707.172303 or no basis in actual science. They are not applications of established 1550-3585/08/1201-0149$20.00 basic sciences, they have not systematically tested their own hypothe- ses, and they make unsupported assumptions and exaggerated claims. This review explains the nature and origins of those nonscience forensic fields, which include the forensic individualization sciences and certain other areas, such as fire and arson investigation. We explore the role of the courts in maintaining the underdeveloped state of these fields and consider suggestions for improving this state of affairs (addressing the potential role that could be played by these fields themselves, by the courts, and by normal sciences).