The Department of Justice announced last week that a review of old criminal cases has uncovered at least 120 convictions—including 27 carrying the death penalty—in which FBI forensics experts may have erroneously linked defendants to crimes. Officials are examining more than 21,700 FBI laboratory files, focusing mainly on overstated “matches” determined through microscopic analysis of hair found at crime scenes. Written FBI reports have acknowledged since the 1970s that such matches could not be used as positive identification, but FBI witnesses on the stand continued to testify that hair analysis amounted to nearly conclusive proof. The full review is to be disclosed later this summer.
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