Forensics & Limitations

In forensics, there is one main thing that many overlook, and that is the limitations it has. There is a saying that many add when they are skeptical: to take the information with a grain of salt. Now I always thought this had to do with something not being as sweet as it sounded, but the phrase actually stems from a much darker etiology.

To very generally summarize (and please forgive me linguistic historians, as this may not be to the level of detail you prefer), salt was once thought to be a cure for some poisons, and so if you were to take a poison with some salt, you would not be adversely affected by it. Now the science behind this, isn't quite there, but the analogy fits.

With each piece of information we take in, we must do so with a critical perspective of it, to prevent it from poisoning our minds or our reasoning. In forensics, everything must be taken with a grain of salt, including the critiques of it.

On that note, here is a great article I recently read, which led to this post, and I think is one worth taking the time to reading.

Forensic science: The danger of relying on a single piece of evidence