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Fire Pattern Analysis, Junk Science, Old Wives Tales, And Ipse Dixit: Emerging Forensic 3d Imaging Technologies To The Rescue?, Thomas R. May Jan 2010

Fire Pattern Analysis, Junk Science, Old Wives Tales, And Ipse Dixit: Emerging Forensic 3d Imaging Technologies To The Rescue?, Thomas R. May

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Forensic science is undergoing a period of transformation as legal and scientific forces converge and force older forensic sciences toward a new scientific paradigm. Fire investigative undertakings are not an exception to this trend. Skeptical defense attorneys who routinely formulate astute Daubert challenges to contest the scientific validity and reliability of every major forensic science discipline are one catalyst to this revolution. Furthermore, a steady influx of novel scientific advances makes possible the formulation of consistent and scientifically-based quantitative forensic evidence analyses to overcome the “undervalidated and oversold” problems affecting many areas of forensic science.