Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons Faculty Publications 2010 Scientific videnceE in Criminal Prosecutions - A Retrospective Paul C. Giannelli Case Western University School of Law,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/faculty_publications Part of the Evidence Commons, and the Litigation Commons Repository Citation Giannelli, Paul C., "Scientific videnceE in Criminal Prosecutions - A Retrospective" (2010). Faculty Publications. 150. https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/faculty_publications/150 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons. Scientific Evidence in Criminal Prosecutions A RETROSPECTIVE Paul C. Giannelli The publication of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Report on forensic science, Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward,' in February 2009 marked the culmination of thirty years of debate on the admissibility of scientific evidence. In a sense, the NAS Report told Congress to scrap the current structure and replace it with a system that was independent of law enforcement and premised on the research norms of science! The impetus for the report can be traced to two events: The Supreme Court's decision in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ,: an opinion that revolutionized the legal test for the admissibility of expert testimony, and DNA analysis, a technique that Albert J. Weatherhead III & Richard W. Weatherhead Professor of Law, Case Western Reserve University. Like most evidence teachers, I am deeply indebted to Margaret Berger.