법과학 증거의 오류 가능성에 대한 이해

Understanding the possibility of errors in forensic science evidence

As the paradigm of criminal investigation is changing, physical evidence, especially forensic evidence, is increasingly used in crime investigation. Due to the development of advanced science and technology, such as DNA, forensic evidence is recognized as highly objective, accurate and reliable evidence. As a result, investigative agencies are more focusing on collecting scientific evidence, instead of collecting testimonial evidence. However, not all forensic science evidence has a high degree of reliability. Unlike DNA evidence, some forensic evidence have a weak scientific foundation. This paper examines the development process of pattern evidence, such as bullet analysis, and also discusses why some scientific evidences are inadequate and why these problems are rarely solved. Since some forensic evidence often relies on subjective interpretation rather than objective and quantitative experiments, it is necessary to establish a scientific foundation and improve it. If sufficient foundation of forensic science is not made, the defendant can face a wrongful conviction. So far, not many had been interested in wrongful conviction. And most of retrial cases that gain public interest are political cases, and it had been difficult to find equal effort for general criminal cases. Fortunately, in recent years, interest for general criminal case has been increasing. However, there is still a lack of comprehensive discussion on the causes of wrongful conviction. Most of them only focus on false confession, and forensic science is rarely considered as a contributing cause of wrongful conviction. However, flawed forensic science evidence is one of the main causes of wrongful conviction. Forensic evidence sometimes may be unreliable evidence that does not meet basic reliability. Given the general trust in forensic evidence, errors in forensic evidence have fatal consequences. Therefore, efforts to prevent errors in forensic science evidence need to be strengthened.