OT: FBI using dodgy 'science' to secure convictions for 40+ years

[Esther12]

I don't know anything about it, but the culture described reminds me of some of the problems around ME/CFS research:

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/23/fbi-evidence-single-hair-kirk-odom

I asked Whitehurst why he thought the FBI had stuck with hair comparisons years after the scientific credibility of the technique had been called into question. “It got convictions,” was his simple reply.

If you're achieving what those above you want, it doesn't seem to matter if you're a quack.

 

[alex3619]

Quackery is acceptable, it seems, if it serves a purpose endorsed by the establishment.

 

[sarah darwins]

This reminds me of Freakonomics. Didn't the guys who wrote that argue that organised human activity is always rational, even when it doesn't look that way?

“It got convictions” is hyper-rational. It's despicable, but rational.