Some notes on Solving Daubert’s Dilemma for the Forensic Sciences Through Blind Testing

I just read Sandra Thompson and Nicole Casarez’s excellent article, Solving Daubert’s Dilemma for the Forensic Sciences Through Blind Testing.

This is a must-read for anyone interested in improving forensic science. The authors lay out the Houston Forensic Science Center’s ongoing program to implement blind testing. It’s a roadmap of sorts for other labs seeking implement this testing (and all labs should, really). I was pretty sure that blind testing is a good idea, but they lay out some challenges that i hadn’t thought of. For instance, examiners are really good at spotting the tests. This prompted the quality assurance team to do things like develop clever new ways to disguise their handwriting on forms and offer a coffee card to examiners who do spot the tests.

It’s also striking to me how much this movement in forensic mirrors the open science movement. For instance, both seek to create huge efficiencies by sharing of materials:

One obvious way to reduce the cost, both in time and money, of constructing blind samples would be to develop an inter-laboratory evidence exchange program among crime laboratories that use blind proficiency testing. In 2018, HFSC shared some of its blind sample blood tubes with several other crime laboratories to help them implement blind proficiency pilot studies in toxicology.296 Representatives from these laboratories have indicated interest in apportioning costs if and when they elect to expand these studies to full-scale programs.297 As soon as additional crime laboratories adopt blind proficiency testing, an exchange program could be devised to significantly reduce the time and expense involved in constructing case materials.