Bloodstain pattern analysis is a forensic science discipline that reconstructs a blood-shedding event and can provide crucial evidence in some legal cases.
Several reports have questioned the validity of bloodstain pattern analysis, including a 2009 National Research Council report and one in 2016 by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. These reports called for more objective methods in forensic science and a better understanding of the error rates of current practices.
In response, NIJ funded error rate studies of practicing bloodstain pattern analysts and experimental and computational fluid dynamics research. Results from these studies allow practitioners in the justice system to consider the value and the limits of analysts’ testimony.
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